Prog beats Jam, Zappa beats Prog

This series of posts has reminded me of the time when I was a sophomore in high school, and I was on a school bus on the way back from a school chorus trip, sitting next to a senior who knew a lot more about music (and did a lot more drugs) than me. At one point during the ride, he gave me his headphones and said "Check this shit out", and played me "Toads of the Short Forest" from Frank Zappa's Weasels Ripped My Flesh.



I can't say I listen to much Frank Zappa anymore (and as with Labyrinth, probably wouldn't be that impressed if I heard this song for the first time today), but at the time this song completely blew my mind. By the time Frank came on the track and started explaining the different time signatures each instrument is playing in, my conception of music would never be the same.