ZapTown

Dweezil Zappa
Havin’ A Bad Day
1986 – Barking Pumpkin

Origin: Los Angeles
Style: Rock, Metal

What were you doing when you were 16? Some teenagers were knee deep in homework while others were playing with friends, participating in sports clubs, drama club, band, being freaks, geeks, normal kid stuff. Some kids were cooped up in a musty basement or beat-up garage trying to be some kind of pimply-faced rock band or trying their hardest to master Mr. Fresh’s “How To” breakdancing book.

I remember what I did, which I cannot claim mounted for much of anything beyond hanging out with friends, skateboarding and playing in high school band and trying to be somewhat of a sax player, even though I was far from being considered a skilled musician.

For Dweezil Zappa, at age 16, he was releasing Havin’ A Bad Day. And at the age of 16, he was shredding guitar solos like he was his idol Eddie Van Halen.

Havin’ A Bad Day may be considered by most a throw-away release from the ‘80s with very little said about it today, but there is some historical legitimacy to this album.

Surrounding 1986, he was not only an MTV VJ until he got fired for criticizing MTV on The Howard Stern Show (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dweezil_Zappa), he also played the role of Simon in Pretty In Pink as well as played guitars on the release of Don Johnson’s Heartbeat.

It was not hard to identify Zappa during this period of his life as he always wore some kind of sport coat that stretched down to his knees layered over a t-shirt, the poofed-out hair, thick eyebrows and, of course, his signature neon green Charvel.

It was also the iconic guitar that is seen on the front and back covers of Havin’ A Bad Day, let alone smattered throughout his video of “Let’s Talk About It,” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbN3iAdWPi0) where he duets with his sister Moon Unit while Frank makes a cameo.

The album is infused with Zappa-influenced antics, despite the distinct statement in the linear notes: “This album contains no keyboards or synthesizers, also my Dad did not play on ANY of it.” However, Frank had a heavy hand as album producer and was teamed up with Bob Stone, who worked with Zappa in the past. The entire family from Ahmet to Moon Unit made a guest appearance in some form or another. Drummer Chad Wackerman and bassist Scott Thunes was best known for their contribution in Frank Zappa’s band. Even some of the Zappa-known composition styles like having the vocals meander on top of the guitar melody and to a lesser degree the off-kilter musical references

Rebelling against the Pop and New Wave influence into rock and roll, Havin’ A Bad Day is a reaction as much as it is immediate satisfaction to rock and rollers and guitar junkies. Beyond that there is a confusing contradiction to the concept of the album and the musical upbeatness. Song titles like the title track, “I Feel Like I Wanna Cry” and “You Can’t Imagine” don’t correlate with the lighter tracks of “The Pirate Song,” “Electric Hoedown,” and the absurd Bobcat Goldwait contributed “I Want A Yacht.” It’s only when Zappa is with Moon Unit that the more political and emotional side of things spill out, especially when Dweezil puts on his best Scorpions imitation on “You Can’t Ruin Me” or Moon Unit tackles the weapons race between Russia and the U.S. in “Let’s Talk About it.” Ironically, the songs that were more popular, Q Magazine considers to be the anti-climax (http://globalia.net/donlope/fz/related/Havin_A_Bad_Day.html)

Dweezil shows an act of defiance with this album — typical for a 16 year old —  as he battles out his teenage angst through his guitar. “The Pirate Song” is one of the better unheard experimental metal instrumentals of the ‘80s while “Electric Hoedown” does to bluegrass what Yngwie Malmsteen did to classical music.

By the end of it all, the songs that stand the test of time are the songs that weren’t standouts in 1986. So if you consider this album ‘80s schlock (remember he is Frank’s son after all), or Dweezil expanding his chops beyond being a stand-in guitarist for other bands (Winger for one), when it comes down to it, Dweezil Zappa’s guitar work was what mattered the most, even when I cannot help shake the thoughts that at the time it was daddy’s little project to make his kids happy and give Dweezil that push to make something better in the future.

Cross-Reference: Steve Vai, Frank Zappa, Joe Satriani