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Apostrophe (')
''Apostrophe (')'' is the fifth solo studio album and eighteenth in total by Frank Zappa, released in March 1974 in both Stereophonic sound, stereo and Quadraphonic sound, quadraphonic formats. An edited version of its lead-off track, "Don't Eat the Yellow Snow", was the first of Zappa's three ''Billboard'' Top 100 hits, ultimately peaking at number 86. The album itself became the biggest commercial success of Zappa's career, reaching number 10 on the US Billboard 200, ''Billboard'' 200. Overview ''Apostrophe (')'' remains Zappa's most commercially successful album in the United States. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA on April 7, 1976 and peaked at number 10 (a career-high placement) on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart in 1974. Continuing from the commercial breakthrough of ''Over-Nite Sensation'' (1973), this album is a similar mix of short songs showcasing Zappa's humor and musical arrangements. The record's lyrical themes are often bizarr ...
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Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, Virtuoso, musical virtuosity and satire of American culture. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestral and ''musique concrète'' works, and produced almost all of the 60-plus albums that he released with his band the Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. Zappa also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers. He is considered one of the most innovative and stylistically diverse musicians of his generation. As a self-taught composer and performer, Zappa had diverse musical influences that led him to create music that was sometimes difficult to categorize. While in his teens, he acquired a taste for 20th-century classica ...
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Quadraphonic Sound
Quadraphonic (or quadrophonic and sometimes quadrasonic) sound – equivalent to what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four audio channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of a listening space. The system allows for the reproduction of sound signals that are (wholly or in part) independent of one another. Four channel quadraphonic surround sound can be used to recreate the highly realistic effect of a three-dimensional live concert hall experience in the home. It can also be used to enhance the listener experience beyond the directional limitations of ordinary two channel stereo sound. Quadraphonic audio was the earliest consumer product in surround sound. Since it was introduced to the public in the early 1970s many thousands of quadraphonic recordings have been made. Quadraphonic sound was a commercial failure when first introduced due to a variety of technical issues and format incompatibilities. Four channel audio formats can be more expensive to ...
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Studio Tan
''Studio Tan'' is the 24th album by American musician Frank Zappa, first released in September 1978 on his own DiscReet Records label. It reached #147 on the ''Billboard'' 200 albums chart in the United States. Recording sessions The basic tracks for ''Let Me Take You to the Beach'' date from a 1969 session for the album '' Hot Rats''. The rest of the material was recorded between 1974 and 1976. Primary recording locations included the Record Plant in Los Angeles and Caribou Ranch in Colorado. History In April 1975 Zappa had a one sided demo acetate disc cut at Kendun Recorders in Burbank, California. This unreleased disc contains "Revised Music for Guitar and Low-Budget Orchestra", a nearly 8 minute version of "200 Years Old" and "Regyptian Strut". In the notes to the June 1975 album ''One Size Fits All'' Zappa mentioned a planned studio album which never appeared. Many fans believe that this was to have included ''The Adventures of Greggery Peccary'', filling one side, and ...
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Hot Rats
''Hot Rats'' is the second solo album by Frank Zappa, released in October 1969. It was Zappa's first recording project after the dissolution of the original version of the Mothers of Invention. Five of the six songs are instrumental; while "Willie the Pimp", features vocals by Captain Beefheart. In his original sleeve notes, Zappa described the album as "a movie for your ears". Zappa dedicated the album to his newborn son, Dweezil. In February 2009, Dweezil's tribute band to his father, Zappa Plays Zappa, won a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance for their rendition of "Peaches en Regalia". Background Because ''Hot Rats'' largely consists of instrumental jazz-influenced compositions with extensive soloing, the music sounds very different from earlier Zappa albums, which featured satirical vocal performances with extensive use of musique concrète and editing. Multi-instrumentalist Ian Underwood is the only member of the Mothers to appear on the album and was the pr ...
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John Guerin
John Payne Guerin (October 31, 1939 – January 5, 2004) was an American percussionist. He was a proponent of the jazz-rock style. Biography Guerin was born in Hawaii and raised in San Diego. As a young drummer he began performing with Buddy DeFranco in 1960. In the late 1960s he moved to Los Angeles where his drum work was utilized by artists including Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, George Harrison, Frank Zappa, The Animals, Joni Mitchell, Them, Thelonious Monk, Lou Rawls, Ray Conniff, George Shearing, Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, Linda Ronstadt, Nelson Riddle and countless others. From July 1972 to January 1973 he was the drummer for The Byrds, and joined the L.A. Express later that year. The band served as Joni Mitchell's back-up band on tour during the mid- to late-1970s; Guerin had a brief relationship with Mitchell during that time. She later wrote the song ''Hejira'' about leaving him. Guerin was an exponent of the jazz-rock style and played in many different genres, in ...
