Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

In my day, never was longer.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Bark louder, little dog.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Republicans in disarray!

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

You are here: Home / Music / That Woodstock brain, that acid face

That Woodstock brain, that acid face

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I know there’s constant kidding about hippies here, and I have a dear real-life friend whom I also kid about being a hippie. I have no idea what hippie means anymore, but it got me thinking…what are the best anti-hippie songs? I like I’m Straight. There’s also of course Okie From Muskogee.

Are there others? Is it fair to think of it as a genre?

Reader Interactions

173Comments

  2. 2.

    agorabum

    Granola Head by the Queers:

    I don’t wanna be a granola head!
    Eating magic mushrooms ain’t for me
    Or getting all screwed up on LSD
    Or eating bean sprouts all day long
    And smoking pot out of a bong
    Wearing flowers in my hair
    And having dirty underwear
    I don’t wanna be a granola-head

  5. 5.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Hah! I can finally play this game:

    If you doubt that people who govern us
    Should be selected by their desire
    To allow us to strive for any goal we feel capable of obtaining
    Than its doubtful you should participate in their selection
    If you are not grateful to a country
    That gave your father the opportunity to work
    For his family to give you the things you have and you do not feel pride
    Enough to fight for your right to continue in this
    Manner than I assume the blame for your failure
    To recognize the true value of our birthright
    And I will remind you that your mother will love
    you no matter what you do, because she is a woman
    And I love you too son
    But I also love our country and the principles for which we stand
    And if you decide to burn your draft card
    then burn your birth certificate at the same time
    From that moment on, I have no son

  6. 6.

    Dr. Loveless

    The Dead Kennedys, either “California Uber Alles” or “Holiday in Cambodia” (although these days, to me, the latter’s lyrics sound more anti-Totebagger).

  9. 9.

    Egypt Steve

    Well, I heard Mr. Young sing about her,
    I heard ol’ Neal put her down
    Well I hope Neal Young will remember
    A southern man don’t need him around, anyhow.

  11. 11.

    O Possum

    There’s a 70s video somewhere (which I can’t seem to find tonight) of an obviously-stoned Beach Boys snarking their way through Okie From Muskogee. Best version I’ve ever heard.

  17. 17.

    mai naem

    I was looking up the Romney boys after the Tagg stuff today. These are where they served their mormon missions:
    Tagg Romney served in Bordeaux, France.
    Matt Romney served in Paris France.
    Josh”Crazy Eyes” Romney served in Leeds, England.
    Ben “The Mailman’s” Romney served in Australia.
    Craig “Homeboy” Romney served in Santiago, Chile.

    Apparently not one could serve in a third world country(Chile is not a third world country esp. Santiago.)

    Also Josh”Crazy Eye”Romney was a model. I ain’t shitting you. Found it on the google. He apparently quit because he didn’t like the meat market aspect of being a male model. Mah gaydar is going off here very strongly. He’s also the only one who’s interested in running for political office.
    And three of the boys have used surrogates/artificial insemination to have kiddies going against their church laws. Ben doesn’t have kids. So only one did it normally.
    This is one wacky family.

  22. 22.

    The Other Chuck

    Ok, am I just too much of a nerd for thinking this was was a riff on Coleridge? “His flashing eyes, his floating hair”? Yeah, probably just me.

    Oh and the slugline says “that woodstock grin” — guess someone’s been munching their Mondegreens :)

  23. 23.

    BGinCHI

    Only Raven will know this, but “I hate the Grateful Dead, I’ll be grateful when they’re dead,” by the Killbillies.

    Also, ever song by the Clash.

  24. 24.

    beltane

    @mai naem: If the Palin family felt all too familiar (at least if you live in a rural area), the Romney family feels all too foreign and strange. They are almost not of this earth, and I do not mean this in a good way. Do they have their own little eugenics project going on there at the Romney compound? It sure does look that way.

    Werner Herzog should make a documentary about them.

  25. 25.

    Peter

    I’d go with “Who Needs The Peace Corps” from Zappa’s We’re Only In It For The Money, along with several other tracks on that brilliant record. The whole thing, really, now that I think about it, though there’s plenty of right-bashing too.

