Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1979 | |
A Token of My ExtremeBuy A Token of My Extreme now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it. | |
Wikipedia article"'A Token of My Extreme'", by Frank Zappa, is a song on the 1979 concept album 'Joe's Garage' ['Part II']. The main character from this triple-album rock-opera has his mind messed-up by Lucille then "finally does something smart" and "pays a lot of money to L. Ron Hoover and the First Church of Appliantology." PlotAppliantology is shown as an insincere religion, which cooperates with a "malevolent totalitarian regime." This is an apparent reference to Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard. Joe, doubting his sanity, asks 'mystical advisor' L. Ron Hoover what his problem is and is told that he is "a latent appliance-fetishist." Joe asks if it is time "to come out of the closet," and is told that he should "go into the closet". "The Closet" turns out to be a bar in Los Angeles, where he can have "a lot of fun" achieving sexual gratification using machines. The "machines" at The Closet are household appliances with marital aids stuck all over them. Joe is informed that the best appliances speak foreign languages, which leads to the next song, "Stick It Out". This song derives from another piece called "Tush Tush Tush" from 1973. AnalysisThis song was analyzed in 'Zappa', and also in 'Academy Zappa'. In their study of Zappa published in the journal 'Studies in Musical Theatre', Carr and Hand mention that the song is "a satire of L. Ron Hubbard (191186) and the Church of Scientology". They described the work as "an ironic precursor" to Carlton's 'Return to the Forbidden Planet'. See also*Scientology in popular culture ReferencesCategory:1979 songs Category:Songs critical of religion Category:Frank Zappa songs Category:Scientology in popular culture Category:Songs written by Frank Zappa Category:Song recordings produced by Frank Zappa | |
Buy A Token of My Extreme now from Amazon <-- Return to songs from 1979 This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=992244091. |