Frank Zappa: Does Humor Belong in Music?

Watch Movie

Frank Zappa: Does Humor Belong in Music?

1985

0h 57m

7.7(5 votes)

Music

Overview

Frank Zappa and his band in a digitally recorded live performance at "The Pier" in New York, NY on August 26, 1984.

Links & Resources

IMDbView

Social & External

IMDb

Cast & Crew

9 members

Acting

Frank Zappa

Self

Acting

Ray White

Self

No Image

Acting

Ike Willis

Self

Acting

Bobby Martin

Self

No Image

Sound

Allan Zavod

Self

Acting

Scott Thunes

Self

No Image

Acting

Chad Wackerman

Self

Acting

Pablo Guzman

Interviewee: WNEW, New York City

No Image

Acting

John Smothers

Self

No Image

Similar Movies

5.8

2008

Frank Zappa: The Torture Never Stops

Halloween, New York City, 1981 Live at The Palladium with Ray White, Steve Vai, Bobby Martin, Tommy Mars, Ed Mann, Scott Thunes, Chad Wackerman

Movie

Classic Albums: Pink Floyd - The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon

7.3

2003

Classic Albums: Pink Floyd - The Making of The Dark Side of the Moon

Released to coincide with the 30th anniversary of this classic album, learn how Pink Floyd assembled "Dark Side of the Moon" with the aid of original engineer Alan Parsons. All four band members--Roger Waters, David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Richard Wright--are interviewed at length, giving valuable insights into the recording process. The themes of the album are discussed at length, and the band take you back to the original multi track tapes to illustrate how they pieced together the songs. With individual performances of certain tracks from Roger, David, and Richard included, this is an essential purchase for any Pink Floyd fans, and a fascinating artefact for rock historians everywhere.

Movie

Frank Zappa – Summer '82: When Zappa Came to Sicily

7.8

2014

Frank Zappa – Summer '82: When Zappa Came to Sicily

In the feature documentary, Summer 82 – When Zappa Came to Sicily, filmmaker and Zappa fan Salvo Cuccia tells the behind-the-scenes story of Frank Zappa's star-crossed concert in Palermo, Sicily, the wrap-up to a European tour that ended in public disturbances and police intervention. Cuccia had a ticket to the concert but never made it. Thirty years later, collaborating with Zappa's family, he re-creates the events through a combination of rare concert and backstage footage; photographs; anecdotes from family, band members, and concertgoers; and insights from Zappa biographer and friend Massimo Bassoli. The story is also a personal one, as Cuccia interweaves the story of Zappa's trip to Sicily with his own memories from that summer.

Movie

8.8

2024

Rite Here Rite Now

Whether you’re a devoted disciple looking to relive treasured memories of the GHOST live spectacle or among the curious uninitiated, RITE HERE RITE NOW will put you right there: putting your phones down and living in the moment—as a shadow of uncertainty looms—completely spellbound and in the thrall of this bombastic yet intimate cinematic portrait of GHOST.

Movie

8.4

1975

Yessongs

Filmed live at London's Rainbow Theatre in December 1972, the innovative group Yes performs its progressive rock symphonies -- epic compositions that influenced new trends in contemporary music. "Yessongs" provides a visual record of the concert tour that became a groundbreaking tour de force in rock music. This unique concert video of Yes was filmed during their record-breaking tour and features the talents of the five original band members. The massively popular band defined the prog rock movement with their mystical epics which infused both a Medieval and Classical sound into rock music. Titles performed include "Close to the Edge," "All Good People," and "Roundabout."

Movie

5.3

1971

200 Motels

"Touring makes you crazy," Frank Zappa says, explaining that the idea for this film came to him while the Mothers of Invention were touring. The story, interspersed with performances by the Mothers and the Royal Symphony Orchestra, is a tale of life on the road. The band members' main concerns are the search for groupies and the desire to get paid.

Movie

7.3

1965

Time Piece

Dislocation in time, time signatures, time as a philosophical concept, and slavery to time are some of the themes touched upon in this 9-minute experimental film, which was written, directed, and produced by Jim Henson. Screened for the first time at the Museum of Modern Art in May of 1965, "Time Piece" enjoyed an eighteen-month run at one Manhattan movie theater and was nominated for an Academy Award for Outstanding Short Subject.

Movie

2019

Long Distance Calling: STUMMFILM - Live From Hamburg

For 13 years the quartet Long Distance Calling, which is based in Münster, has been praised and celebrated for its equally weightless and colossal music. After returning to their instrumental roots, Long Distance Calling planned the next step. Under the perfect tour title 'Seats and Sounds', the band performed in front of a seated audience.

