Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...
and his then-14-year-old daughter,
Moon Zappa
Moon Unit Zappa (born September 28, 1967) is an American actress, singer, and author. She is the daughter of musician Frank Zappa.
Early life
Moon Zappa was born in New York City, the eldest child of Gail (née Sloatman) and musician Frank Zapp ...
. The song appeared on Zappa's 1982 album ''
Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch
''Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch'' is an album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in May 1982 and digitally remastered in 1991. It features five tracks composed by Zappa, and one song, "Valley Girl", co-written with his da ...
'' and was released as a single, becoming his sole Top 40 hit. Though Zappa intended it to be a mocking satire of
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...
teen culture, the success of the song inadvertently popularized the "
valley girl
A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, ...
" stereotype and its associated mannerisms.
Background
The track resulted from the combination of a guitar riff that Frank had composed and Moon's desire to work with her father. According to Zappa biographer Kelly Fisher Lowe, Frank woke Moon in the middle of the night and took her to a studio to recreate conversations that she had had with friends. The lyrics were a deliberate attack on the slang and behavior of stereotypical
valley girl
A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, ...
s. Zappa stressed that it was not a happy song, and that he hated the
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...
, calling it "a most depressing place." Moon supplied Frank with much of the content, speaking typical "valley girl" or "
Valspeak
A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, fr ...
" phrases she heard at "parties, bar mitzvahs, and
the Galleria
The Galleria, stylized theGalleria and also known as the Houston Galleria, is an upscale mixed-use urban development and shopping mall located in the Uptown District of Houston, Texas, United States.
Musically, the song is atypical for Zappa because of its conventional structure compared to his other compositions, and is played entirely in
time signature
The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note value ...
with the exception of the groove at the very end.
Commercial release
"Valley Girl" was picked up by
KROQ-FM
KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock").
The stat ...
, who obtained an
acetate disc
An acetate disc (also known as a ''lacquer'', ''test acetate'', ''dubplate'', or ''transcription disc'') is a type of phonograph record generally used from the 1930s to the late 1950s for recording and broadcast purposes and still in limited use t ...
before release. Zappa praised the station's original programming but feared it would lead to others copying it, adding, "I would hate for it to become another service, freeze-dried to other stations." Moon was a regular KROQ listener and persuaded the station to play the track during an interview. There was an immediate response from the public, and the song began receiving regular airplay.
The song was Zappa's only Top 40 single in the United States, peaking at #32 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 during September 1982, although he had charted hits in other parts of the world. The song was also included on the 1995 compilation album ''
Strictly Commercial
''Strictly Commercial'' is a compilation album by Frank Zappa. It was released in 1995, two years after his death. The album was named as part of a 2011 lawsuit by Gail Zappa towards Rykodisc, claiming the label released several vault masters with ...
''.
In the U.S. the
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
was "You Are What You Is", but in other territories it was "Teen-Age Prostitute." Promotional copies contained the album and single versions of the song.
Terry "Motor Mouth" Young's suspension
In July 1982, "Valley Girl" was stunted over
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
's "Hot Hits" formatted station WCAU-FM for a short period of time during Terry "Motor Mouth" Young's evening shift on the station (7:00-8:00 PM Eastern). Young was the most popular radio
disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
in all of the Philadelphia radio market at the time. The song was played around ten consecutive times without any commercial interruptions, despite a weather forecast being simulated by Terry himself before sneakily playing the song again. Apparently drowsy after the final play, Terry drunkenly commented on the wrong song ("
Abracadabra
''Abracadabra'' is a magic word, historically used as an incantation on amulets and common today in stage magic.
Etymology
''Abracadabra'' is of unknown origin, but according to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', its first known occurrence ...
" by
The Steve Miller Band
The Steve Miller Band is an American rock music, rock band formed in 1966 in San Francisco, California. The band is led by Steve Miller (musician), Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles t ...
) before the station manager entered the studio and angrily intervened, telling Young to "get out and stay out" before shutting the door on him.
Young received a brief suspension from the station, but returned to the studio soon afterward and stayed for four more years until 1986.
Cultural response
Though intended as a parody, the single popularized the valley girl stereotype nationwide. Following the single's release, there was a significant increase in "Valspeak" slang usage, whether ironically spoken or not. In particular, the film ''
Valley Girl
A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, ...
'' capitalized on this cultural curiosity.
Zappa expressed concern that, despite his rich body of music, he was seen as a "novelty" artist because of songs like "Valley Girl" and " Don't Eat the Yellow Snow". At the time of the single's release, Moon said, "I am not a valley girl, but I guess that is my claim to fame."
At concerts, Al apologized to the audience for creating a Hit Song. "The sad truth is that, if one continues to make music year after year, eventually something will be popular. I spent my career fighting against creating marketable art, but this will slipped through the cracks. I promise to do my best never to have this happen again."
Mimi Pond
Mimi Pond is an American cartoonist, comics artist, illustrator, humorist, and writer.
Career and awards
Pond spent much of the ‘80s and ‘90s writing for television, magazines, and creating cartoons and comic strips for both mediums.
Sh ...
created a comic book about the song, ''The Valley Girl's Guide to Life,'' which launched her career.
A parody entitled "Valley Dudes" was recorded in 1982 by The Straight A's.
On September 16th, 2022 (3 months after the single's 40th anniversary), Universal Music Group (who acquired the Zappa catalogue in June of the same year) released an animated music video for the song.