  27. 27.

    Anton Sirius

    Here we stand
    Like an Adam and an Eve
    Waterfalls
    The Garden of Eden
    Two fools in love
    So beautiful and strong
    The birds in the trees
    Are smiling upon them
    From the age of the dinosaurs
    Cars have run on gasoline
    Where, where have they gone?
    Now, it’s nothing but flowers

    There was a factory
    Now there are mountains and rivers
    you got it, you got it

    We caught a rattlesnake
    Now we got something for dinner
    we got it, we got it

    There was a shopping mall
    Now it’s all covered with flowers
    you’ve got it, you’ve got it

    If this is paradise
    I wish I had a lawnmower
    you’ve got it, you’ve got it

    Years ago
    I was an angry young man
    I’d pretend
    That I was a billboard
    Standing tall
    By the side of the road
    I fell in love
    With a beautiful highway
    This used to be real estate
    Now it’s only fields and trees
    Where, where is the town
    Now, it’s nothing but flowers
    The highways and cars
    Were sacrificed for agriculture
    I thought that we’d start over
    But I guess I was wrong

    Once there were parking lots
    Now it’s a peaceful oasis
    you got it, you got it

    This was a Pizza Hut
    Now it’s all covered with daisies
    you got it, you got it

    I miss the honky tonks,
    Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens
    you got it, you got it

    And as things fell apart
    Nobody paid much attention
    you got it, you got it

    I dream of cherry pies,
    Candy bars, and chocolate chip cookies
    you got it, you got it

    We used to microwave
    Now we just eat nuts and berries
    you got it, you got it

    This was a discount store,
    Now it’s turned into a cornfield
    you got it, you got it

    Don’t leave me stranded here
    I can’t get used to this lifestyle

  28. 28.

    Spaghetti Lee

    I’ve sometimes felt that American pop culture from 1968-1970 was all about how awesome hippies were, and American pop culture since 1971 has been all about how hippies suck. I’m not really a hippie myself, but I find the obsession a little weird.

  29. 29.

    Short Bus Bully

    Anti- hippie you say? Uh, how about nearly everything in the “Country & Western” genre?

  30. 30.

    beltane

    @Spaghetti Lee: Pre-1967 America must have been one lame-ass place if the appearance of hippies created such a furor. Was it really all that shocking to see guys with long hair walking around? Grow up and get a life, America.

  33. 33.

    PJ

    “trouble behind, trouble ahead, the only good deadhead is one that’s dead.” -Teen Idles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaUo2Q4Dy0Y

  38. 38.

    Hill Dweller

    @GregB:

    Matt Drudge and the GOP think that it is optimal when four Americans are killed!

    I’ll admit to being a bit worried when they started disseminating the propaganda, but after watching The Daily Show, the wingnuts have nuthin’.

  39. 39.

    dead existentialist

    @Anton Sirius: OK I recognize some of the lyrics and they’re hippie enough. Who was that?

    And for those who were “there” and ran away after the 12th playing of this monstrosity . . . .

  41. 41.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @beltane:

    Lived through those times. The number of actual hippies were a vanishingly small percentage of the population. More people, even in landlocked states, bought into the surf craze of the Sixties. The obsession was as American as apple pie; people thought that someone might be having way more fun than they were so, by God, they were going to put a stop to it.

  42. 42.

    Political Observer

    Hey did you losers see this?

    Electronic voting machines owned by Mitt Romney’s business buddy’s and set to count the votes in Cincinnati could decide the 2012 election.

    In the bag, baby! Even Kos is freaking out over it.

    You’re already deciding to say ZOMG TEH ELECTION WAS STOOOLEEEEN, now I KNOW you have lost!

  44. 44.

    Maude

    If You Go To San Francisco. I hope that’s the title.
    Eve of Destruction
    Where Have All the Flowers Gone
    Blowing in The Wind
    The album Sargent (sp) Lonely Hearts Club Band
    The White Album

  45. 45.

    Anne Laurie

    @beltane:

    Werner Herzog should make a documentary about them.

    /Been a while, but IIRC Aguirre the Wrath of God was a pretty fair analog…

  46. 46.