Movie

8.1

1972

Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii

British progressive rock band Pink Floyd perform at the ancient Roman Amphitheater in the ruins of Pompeii, Italy in 1971. Although the band perform a typical live set from the era, there is no audience beyond the basic film crew. The Bluray version of 2025 contains the following audio streams: 96kHz / 24bit LPCM uncompressed, 96kHz / 24bit 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, Dolby Atmos (Feature film only). You can choose to watch the entire movie or just the concert.

Movie

Electric Light Orchestra: Out of the Blue - Live at Wembley

7.1

1978

Electric Light Orchestra: Out of the Blue - Live at Wembley

In the 1970s, England's Electric Light Orchestra (aka ELO) was renowned for both its lushly textured prog rock and its ornately orchestrated arena concerts. This program captures the band performing live at London's Wembley Stadium in support of their OUT OF THE BLUE album in 1978, combining a spectacular light show and special effects with classic tunes such as "Standing in the Rain," "Sweet Talking Woman," "Mr. Blue Sky," and many more.

Movie

8.1

1984

Good Morning, Mr. Orwell

In his book "1984", George Orwell saw the television of the future as a control instrument in the hands of Big Brother. Right at the start of the much-anticipated Orwellian year, Paik and Co. were keen to demonstrate satellite TV's ability to serve positive ends-- Namely, the intercontinental exchange of culture, combining both highbrow and entertainment elements. A live broadcast shared between WNET TV in New York and the Centre Pompidou in Paris, linked up with broadcasters in Germany and South Korea, reached a worldwide audience of over 10 or even 25 million (including the later repeat transmissions).

Movie

Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile

7.0

2004

Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of Smile

This film tells (using modern day interviews and archival footage and sound tapes) the story of how in 1967, while his band The Beach Boys triumphantly toured abroad, Brian Wilson was trying to push the boundaries of conventional pop music with a new follow-up to the Beach Boys' cutting-edge mega-hit, Pet Sounds. The new album was to be called "SMiLE". SMiLE pushed the envelope both musically and lyrically, and was supposed to out-do the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper record. But Brian wasn't able to sell the project to his band-mates when they returned. The project was shelved and Wilson's well-documented decline into depression, drug abuse, recluseness, and obesity had begun. Thirty-odd years later, Wilson announced that in 2004, SMiLE would be performed live in its entirety in London. This film tells the story of a damaged but healing artist bringing his greatest work to light.

Movie

5.9

1958

The Very Eye of Night

Dancers, shown in photographic negative, perform a series of ballet moves, solos, pas de deux, larger groupings. The dancers glide and rotate untroubled by gravity against a slowly changing starfield background. Their movements are accompanied by music scored for a small ensemble of woodwind and percussion.

Movie

7.3

2020

Zappa

With the help of more than 10,000 dedicated Zappa fans, this is the long-awaited definitive documentary project of Alex Winter documenting the life and career of enigmatic groundbreaking rock star Frank Zappa. Alex also utilizes in this picture thousands of hours of painstakingly digitized videos, photos, audio, writing, and everything in between from Zappa's private archives. These chronicles have never been brought to a public audience before, until now.

Movie

2024

A Bold Voyage

A tragic story of a musician taking a bold voyage in the pursuit of creation, ambition, and need. Letting life choose for him, as part of the art itself and coming to terms with his decisions.

Movie

8.0

2012

Moby From the Basement

Collaborating with a cellist and a superb trio of vocalists (featuring Inyang Bassey), an unassuming Moby transforms several hit songs in an illuminating performance filmed for Nigel Godrich’s “From the Basement” series.

Movie

6.9

2012

The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye

An intimate, affecting portrait of the life and work of ground-breaking performance artist and music pioneer Genesis Breyer P-Orridge (Throbbing Gristle, Psychic TV) and their wife and collaborator, Lady Jaye, centered around the daring sexual transformations the pair underwent for their 'Pandrogyne' project.

Movie

Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words

7.3

2016

Eat That Question: Frank Zappa in His Own Words

Utilizing potent TV interviews and many forgotten performances from his 30-year career, we are immersed into Frank Zappa’s world while experiencing two distinct facets of his complex character. At once Zappa was both a charismatic composer who reveled in the joy of performing and, in the next moment, a fiercely intelligent and brutally honest interviewee whose convictions only got stronger as his career ascended.

Movie

Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Live In Zurich 1970

8.0

1971

Emerson, Lake & Palmer: Live In Zurich 1970

Performance filmed in Switzerland December 4, 1970 and later broadcast in 1971 on Belgium TV program Pop Music (AKA Pop Shop)

Movie

2009

Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention: In the 1960's

Here's the most detailed, informative, fascinating Zappa & the Mothers doc yet! Their restless experimentation and agitated social satire come into sharper focus as music journalists and Zappa biographers chime in with Zappa's bandmates and as you watch rare '60s performances and interviews.

Movie

Recommended Movies

No Recommendations Yet

We're working on finding the perfect movies for you. Check back soon!

More movies coming soon