Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa composed Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, jazz fusion, orchestra ...
, released as the sole single from his 35th album ''
Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch
''Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch'' is the 35th album by American musician Frank Zappa, released in May 1982 and digitally remastered in 1991. It features five tracks composed by Zappa, and one song, "Valley Girl", co-written with ...
'' (1982), and featuring his then-14-year-old daughter
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
. Though Zappa intended it to mockingly satirize
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...
teen culture, the song's success inadvertently popularized the "
valley girl
A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, f ...
" stereotype and its associated mannerisms. It peaked at number 32 on the
Billboard Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...
. The song was also nominated for the
Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal was awarded between 1980 and 2011.
The award was discontinued after the 2011 award season in a major overhaul of Grammy categories. Beginning in 2012, all solo or duo/group ...
at the
25th Annual Grammy Awards
The 25th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 23, 1983, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year.
Album of the Year went to Toto for ''Toto IV'', and Song of the Year went t ...
.
Background
The track resulted from the combination of a guitar riff that Frank had composed and Moon's desire to work with her father. According to Zappa biographer Kelly Fisher Lowe, Frank woke Moon in the middle of the night and took her to a studio to recreate conversations that she had had with friends. The lyrics were a deliberate attack on the slang and behavior of stereotypical
valley girl
A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, f ...
s. Zappa stressed that it was not a happy song, and that he hated the
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, Los Angeles County, California. Situated to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it comprises a large portion of Los Angeles, the Municipal corpo ...
, calling it "a most depressing place." Moon supplied Frank with much of the content, speaking typical "valley girl" or "
Valspeak
A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, f ...
" phrases she heard at "parties, bar mitzvahs, and
the Galleria
The Galleria, stylized theGalleria and also known as the Houston Galleria, is an upscale mixed-use urban development and shopping mall located in the Uptown District of Houston, Texas, United States.
Musically, the song is atypical for Zappa because of its conventional structure compared to his other compositions, and is played entirely in
time signature
A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates th ...
with the exception of the groove at the very end.
Commercial release
"Valley Girl" was picked up by
KROQ-FM
KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock").
The sta ...
, who obtained an
acetate disc
An acetate disc (also known as a ''lacquer'', ''test acetate'', '' dubplate'', or '' transcription disc'') is a type of phonograph record generally used from the 1930s to the late 1950s for recording and broadcast purposes. Despite their name, "ac ...
before release. Zappa praised the station's original programming but feared it would lead to others copying it, adding, "I would hate for it to become another service, freeze-dried to other stations." Moon was a regular KROQ listener and persuaded the station to play the track during an interview. There was an immediate response from the public, and the song began receiving regular airplay.
The song was Zappa's only Top 40 single in North America, peaking at #32 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and at #18 on the Canadian
RPM
Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines.
One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz.
Standards
ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...
Top Singles chart in September 1982, although he had charted hits in other parts of the world. The song was also included on the 1995 compilation album ''
Strictly Commercial
''Strictly Commercial'' is a compilation album by Frank Zappa. It was released in 1995, two years after his death. The album was named as part of a 2011 lawsuit by Gail Zappa towards Rykodisc, claiming the label released several vault masters wi ...
''.
In the U.S. the
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...
was "You Are What You Is", but in other territories it was "Teen-Age Prostitute." Promotional copies contained the album and single versions of the song.
Terry "Motor Mouth" Young's suspension
In July 1982, "Valley Girl" was stunted over
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
's "Hot Hits" formatted station WCAU-FM for a short period of time during Terry "Motor Mouth" Young's evening shift on the station (7:00–8:00 PM Eastern). Young was the most popular radio
disc jockey
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...
in all of the Philadelphia radio market at the time. The song was played around ten consecutive times without any commercial interruptions, despite a weather forecast being simulated by Terry himself before sneakily playing the song again. Apparently drowsy after the final play, Terry drunkenly commented on the wrong song ("
Abracadabra
''Abracadabra'' is a magic word, historically used as an Apotropaic magic, apotropaic incantation on amulets and common today in stage magic. The actual origin is unknown, but one of the first appearances of the word was in a second-century work ...
" by
The Steve Miller Band
The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1966. The band is led by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals. The group had a string of mid- to late-1970s hit singles that are staples of classic rock rad ...
) before the station manager entered the studio and angrily intervened, telling Young to "get out and stay out" before shutting the door on him.
Young received a brief suspension from the station, but returned to the studio soon afterward and stayed for four more years until 1986.
Cultural response
Though intended as a parody, the single popularized the valley girl stereotype nationwide. Following the single's release, there was a significant increase in "Valspeak" slang usage, whether ironically spoken or not. In particular, the film ''
Valley Girl
A valley girl is a socioeconomic, linguistic, and youth subcultural stereotype and stock character originating during the 1980s: any materialistic upper-middle-class young woman, associated with unique vocal and California dialect features, f ...
'' capitalized on this cultural curiosity.
Zappa expressed concern that, despite his rich body of music, he was seen as a "novelty" artist because of songs like "Valley Girl" and " Don't Eat the Yellow Snow". At the time of the single's release, Moon said, "I am not a valley girl, but I guess that is my claim to fame."Mimi Pond created a comic book about the song, ''The Valley Girl's Guide to Life,'' which launched her career.
A parody entitled "Valley Dudes" was recorded in 1982 by The Straight A's.
On September 16, 2022 (3 months after the single's 40th anniversary), Universal Music Group (who acquired the Zappa catalogue in June of the same year) released an animated music video for the song.