Jamming in Joe’s Garage

Image via Wikipedia

This post originally appeared on my music column ‘The Crossroads’ over at Dad Blogs on September 27, 2009.

Back in the mid 1960’s the concept of a rock opera was pretty much foreign until Pete Townshend of The Who penned ‘A Quick One While He’s Away’, which is a nine minute track on The Who’s second album that is considered to be the earliest recorded example of a rock opera. Then Townshend would turn the music world upside down with the release of ‘Tommy’ in 1969.

Townshend’s influence quickly spread in the 1970’s to the likes of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice (Jesus Christ Superstar, 1970), David Bowie (The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, 1972), Genesis (The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, 1974) and Pink Floyd (The Wall, 1979).

The rock opera format would also be adopted by none other than Frank Zappa when he released Joe’s Garage, which is celebrating its 30th Anniversary this month. Act I was released as a single LP and began the story of what could possibly happen to you if music were made illegal. It was quickly followed by a double LP containing Acts II & III in November 1979.

Joe’s Garage revolves around the main protagonist Joe, who is a typical garage band youth who gets signed to a record deal and learns the hard way about life in the music business. After having the cops called on him repeatedly by his neighbors, he is given the advice to ’stick closer to church oriented social activities’ where he meets Mary who would become his girlfriend.

Unfortunately for Joe his life is thrown into a tailspin after Mary ditches Joe to become a groupie for the rock group Toad-O. Throughout the rest of the first act Joe falls into depression over Mary, falls into a fast crowd and contracts an unpronounceable disease he claims he got from a toilet seat and not a woman name Lucille that works at the local Jack-in-the-Box.

In the second and third acts we find Joe turning to religion as he joins the First Church of Appliantology, which is led by one L. Ron Hoover. Regrettably, even that couldn’t stop his downward spiral and Joe winds up in jail. Upon his release from prison he learns that music has been made illegal and loses his sanity. Eventually he comes to grips with the fact that music is no more and resigns himself to his new job at the Utility Muffin Research Kitchen where he frosts muffins.

The whole sad tale is told from the perspective of The Central Scrutinizer who haunts Joe’s thoughts with 50’s era McCarthyistic discouragement. In the end the lesson we are supposed to take away from Joe’s story is that music is evil.

Joe’s Garage is filled with Zappa’s standard cast of supporting musicians including drummers Vinnie Colaiuta and Terry Bozzio and guitarists Warren Cuccurullo and Ike Willis (who voiced the lead character). This particular work is also notable for its extensive use of xenochrony, which is a technique invented by Zappa where guitar solos from other, unrelated works are extracted and dubbed into new songs.

If you’ve never heard Joe’s Garage before it is a combination of the bizarre, disturbing and funny all wrapped up into one musical masterpiece.

In closing out this one, I’m going to leave you with a little music trivia:

What 1980’s new wave band did Dale Bozzio (who played the part of Mary in Joe’s Garage) form with her then husband Terry Bozzio and guitarist Warren Cuccurullo?

And, as always, Google isn’t cheating!

Tagged as: Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Bowie, Frank Zappa, Jesus Christ Superstar, Terry Bozzio, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, Wall, Warren Cuccurullo