Frank Zappa - Zoot Allures LP

Shattering conventions – musical, social, political – was the life's work of Frank Zappa, the iconoclastic musical genius, rock legend and intellectual firebrand of the late twentieth century whose work is equally revered by hardcore rockers and serious musical scholars. The more minimalist approach taken on 1976's Zoot Allures brings old tropes back into the fold: doo-wop and blues-rock in particular. Disco, German culture and sexual stereotypes all crop up in the lyrics, but for dark social commentary lock into "Wind Up Workin' In A Gas Station," where the sardonic dismantling of the work ethic manages to be blackly comic.