    Political Observer

    Prominent partners and directors on the H.I.G board hail from Bain Company or Bain Capital both connected to Mitt Romney. H.I.G employees have contributed at least $338,000 to Romney’s campaign. H.I.G. directors , John P. Bolduk and Douglas Berman are both major Romney fundraisers as is former Bain and H.I.G, manager Brian Shortsleeve.

    You got it. Mitt Romney’s machines will be counting the votes in Ohio. ;)

  47. 47.

    Funkula

    Pretty much every song ever written by Anal C**t is about hating people for having feelings or contributing to society. Some that seem particularly hippie-focused are “Pottery’s Gay,” “You Go to Art School,” “Laughing While Leonard Peltier Gets Raped in Prison,” “Sweatshops Are Cool,” and of course “Beating up Hippies for their Drugs at a Phish Concert.”

  48. 48.

    Soylent Green

    The best pro-hippie song is “Hippie From Olema,” by the Youngbloods, sung to the tune of “Okie From Muskogee.”

    Well i’m proud to be a hippie from Olema
    Where we’re friendly to the squares and all the straights
    We still take in strangers if they’re ragged
    We can’t think of anyone to hate

    We don’t watch commercials in Olema
    We don’t buy the plastic crap they sell
    We still wear our hair long like folks used to
    And we bathe often, therefore we don’t smell

    Well i’m proud to be a hippie from Olema
    Where we’re friendly to the squares and all the straights
    We still take in strangers if they’re ragged
    We can’t think of anyone to hate

    We don’t throw our beer cans on the highway
    We don’t slight a man because he’s black
    We don’t spill our oil out in the ocean
    ’Cause we love birds and fish too much for that

    And i’m proud to be a hippie from olema
    Where we’re friendly to the squares and all the straights
    We still take in strangers if they’re Haggard
    In Olema, California, Planet Earth

    Speaking of Merle Haggard, “Okie From Muskogee” was written as a parody of rednecks, not as a celebration of them.

  53. 53.

    dead existentialist

    This thread is about white hippies, who were pretty sad poseurs, really. Think about it: they tuned in, dropped out, and eventually became yuppies after they came to their senses.

    I share with you the real hippies who were about peace, love, and going beyond the limits although they came along just a few years later.

    Pfunk.

    Because you all deserve it.

  54. 54.

    Nylund

    The burger joint near me in Texas proudly displays photos from the 60’s where the owner is shown kicking out college kids for having long hair.

    Not a song, I know, but it seems like a weird thing to still be proud of some 50 years later. Oh yeah, and there’s lots of pictures of Laura Bush too.

  56. 56.

    Mnemosyne

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    I think it’s difficult for non Gen-Xers to understand how easy it is to loathe a stockbroker who shows you the pictures of him and his “old lady” (who is now an upper-class housewife) at Woodstock in 1969 and insists on telling you how your generation is all stupid and lazy because you didn’t change the world like he did.

  58. 58.

    SW

    “incredibly great Eleventh Dream Day.” Taste in music is an incredibly diverse thing. Whatever turns your crank. To me, that sounds like somebody got an electric guitar for Christmas. To someone else I guess it is the raw energetic sound of great Rock n Roll.

  66. 66.

    Mnemosyne

    Is it just me, or does the Romney slogan I keep seeing at the top of the page sound like an ad for the Betty Ford Clinic? “We promise recovery, not dependency”?

  68. 68.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Mnemosyne:

    I guess. I’m too young for those fights to matter. My own opinion is that if you want overblown poseurism, punk rock is a great place to look. I love the Clash and the Ramones are OK, but I’ve never understood how, say, the Sex Pistols have remained so ‘important’ for so long.

  76. 76.

    JWL

    I am a bona fide, second wave, San Francisco suburban white punk on dope hippie. Which is to say, I was just another dumb kid.

    The answer, without a doubt, is Okee From Muskogee. It was one of the few pop tunes/huge hit that skewered Mister Straw Dog Hippie with genuine wit.

    Okee also inspired Asshole From El Paso, and Hippie From Olema. What higher praise?

  78. 78.

    MikeJ

    Some might think Ravi Shankar was a hippie, but anything with droooooones might fit. I don’t know any famous bagpipers.

