Is this a joke?
One thing that's become abundantly clear to me over time is that there is nothing funny about Frank Zappa.
He said he went into pop music in order to be able to afford having his serious compositions played by orchestras (See title of 3rd Mothers album). He saw the amount of attention (and money) the public gave to serious 20th century composers, and he had too much of an ego to settle for that.
Which is what I'm talking about. The guy wasn't interested in cultivating a jazz or symphonic music audience; he pitched all of his music directly to his established fan base - a pop music fan base. I think that shows a lack of confidence - maybe he was aware that jazz or symphonic music fans wouldn't appreciate his work. You see that as strategy and ego. Maybe so, or maybe some combination of the above.
but what he was doing and what Frank was doing (or "trying to do") are quite different.
I dunno. Beefheart is more blues-based, but both have a lot of similarity to my ears. Both play art-rock with lots of odd time signatures, complex and intellectual structures, and self-consciously strange lyrics that seem to come straight from each man's id. The main difference I hear is that Beefheart really loved the music he mined and put quite a bit of thought into his lyrics, whereas Zappa did neither. Again, YZMV.
On the other hand, his best work thrills me in a way that only a handful of others can. But hey, if you prefer the sharp stick...
You know, lots of people I respect love the guy, and I hope it's obvious that I've put time into trying to appreciate his work. I've bought and owned at least 10 or 11 Zappa albums, but I've sold them all but Hot Rats, which I like. I pretty much can't get around the contempt I hear and the sophomoric lyrics, so yes, please, I'll take the sharp stick.