Posted on Sep 4, 2018
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Versatile, prolific, iconoclastic, misanthropic—all of these labels were attached to the name Frank Zappa over the course of his unique career in music, but one label that never fit was “pop star.” Even during his late 1960s and early 1970s heyday, it would have been hard to imagine a figure less likely than Frank Zappa to make a record that would capture the imagination of America’s pop radio-listening 14-year-olds. But then a funny thing happened: Frank Zappa had a 14-year-old of his own, and through her creative attempts to connect with her work-obsessed father, a true pop phenomenon was born. On this day in 1982, Frank Zappa earned his first and only top-40 hit with the satirical record “Valley Girl,” conceived by and featuring the voice of his 14-year-old daughter, Moon Unit.
As Moon Zappa (“Unit” is her middle name) tells the story, the one and only sacred rule growing up in the Zappa household was never to disturb dad while he was working in his studio, which was most of the time. So it was via a note slipped under his studio door that Moon broached the idea of recording a song that would satirize the shallow and vapid culture of a certain element of teen culture in her Los Angeles-area environs. “Since we don’t seem to be able to get together personally,” she wrote to her father, “maybe we could get together professionally.” Two nights later, Frank Zappa invited his daughter into his studio for the first time, and they began work on “Valley Girl.”
Though intended by both father and daughter as a send-up of the stereotypical mall-dwelling teens of the San Fernando Valley, “Valley Girl” took on a life of its own once loosed into the popular culture. While most may have consumed the song as satire, that didn’t stop such Valley vocabulary as “Fer sure,” “Ohmigod,” “Gag me with a spoon” and “Grody to the max” from spreading like a virus into corners of the world previous untouched by such catchphrases.
Frank Zappa’s biographical overview at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—into which he was inducted in 1995, two years after his untimely death from cancer at the age of only 53—includes the following observation: “Throughout his career, Zappa darkly but humorously depicted a landscape of wasted human enterprise largely driven by Pavlovian desires for consumer goods, sports and sex.” “Valley Girl” might not have been the most sharply realized example of Frank Zappa’s dark humor, but when it entered the pop charts on September 4, 1982, it gave him the biggest hit of his truly unique career.
As Moon Zappa (“Unit” is her middle name) tells the story, the one and only sacred rule growing up in the Zappa household was never to disturb dad while he was working in his studio, which was most of the time. So it was via a note slipped under his studio door that Moon broached the idea of recording a song that would satirize the shallow and vapid culture of a certain element of teen culture in her Los Angeles-area environs. “Since we don’t seem to be able to get together personally,” she wrote to her father, “maybe we could get together professionally.” Two nights later, Frank Zappa invited his daughter into his studio for the first time, and they began work on “Valley Girl.”
Though intended by both father and daughter as a send-up of the stereotypical mall-dwelling teens of the San Fernando Valley, “Valley Girl” took on a life of its own once loosed into the popular culture. While most may have consumed the song as satire, that didn’t stop such Valley vocabulary as “Fer sure,” “Ohmigod,” “Gag me with a spoon” and “Grody to the max” from spreading like a virus into corners of the world previous untouched by such catchphrases.
Frank Zappa’s biographical overview at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—into which he was inducted in 1995, two years after his untimely death from cancer at the age of only 53—includes the following observation: “Throughout his career, Zappa darkly but humorously depicted a landscape of wasted human enterprise largely driven by Pavlovian desires for consumer goods, sports and sex.” “Valley Girl” might not have been the most sharply realized example of Frank Zappa’s dark humor, but when it entered the pop charts on September 4, 1982, it gave him the biggest hit of his truly unique career.
“Valley Girl,” becomes a top-40 hit for Frank and Moon Unit Zappa - Sep 04, 1982 - HISTORY.com
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Frank Zappa Daughter Moon Unit only "hit". A song turned cult-classic, 1982's "Valley Girl" Recorded 1982 Length 4:59 Genre New Wave, Avant-garde rock Label ...