  80. 80.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @beltane:

    Was it really all that shocking to see guys with long hair walking around?

    Yes, yes it was. The start was the Beatles. They had bangs. They wore their hair like girls. It really was quite a shock.

  82. 82.

    Political Observer

    ROMNEY AHEAD <a href="ROMNEY NOW FOUR POINTS AHEAD IN PENNSYLVANIA, SHOCK POLL“>FOUR POINTSIN PENNSYLVANIA POLL!

    Ohio may now be irrelevant!

  89. 89.

    burnspbesq

    Maybe I misinterpreted it, but I’ve always thought there was a gentle undertone of hippie-mockery in “Hot Fun in the Summertime.” I mean, Larry Graham singing “county fair in the country sun” in that basso profundo of his?

  91. 91.

    burnspbesq

    @Political Observer:

    You can spew all the mindless bullshit you want on this blog, but you’d better fucking show up on November 7 and take what’s coming to you, you fuck. Your guy is toast. The American voters aren’t as stupid as you.

  92. 92.

    Mnemosyne

    @Comrade Mary:

    Steve Jones of the Sex Pistols is now a part-time deejay here in Los Angeles.

    Actually, he may have a nationwide syndicated show, but I’m not really sure. CBS Radio swooped him up after Indie 103 got turned into yet another Spanish language station.

  93. 93.

    FlipYrWhig

    Wally Pleasant, The Hippie’s Lament.

    Chorus is a number of variations on this theme:

    Cuz I’m self-righteous, pretentious, and politically correct.
    My views are slightly to the left of Karl Marx and Bertolt Brecht.
    And I’ve even considered joining a Buddhist sect.
    And there isn’t a hidden injustice in this world that I can’t detect.

  96. 96.

    Platypus

    Add Flower Punk (“Hey punk, where you going with that flower in your hand”) to the list of Frank Zappa songs mocking hippies.

  98. 98.

    JWL

    @MikeJ: My fuck-em-all heyday actually preceeded The Tubes. I never caught a show at the Fillmore (West) either, but loved Winterland.

    Daly City was, and will ever remain, an armpit. But it does border San Francisco.

  102. 102.

    Kris Collins

    Some good suggestions here, (though there seems to be some confusion as to whether we’re talking about anti-hippie or pro-hippie tunes.) Whatever, I think anti-hippie is more interesting and IMHO, the hands-down winner there is “Who Needs the Peace Corps” by Frank Zappa. Absolutely scathing.

  105. 105.

    burnspbesq

    @JWL:

    Daly City was, and will ever remain, an armpit. But it does border San Francisco.

    Dude, Daly City has an In-n-Out and a Krispy Kreme that share a parking lot. That is, by definition, paradise. The only thing close is the co-located Tim Horton’s/Cold Stone Cremery on West 50th Street in Manhattan.

  106. 106.

    MikeJ

    We are the Folk Song Army.
    Everyone of us cares.
    We all hate poverty, war, and injustice,
    Unlike the rest of you squares.

  113. 113.

    freelancer

    Please don’t crucify me here. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Frank Zappa for his fight against the PMRC, but no one every really made him made sense to me. His music, what I’ve heard of it, has been not to my liking at all. I get that he wasn’t aiming for catchy, but it’s just not good IMHO.

    Someone help me out here.

  120. 120.

    Capt. Seaweed

    Panama Red. New Riders of the Purple Sage:

    Panama Red, Panama Red
    He’ll steal your woman, then he’ll rob your head
    Panama Red, Panama Red
    On his white horse, Mescalito
    He come breezin’ through town
    I’ll bet your woman’s up in bed with
    ol’ Panama Red

    Everybody’s looking out for him
    ‘Cause they know Red satisfies
    Little girls love to listen to him
    Sing and tell sweet lies

    But when things get too confusing, honey
    You’re better off in bed
    And I’ll be searching all the joints in town for
    Panama Red

  123. 123.

    Redshift

    Woo! I’m going to see the president in the morning! Just got an email back from my field organizer that even though I couldn’t make it to the volunteer training tonight, they still need more volunteers.

