Battle of the Bands: Cream vs. Frank Zappa and the Mothers

[Julio_Strikes_Back]

This week, you psychadelic fans are going to be facing a hard decision between two of the most influential bands in rock history: Cream and Frank Zappa and the Mothers.

Cream
Cream were a psychadelic rock band prominent in the 1960s, consisting of the amazing Eric Clapton on guitar, Jack Bruce on bass, and Ginger Baker on drums. Their studio albums include Fresh Cream, Disraeli Gears, Wheels of Fire, and Goodbye. They have had several hits, including Crossroads, Born Under a Bad Sign, Sunshine of Your Love, and White Room. Here's some clips of those songs:

Crossroads
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Sunshine of Your Love
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Cream have influenced many progressive and jam bands, including Phish, the Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers Band, Rush, and even Black Sabbath.

Frank Zappa and the Mothers
Frank Zappa and the Mothers were a hard rock group prominent from the mid sixties to the mid seventies. Their studio albums include the highly influential Freak Out, Absolutely Free, We're Only In It For the Money, Cruising With Ruben and the Jets, Uncle Meat, Mothermania, Burnt Weeny Sandwich, Weasels Ripped My Flesh, 200 Motels, Just Another Band from LA, Over-Nite Sensation, and One Size Fits All; which contained several hits such as Who Are the Brain Police, Hungry Freaks Daddy, Plastic People, Who Needs the Peace Corps, and Are You Hung Up. Here's a vid of "Who are the Brain Police?"

Who Are the Brain Police?
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Alright everyone, that's all I have to offer. If you want to know anything more, then Google is your friend. Let the voting begin!

[Rockbandfan23467]

It's Mothers OF INVENTION!!!!!!!


N E Way, I vote for the band with the best white bluesman ever, Cream.

Nothing against Frank and Co.

[AxlVanHagar]

Really like Cream, classic band. LOVE Frank Zappa! That guy is just so under rated it's not funny, greatest composer of the modern era. He could do absolutely any style and write any style for any number of instruments and do it extremely well. Way ahead of his time.

[BhindBluEyes430]

Sry but zappa sounds way to trippy to me and so do cream sometimes but i do like the fact that cream often did blues covers

[OldFogey]

Here's another early match up that could easily have been a quarter final or semi final in my mind. Some of my all-time favorites are going to meet way too premature demises. Oh well...

I'm a huge Cream fan from the first days of the band. Jack Bruce is, IMO, the most underrated musician in rock history. Great songwriter. Just awesome vocalist -- still so strong and powerful, singing songs in the original key during the Cream reunion after 40 years and a liver transplant! Fantastic bass player. Excellent pianist. In demand Jazz musician. He's the last member of Cream people usually think of but he's the best. (BTW -- he's a common connection between the two bands, he played with Zappa on Apostrophe.)

Of course, Zappa and the Mothers of Invention is not one band -- there were many different lineups during the 25+ year history of the band. Bruce wrote some very interesting music ("As You Said," "Deserted Cities of the Heart"), but Frank is another thing all together. He's had drummers as good or better than Baker, guitarists way better than Clapton, and as I mentioned above he's had Bruce. I'm a huge fan of Frank's satiric wit -- "Your mouth is your religion," "Cosmik Debris," "Dancing Fool." I'm a complete sucker for his adult humor ("Dirty Love"). I love the band from the Phlo and Eddy days (when the two lead singers from the Turtles joined the band). "Peaches en Regalia" is a classic. I love the quirky rhythms. I haven't really sat down to analyze what keys or modes or scales Zappa composes in, but to the ear they are definitely not the run of the mill.

Here's what it says from his HOF induction in 1995:

Frank Zappa was rock and roll’s sharpest musical mind and most astute social critic. He was the most prolific composer of his age, and he bridged genres – rock, jazz, classical, avant-garde and even novelty music - with masterful ease. Under his own name and with the Mothers of Invention, Zappa recorded 60 albums’ worth of material in his 52 years. Many were double albums or CDs, making his output even more impressively huge. ...

Zappa brought a high degree of compositional sophistication to a genre that had typically taken its cues from the simplistic chord progressions of songs like “Louie, Louie.” ... Zappa greatly extended the range of rock, composing oratorios, symphonic pieces, ballets, digitized extravaganzas for the Synclavier keyboard, and satirical musicals. A brilliant guitar soloist who recruited similarly adventurous musicians, Zappa helped further the art of improvisation in a rock context.

So here's a vote for just another band from LA

[Rockbandfan23467]

Why is it that Fogy and I never agree?

[OldFogey]

Why is it that Fogy and I never agree?

Actually we both voted for the Beatles in the last one. Just because I defended the Beach Boys against people who had no clue what they were talking about didn't mean I voted for them. I used to teach logic in university, so I tend to care more about whether the argument is good than whether I agree with the conclusion.

Anyway - there's room for different opinions. All of the acts so far have been great. Good arguments can be made for either choice.

So -- why did you pick Cream over Frank?

[OldFogey]

It's Mothers OF INVENTION!!!!!!!

Actually, it was Mothers to start with. A record company made 'em change it, because it was worried about people thinking "mother" was short for "mother f****r").

[Julio_Strikes_Back]

Really like Cream, classic band. LOVE Frank Zappa! That guy is just so under rated it's not funny, greatest composer of the modern era. He could do absolutely any style and write any style for any number of instruments and do it extremely well. Way ahead of his time.

Hehe, I was looking him up on Youtube and I found a song that sounded like doom metal.

[Rockbandfan23467]

So -- why did you pick Cream over Frank?

Because, as great and legendary as both were, Cream were the first supergroup and the first metal band.(That last one's just an opionion.) Not to mention the immense talent in all three members; including the greatest white bluesman ever. No diss to Frank, as he's one rock and roll's funniest ledgends and has immensly talented performers as well.