Thank you my friend TSgt Joe C. for reminding us that on September 4, 1982 the tongue-in-cheek “Valley Girl" by Frank Zappa and his daughter Moon Unit Zappa became a top-40 hi
Moon Zappa Valley Girl
Frank Zappa Daughter Moon Unit only "hit". A song turned cult-classic, 1982's "Valley Girl"
Recorded 1982 Length 4:59
Genre New Wave, Avant-garde rock
Label Barking Pumpkin
Writer(s) Frank Zappa, Moon Zappa
Producer Frank Zappa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb21lsCQ3EM
Valley Girl written by Frank Zappa, Moon Zappa
Lyrics
"Valley girl
She's a valley girl
Valley girl
She's a valley girl
Okay, fine
Fer sure
Fer sure
She's a valley girl
In a clothing store
Okay, fine
Fer sure
Fer sure
She's a
Like, oh my god!
(Valley girl)
Like, totally!
(Valley girl)
Encino is, like, so bitchin'
(Valley girl)
There's, like, the Galleria
(Valley girl)
And, like
All these, like, really great shoe stores
I, like
Love going into, like, clothing stores and stuff
I, like
Buy the neatest mini-skirts and stuff
It's, like, so bitchin'
Cause, like, everybody's like
Super-super nice
It's, like, so bitchin'
Like
On Ventura
There she goes
She just bought some bitchin' clothes
Tosses her head
And flips her hair
She got a whole bunch of nothing in there
Anyway
He goes "Are you into S and M?"
I go, oh, right
Could you, like, just picture me
In a, like, a leather teddy
Yeah, right
Hurt me, hurt me
I'm sure!
No way!
He was, like, freaking me out
He called me a beastie
That's cause, like
He was totally blitzed
He goes, like, bag your face!
I'm sure!
Valley girl
She's a valley girl
Valley girl
She's a valley girl
Okay, fine
Fer sure
Fer sure
She's a valley girl
So sweet 'n pure
Okay, fine
Fer sure
Fer sure
She's a
It's really sad
(Valley girl)
Like my English teacher
He's like
(Valley girl)
He's like Mr. Bu-Fu
(Valley girl)
We're talking Lord God King Bu-Fu
(Valley girl)
I am so sure
He's, like, so gross
Like, he sits there and
Like, plays with all his rings
And he, like
Flirts with all the guys in the class
It's, like, totally disgusting
I'm like so sure
It's like
Barf me out
Gag me with a spoon!
Last idea to cross her mind
Had something to do with where to find
A pair of jeans to fit her butt
And where to get her toenails cut
So, like
I go into this, like, salon place, y'know
And I wanted, like, to get my toenails done
And the lady, like, goes
"Oh, my god, your toenails are, like, so grody"
It was, like, really embarrassing
She's like
"Oh, my God, like, bag those toenails"
I'm like, "Sure"
She goes
"Uh, I don't know if I can handle this"
Y'know
I was like really embarrassed
Valley girl
She's a valley girl
Valley girl
She's a valley girl
Okay, fine
Fer sure
Fer sure
She's a valley girl
And there is no cure
Okay, fine
Fer sure
Fer sure
She's a valley girl
And there is no cure
Like, my mother is, like, a total space cadet
(Valley girl)
She, like
Makes me do the dishes
(Valley girl)
And clean the cat box
(Valley girl)
I am sure
That's, like, gross
(Valley girl)
Barf out!
(Valley girl)
Oh, my God!
(Valley girl)
Hi!
Uh-huh
(Valley girl)
My name?
My name is Ondrya Wolfson
(Valley girl)
Uh-huh
That's right, Ondrya
(Valley girl)
Uh-huh
I know, it's like
(Valley girl)
I do not talk funny
I am sure
(Valley girl)
What's'a matter with the way I talk?