    I need to be there in six hours, I guess I better get to bed if I don’t want to doze off…

  124. 124.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @AA+ Bonds:

    The lyrics to that song were written in the 19th Century.

    Just because it’s associated, now, with the ultimate in squares, is no reason to be so hostile.

    As for Taco, well, the maggot boasts that Rmoney is criminal scum. This tells you a lot about Taco.

  129. 129.

    RadioOne

    I’ve always thought that “Bennie and the Jets” was always a firm push back against the hipster culture in the 70’s, if not a song outright against hippies.

  130. 130.

    Will

    OT: do people think there’s any legs to the Obama Daily Show “optimal” comments? Just want someone to reassure me there isn’t. It’s now on the front page of the NYT. I can’t take anymore of this election.

  131. 131.

    Suffern ACE

    @Will: well it’s going to get bandied about like the You didn’t build this…but I don’t think it will matter too much. New slogan. You’ll hear about it until the debate. It was a rather bureaucratic data way to put it.

  132. 132.

    Hill Dweller

    @Will: Obama was just reusing Stewart’s word in the answer to his question.

    The MSM are reporting it because the wingnuts pretended it was important. It shouldn’t have any legs past tomorrow morning.

  134. 134.

    Will

    @Hill Dweller:

    Thanks everyone. I don’t see it popping up anywhere other than memeorandum and the nyt feed, so maybe it’ll just get buried under everything else. This is what this election has turned me into: a pitiful, nervous wreck over tiny, stupid things.

  135. 135.

    Hill Dweller

    @Will: Don’t feel bad. When I first heard the wingnuts were cranking up the fake outrage, it worried me. But after watching the show, I calmed down.

    If Stewart hadn’t used “optimal” in his question, it might have hurt the President. But I don’t think it will have legs.

    The entire thing reeks of wingnut desperation.

  141. 141.

    Allen

    I don’t know if this has already been addressed, but as a college student in the late 60’s and early 70’s the way things were (to my memory) is there were hippies and yippies. Hippies, in general, were strongly materialistic and apolitical. Yippies, in general, were strongly anti-materialistic and very political. Never the twain shall meet.

  142. 142.

    Allen

    As far as an anti-hippy/yippy song, I can’t recall any. Merl was putting on his audience, so doesn’t really count as being anti-hippy but anti-redneck. About the only music I’ve listened to since the early 70’s is Bluegrass with a smattering of Western Swing so is difficult for me to comment.

  143. 143.

    YellowJournalism

    @Will: It’s another case of a group screaming about tone, context, and meaning of their nasty comments (nasty in tone, context, and meaning) forgetting to take into consideration tone, context, and meaning when it comes to the President and a sincere exchange with the host of a comedy show. Please make it stop.

  150. 150.

    Central Planning

    How about Keller Williams’ Gate Crashers Suck where he got screwed out of seeing the 2nd show of The Grateful Dead.


    If you're one of them,
    and you hear this song,
    fuck you, you cock sucking mother fuckers.

    I’ve never heard so many harmonies around “fuck you”.

  151. 151.

    Central Planning

    Why in the world is the expanded version of “F U cok suking mofos” put a comment in moderation? FYWP.

  154. 154.

    raven

    My Crime, Canned Heat.

    If you are going to have a thread about hippies and music you shouldn’t have them in the middle of the goddamn night when we are asleep!

    I went to Denver
    Late last fall
    I went to do my job
    Yeah I didn’t break any law
    We worked a hippie place
    Like many in our land
    They couldn’t bust the place
    And so they got the band
    `Cause the police in Denver
    No, they don’t want none of them long hairs hanging around
    And that’s the reason why
    They want to tear Canned Heat’s reputation down
    You people in Denver
    Will know what I mean
    Yeah, the things I’m gonna tell ya
    Yeah, you’ve all heard and seen
    You remember when a cop on the beat
    Used to rob and steal
    Today they’re gone, but the others get it on
    So you know just how I feel
    `Cause the police in Denver
    Lord, they don’t want none of them long hairs hanging around
    And that’s the reason why
    They try to tear Canned Heat’s reputation down
    Yeah, they try to tear it down, boy
    They ain’t gonna do it though
    Let me tell you this just one more time
    Just one more thing I wanna tell ya
    Before I go
    It’s a shame the Man in Denver
    Has to lie and mistreat people so
    Now six months ain’t no sentence
    One year ain’t no time
    When I hear from one to ten
    It worries my troubled mind
    `Cause the police in Denver
    Lord, don’t want no long hairs around
    And that’s the reason why
    They try to tear Canned Heat’s reputation down

