What is Frank Zappa’s critique of Allan Bloom’s “Closing of the American Mind?” Accurate. Truthful. More in touch with Americans than Bloom. People assume Zappa is an uneducated man because of his lifestyle and the music that he creates. I believe that Bloom would be one of these people, assuming that Zappa is “primitive and primary” because Rock’n Roll music has a “barbaric appeal.” And yet, this is so far from the truth as evidenced in “Junk Food for the Soul.” Zappa is articulate, knowledgable and relevant (even 27 years later, after the interview took place). That doesn’t sound like the “dark, chaotic, premonitory forces in the soul” that Bloom mentioned but rather someone in touch with his humanity.
In “Junk Food for the Soul” Zappa said, “…the content of what they wrote was to a degree determined by the musical predilections of the guy who was paying the bill.” Although he was specifically talking about Classical and Rock’n’Roll music, Zappa felt similarly about American culture in general. He recognized that what we as a society place in high value is what big business wants us as consumers to buy. He called it “unrefined commerce” or, putting our value where our wallet is.
One of Bloom’s opinions in his book, “The Closing of the American Mind” is that “survival itself depended on a better education for the best people” (pg.49). Is he choosing the “best people” or is, as Zappa might suggest, a wealthy person in the college systems choose in the best?
These two excerpts differ greatly. Zappa knows there are beautiful art pieces (literature, music, etc) that exist that aren’t necessarily mainstream. Bloom thinks all great books are essentially those of highly educated people, books that have been in wide circulation spanning the past few hundred years from philosophers such as Nietzsche.
I think also Zappa’s critique gets somewhat annoyed at Bloom, who keeps a very limited and narrow view on the American people, its art and music and its education. “Again, Bloom is not looking at what is really going on here. The ugliness in this society is not a product of unrefined art, but of unrefined commerce, wild superstition and religious fanaticism.” However, they did seem to agree on the irrelevancy of classical music with younger students, something Zappa suggest be put back into schools. “On this point, Bloom and I can agree, but how can a child be blamed for consuming only that which is presented to him? Most kids have never been in contact with anything other than this highly merchandised stuff…I argued (in court) that the money for music appreciation courses, in terms of social good and other benefits such as improved behavior or uplifting the spirit..”
Personally, I feel like Zappa wants what’s best for children as well as everyone else because he wants us all to be exposed to a variety of things not a narrow path that Bloom followed.
hannamgilley 
March 23, 2014 at 10:21 pm
I really like this : ‘ Bloom thinks all great books are essentially those of highly educated people, books that have been in wide circulation spanning the past few hundred years from philosophers such as Nietzsche.’ I also think that in this case, highly educated can also mean ‘white and affluent’. I think that Zappa seemed actually angry at Bloom in many of his responses. Excellent post!
March 25, 2014 at 3:48 pm
It’s rather silly how humans have evolved in such a way that we categorize so many things- including each other. We deem people “educated” when they are simply vessels for knowledge that has been passed down for generations. These are simply the ideas created by society, not ideas created by the individual. Zappa on the other hand creates culture. He expanded the minds of so many individuals through music. I saw anger from Zappa towards Bloom because of these conflicting views… I really liked your closing sentence about the narrow path that Bloom followed. The mind works best when open, and that is exactly how Zappa lives.