(Valley girl)
I am a val, I know
(Valley girl)
But I live in, like
In a really good part of Encino
So it's okay
(Valley girl)
(Valley girl)
So, like, I don't know
(Valley girl)
I'm, like, freaking out totally
(Valley girl)
Oh my God!
(Valley girl)
Hi, I have to go to the orthodontist
(Valley girl)
I'm getting my braces off, y'know
(Valley girl)
But I have to wear a retainer
That's going to be really, like, a total bummer
I'm freaking out
I'm sure
Like, those things that, like, stick in your mouth
They're so gross
You, like, get saliva all over them
But, like, I don't know
It's going to be cool, y'know
You guys might see my smile
It'll be, like, really cool
Except my, like
My teeth are, like, too small
But no biggie
It's so awesome
It's like tubular, y'know
Well, I'm not, like, really ugly or anything
It's just like
I don't know
You know me
I'm, like, into the, like, the clean stuff
Like, Pac-Man
And like, I don't know
Like, my mother, like
Makes me do the dishes
It's, like, so gross
Like, all the stuff, like
Sticks to the plates
And it's like, it's like
Somebody else's food, y'know
It's like grody
Grody to the max
I'm sure
It's, like, really nauseating
Like, barf out
Gag me with a spoon!
Gross!
I am sure!
Totally!"
Background on the song from songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1133
"Frank Zappa released 62 albums in his lifetime (many more appeared after his death), but "Valley Girl" is his only song to crack the US Top 40. Hearing him on playlists alongside Rick Springfield and Journey was shocking to Zappa fans, who were accustomed to his subversive tunes and caustic attitude toward mainstream music.
"Valley Girl" got the attention of radio program directors (Zappa's nemesis) as a quirky novelty song that listeners could easily digest. "'Valley Girl' is innocuous enough that they'll play it," Zappa said in Creem. "They figure everyone will just have a little laugh and that's it. No real information is conveyed. There is definitely an anti-information syndrome as far as radio is concerned. No real content is ever allowed on the airwaves anyplace."
The song makes fun of Valley Girl talk, an early '80s trend that started in California and led to teenage girls around the country saying things like "Gag me with a spoon." It pokes fun at what Zappa believed were spoiled rich girls living in the San Fernando Valley of California. Laraine Newman was doing variations on the Valley Girl character on Saturday Night Live at the time.
This features Zappa's daughter, Moon Unit Zappa, as the Valley Girl. She was 14 when they recorded it.
Moon was also an inspiration for the lyrics, as she would come home from bar mitzvahs repeating the Valley Girl talk she heard and covering topics like a grody English teacher and a place to get her toenails done. She got a co-writing credit on the song for coming up with many of the lines. Moon didn't consider herself a Valley Girl, but learned how to talk like one.
Leave to Frank Zappa to get a song on the radio that discusses S&M, albeit from the perspective of a girl who wants nothing to do with it. "Could you like just picture me in like a leather teddy?" she asks.
Moon Unit Zappa got a taste of stardom with this song, suddenly becoming very popular at school. In Creem, she said the kind of thing you would expect a 14-year-old girl with a flash of fame to say: "I don't want to be recognized. But I feel I know what it's like to be a handicapped person now. You know, when you go by someone in a wheelchair you kind of stay away."
Moon stayed in the corner of the public eye, making appearances as a VJ on MTV and showing up in various TV shows and movies. Her most famous role is playing Rusty's love interest in the 1985 film National Lampoon's European Vacation.
In 2000, a California man named Timothy Brownfield sent letters to the FBI threatening to kill Moon Unit Zappa because he thought she stole the lyrics from him."