  155. 155.

    raven

    Van Morrison

    The Great Deception

    Did you ever hear about the great deception?
    Well the plastic revolutionaries take the money and run
    Have you ever been down to love city?
    Where they rip you off with a smile and it don’t take a gun

  159. 159.

    Gus

    @Peter: Also Flower Punk. Not sure what album it’s on. Very funny, but ironically, extremely psychedelic.

    Edit: and I see I’ve been beaten to the punch.

  168. 168.

    ZaftigAmazon

    According to one of my Texas friends, the biggest marijuana bust to date occurred in Muskogie Oklahoma, as the song “Okie from Muskogie” was climbing the charts.

  169. 169.

    Downpuppy

    @Michael Bersin: I seem to remember Up Against the Wall being about an Okie ass in his 30s – yep:

    He was born in Oklahoma
    His wife’s name’s Betty Lou Thelma Liz
    And he’s not responsible for what he’s doing
    Cause his mother made him what he is

    And it’s up against the wall Redneck Mother
    Mother, who has raised her son so well
    He’s thirty-four and drinking in a honky tonk
    Just kicking hippies asses and raising hell

    Sure does like his Falstaff beer
    Likes to chase it down with that Wild Turkey liquor
    Drives a fifty-seven GMC pickup truck

    He’s got a gun rack”Goat ropers need love, too” sticker

    And it’s up against the wall Redneck Mother
    Mother, who has raised her son so well

    Not many songs in any genre that criticize mothers.

  172. 172.

    fuckwit

    The thing about Zappa’s work is that he hated EVERYTHING, even things he liked, he hated them at the same time too. He lived to mock things. He could not make a composition wonderful without deliberately throwing in a fart joke or horrible dissonance or something to fuck it up ON PURPOSE. That’s just how he rolled. Ask the guys in his band. He built castles specifically so he that he could knock them down.

    Zappa was like a kid who loved blowing shit up.

    Wait, he actually LITERALLY WAS that kid: he used to blow shit up– his dad worked for the Army as a chemist making weapons in WWII, and he grew up with an obsession with explosives and really enjoyed blowing shit up, made his own explosives out of golf balls, shit like that. The more baffling– and, for me, entertaining– aspects of his music are easily understood in this way.

    “Serious” modern music– he loved it, composed it with passion and expertise, and hated it, lambasted it, mocked it.
    Jazz– played it, hired guys who played it, and hated it, called it “the music of unemployment”.
    Hippies and freaks, and later yuppies– his whole audience for most of his musical existence, and he hated them. He hated noodly hippie jams, but would indulge in 20-minute guitar solos. Ahem.
    Punks and punk rock– he arguably was among the first of the punk rockers, thhe lyrics to We’re Only In It For The Money foreshadowed Malcolm McLaren by a decade, but he hated that punk, and mocked it at every turn.
    America and American pop culture– loved it, and hated it. His work is deeply steeped in American “cheepnis” pop culture, particularly of the 1950s, but always mocking it too.
    Drug culture– he was physically addicted to nicotine and caffeine, which probably ended up claiming his life early, but was vehemently against any other drugs.
    Authoritarianism– he was fiercely anti-authoritarian, but ask anyone who ever worked for him, he was the strictest, most absolutely despotic authoritarian bandleader in recent times (second only perhaps to Sun Ra).
    The right wing and glibertarians– there was so much in his philosophy that was anarchist/libertarian, particularly anti-communist, but he thought the glibertarians were a bunch of deluded clowns (and turned down running for office on the libertarian because of it).

    The only thing I can find that was really internally-consistent about Zappa was his contempt for religion and the religious right.

    In general, and otherwise, Zappa was a weird stew of genius, wit, and self-hatred.

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