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Imperial Margarine
Imperial is a brand of margarine or spread, depending on the country, previously distributed by Unilever and currently marketed by Upfield. It is best remembered for television commercials in which a person who recently ate something with Imperial margarine would suddenly have a crown appear on their head (accompanied by a four note fanfare). Formulations of the product may vary by region. In the United States, Imperial is now a "vegetable oil spread" due to reductions in the percentage of vegetable oil in the product. However, in other countries, the product still qualifies as margarine. History In 1956 Lever Brothers (Unilever) developed Imperial, a margarine which had a lower melting point and which contained butter. In 1980 Michael Angus became chairman. The bulk of Lever's losses stemmed from Imperial margarine. So in 1981, Angus shut down the outdated Hammond, Indiana Hammond ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the o ...
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Nanook
In Inuit religion, Nanook (; iu, ᓇᓄᖅ , lit. "polar bear") was the master of bears, meaning he decided if hunters deserved success in finding and hunting bears and punished violations of taboos. The word was popularized by ''Nanook of the North'', the first feature-length documentary. The Inuit believed that Nanook, the polar bear, was powerful and mighty, and they thought that he was "almost man." The Inuit hunters would worship this great bear because they believed that he decided if the hunters would be successful. “In the past, the Inuit ate polar bear meat and used the fur to make warm trousers for men and kamiks (soft boots) for women”."The Inuit and Polar Bears."
Polar Bears International. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.

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Eskimo
Eskimo () is an exonym used to refer to two closely related Indigenous peoples: the Inuit (including the Alaska Native Iñupiat, the Greenlandic Inuit, and the Canadian Inuit) and the Yupik peoples, Yupik (or Siberian Yupik, Yuit) of eastern Siberia and Alaska. A related third group, the Aleut, which inhabit the Aleutian Islands, are generally excluded from the definition of Eskimo. The three groups share a relatively recent common ancestor, and speak related languages belonging to the Eskaleut languages, Eskaleut language family. These circumpolar peoples have traditionally inhabited the Arctic and subarctic regions from eastern Siberia (Russia) to Alaska (United States), Northern Canada, Nunavik, Nunatsiavut, and Greenland. Many Inuit, Yupik, Aleut, and other individuals consider the term ''Eskimo'', which is of a disputed etymology, to be unacceptable and even pejorative. Eskimo continues to be used within a historical, linguistic, archaeological, and cultural context. The g ...
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Trouble Every Day (song)
"Trouble Every Day" (labeled in early prints as "Trouble Comin' Every Day") is a song by the Mothers of Invention, released on their 1966 debut album ''Freak Out!'' Frank Zappa wrote the song in 1965 at 1819 Bellevue Avenue, Echo Park, Los Angeles, the residence of a methamphetamine chemist referred to by Zappa as "Wild Bill the Mannequin-Fucker"Zappa, p. 71 after watching news coverage of the Watts Riots.Slaven, p. 51 Originally dubbed "The Watts Riot Song", its primary lyrical themes are racial violence, social injustice, and sensationalist journalism. The musical style—featuring multiple guitar tracks and a harmonica—much more closely resembles blues than mainstream rock and roll. Producer Tom Wilson of MGM Records signed the Mothers to a record deal on March 1, 1966, having heard only this song and believing them to be a "white blues band".Zappa (1968) Together, they released "Trouble Every Day" as a single with A-side "Who Are the Brain Police?" A re-arranged version a ...
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Uncle Remus (song)
"Uncle Remus" is a song written by American musicians Frank Zappa and George Duke, and first released on Zappa's 1974 album ''Apostrophe (')''. The name of the song is derived from Uncle Remus, a fictional character found in works by writer Joel Chandler Harris. The song has been said to reflect Zappa's feelings about racism and the civil rights movement, themes which had previously been explored in his earlier song " Trouble Every Day". Composition The lyrics of "Uncle Remus" have been said to reflect Zappa's thoughts regarding racial tensions in the United States, including the civil rights movement and civil rights work that has not been done. It has also been described as an extension of Zappa's feelings on racism featured on his earlier song " Trouble Every Day". Author Ben Watson called the song "a gentle reprimand, noting how protest was being abandoned for fashion", citing Zappa's mention of growing a " 'fro", along with water from fire hoses having the potential to harm "s ...
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Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne. History AllMusic was launched as ''All Music Guide'' by Michael Erlewine, a "compulsive archivist, noted astrologer, Buddhist scholar and musician". He became interested in using computers for his astrological work in the mid-1970s and founded a software company, Matrix, in 1977. In the early 1990s, as CDs replaced LPs as the dominant format for recorded music, Erlewine purchased what he thought was a CD of early recordings by Little Richard. After buying it he discovered it was a "flaccid latter-day rehash". Frustrated with the labeling, he researched using metadata to create a music guide. In 1990, in Big Rapids, Michigan, he founded ''All Music Guide' ...
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Recording Industry Association Of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legally sold recorded music in the United States". RIAA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. RIAA was formed in 1952. Its original mission was to administer recording copyright fees and problems, work with trade unions, and do research relating to the record industry and government regulations. Early RIAA standards included the RIAA equalization curve, the format of the stereophonic record groove and the dimensions of 33 1/3, 45, and 78 rpm records. RIAA says its current mission includes: #to protect intellectual property rights and the First Amendment rights of artists #to perform research about the music industry #to monitor and review relevant laws, regulations, and policies Between 2001 and 202 ...
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