FYI LTC Jeff ShearerSGT Philip Roncari Sgt Arthur Caesar ]Lt Col Jim CoeCWO3 Dennis M.SGT (Join to see)PO3 Bob McCordSGT Jim Arnold Sgt Albert Castro PO3 Phyllis Maynard Maj Robert Thornton 1SG Carl McAndrews SPC Douglas Bolton Cynthia Croft PO1 H Gene Lawrence SGT Brent Scott CW5 John M. CMSgt (Join to see) PO2 Kevin Parker
Moon Zappa Valley Girl
Frank Zappa Daughter Moon Unit only "hit". A song turned cult-classic, 1982's "Valley Girl"
Recorded 1982 Length 4:59
Genre New Wave, Avant-garde rock
Label Barking Pumpkin
Writer(s) Frank Zappa, Moon Zappa
Producer Frank Zappa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qb21lsCQ3EM
Valley Girl written by Frank Zappa, Moon Zappa
Lyrics
"Valley girl
She's a valley girl
Valley girl
She's a valley girl
Okay, fine
Fer sure
Fer sure
She's a valley girl
In a clothing store
Okay, fine
Fer sure
Fer sure
She's a
Like, oh my god!
(Valley girl)
Like, totally!
(Valley girl)
Encino is, like, so bitchin'
(Valley girl)
There's, like, the Galleria
(Valley girl)
And, like
All these, like, really great shoe stores
I, like
Love going into, like, clothing stores and stuff
I, like
Buy the neatest mini-skirts and stuff
It's, like, so bitchin'
Cause, like, everybody's like
Super-super nice
It's, like, so bitchin'
Like
On Ventura
There she goes
She just bought some bitchin' clothes
Tosses her head
And flips her hair
She got a whole bunch of nothing in there
Anyway
He goes "Are you into S and M?"
I go, oh, right
Could you, like, just picture me
In a, like, a leather teddy
Yeah, right
Hurt me, hurt me
I'm sure!
No way!
He was, like, freaking me out
He called me a beastie
That's cause, like
He was totally blitzed
He goes, like, bag your face!
I'm sure!
Valley girl
She's a valley girl
Valley girl
She's a valley girl
Okay, fine
Fer sure
Fer sure
She's a valley girl
So sweet 'n pure
Okay, fine
Fer sure
Fer sure
She's a
It's really sad
(Valley girl)
Like my English teacher
He's like
(Valley girl)
He's like Mr. Bu-Fu
(Valley girl)
We're talking Lord God King Bu-Fu
(Valley girl)
I am so sure
He's, like, so gross
Like, he sits there and
Like, plays with all his rings
And he, like
Flirts with all the guys in the class
It's, like, totally disgusting
I'm like so sure
It's like
Barf me out
Gag me with a spoon!
Last idea to cross her mind
Had something to do with where to find
A pair of jeans to fit her butt
And where to get her toenails cut
So, like
I go into this, like, salon place, y'know
And I wanted, like, to get my toenails done
And the lady, like, goes
"Oh, my god, your toenails are, like, so grody"
It was, like, really embarrassing
She's like
"Oh, my God, like, bag those toenails"
I'm like, "Sure"
She goes
"Uh, I don't know if I can handle this"
Y'know
I was like really embarrassed
Valley girl
She's a valley girl
Valley girl
She's a valley girl
Okay, fine
Fer sure
Fer sure
She's a valley girl
And there is no cure
Okay, fine
Fer sure
Fer sure
She's a valley girl
And there is no cure
Like, my mother is, like, a total space cadet
(Valley girl)
She, like
Makes me do the dishes
(Valley girl)
And clean the cat box
(Valley girl)
I am sure
That's, like, gross
(Valley girl)
Barf out!
(Valley girl)
Oh, my God!
(Valley girl)
Hi!
Uh-huh
(Valley girl)
My name?
My name is Ondrya Wolfson
(Valley girl)
Uh-huh
That's right, Ondrya
(Valley girl)
Uh-huh
I know, it's like
(Valley girl)
I do not talk funny
I am sure
(Valley girl)
What's'a matter with the way I talk?
(Valley girl)
I am a val, I know
(Valley girl)
But I live in, like
In a really good part of Encino
So it's okay
(Valley girl)
(Valley girl)
So, like, I don't know
(Valley girl)
I'm, like, freaking out totally
(Valley girl)
Oh my God!
(Valley girl)
Hi, I have to go to the orthodontist
(Valley girl)
I'm getting my braces off, y'know
(Valley girl)
But I have to wear a retainer
That's going to be really, like, a total bummer
I'm freaking out
I'm sure
Like, those things that, like, stick in your mouth
They're so gross
You, like, get saliva all over them
But, like, I don't know
It's going to be cool, y'know
You guys might see my smile
It'll be, like, really cool
Except my, like
My teeth are, like, too small
But no biggie
It's so awesome
It's like tubular, y'know
Well, I'm not, like, really ugly or anything
It's just like
I don't know
You know me
I'm, like, into the, like, the clean stuff
Like, Pac-Man
And like, I don't know
Like, my mother, like
Makes me do the dishes
It's, like, so gross
Like, all the stuff, like
Sticks to the plates
And it's like, it's like
Somebody else's food, y'know
It's like grody
Grody to the max
I'm sure
It's, like, really nauseating
Like, barf out
Gag me with a spoon!
Gross!
I am sure!
Totally!"
Background on the song from songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1133
"Frank Zappa released 62 albums in his lifetime (many more appeared after his death), but "Valley Girl" is his only song to crack the US Top 40. Hearing him on playlists alongside Rick Springfield and Journey was shocking to Zappa fans, who were accustomed to his subversive tunes and caustic attitude toward mainstream music.
"Valley Girl" got the attention of radio program directors (Zappa's nemesis) as a quirky novelty song that listeners could easily digest. "'Valley Girl' is innocuous enough that they'll play it," Zappa said in Creem. "They figure everyone will just have a little laugh and that's it. No real information is conveyed. There is definitely an anti-information syndrome as far as radio is concerned. No real content is ever allowed on the airwaves anyplace."
The song makes fun of Valley Girl talk, an early '80s trend that started in California and led to teenage girls around the country saying things like "Gag me with a spoon." It pokes fun at what Zappa believed were spoiled rich girls living in the San Fernando Valley of California. Laraine Newman was doing variations on the Valley Girl character on Saturday Night Live at the time.
This features Zappa's daughter, Moon Unit Zappa, as the Valley Girl. She was 14 when they recorded it.
Moon was also an inspiration for the lyrics, as she would come home from bar mitzvahs repeating the Valley Girl talk she heard and covering topics like a grody English teacher and a place to get her toenails done. She got a co-writing credit on the song for coming up with many of the lines. Moon didn't consider herself a Valley Girl, but learned how to talk like one.
Leave to Frank Zappa to get a song on the radio that discusses S&M, albeit from the perspective of a girl who wants nothing to do with it. "Could you like just picture me in like a leather teddy?" she asks.
Moon Unit Zappa got a taste of stardom with this song, suddenly becoming very popular at school. In Creem, she said the kind of thing you would expect a 14-year-old girl with a flash of fame to say: "I don't want to be recognized. But I feel I know what it's like to be a handicapped person now. You know, when you go by someone in a wheelchair you kind of stay away."
Moon stayed in the corner of the public eye, making appearances as a VJ on MTV and showing up in various TV shows and movies. Her most famous role is playing Rusty's love interest in the 1985 film National Lampoon's European Vacation.
In 2000, a California man named Timothy Brownfield sent letters to the FBI threatening to kill Moon Unit Zappa because he thought she stole the lyrics from him."
FYI LTC Jeff ShearerSGT Philip Roncari Sgt Arthur Caesar ]Lt Col Jim CoeCWO3 Dennis M.SGT (Join to see)PO3 Bob McCordSGT Jim Arnold Sgt Albert Castro PO3 Phyllis Maynard Maj Robert Thornton 1SG Carl McAndrews SPC Douglas Bolton Cynthia Croft PO1 H Gene Lawrence SGT Brent Scott CW5 John M. CMSgt (Join to see) PO2 Kevin Parker
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