Joe's Garage

"Joe's Garage" is a single on Frank Zappa's 1979 album Joe's Garage Act I. After the introductory track, "The Central Scrutinizer", this song begins the story of Joe's Garage. Although it only charted in Norway and Sweden (where it was a top 20 hit in both countries), it was one of Zappa's songs which had the most airplay on American FM radio, at the time still album-centered. The song was played in concert from 1980 to 1988 along with the song "Why Does it Hurt When I Pee?" in all tours of Zappa's after the single's release. The single version of the song lacks many of the special effects that the album version contains. The single version of "Joe's Garage" was put onto Zappa's best-of Strictly Commercial. The story The song introduces the main character Joe and another band member, Larry Fanoga. It explains that Joe, Larry, and their friends were in a band together in Joe's garage, in Canoga Park, Los Angeles, and would play the same simple, repetitive three-chord song. This was a mocking commentary on many garage and punk bands of the era. They started to play this one song in a go go bar and eventually their repetitive music became well enough known where they were offered a record deal, but when the promised "good times" never materialized, the band abruptly broke up. The song then flashes back to the band playing a distorted parody of their song in the garage at a loud and annoying volume, much to the chagrin of Joe's mother and a complaining neighbor. As the years go past, heavy metal, glam rock ("snotty boys with lipsick on"), disco and new wave each successively become popular, the band's song comes back into style and it is implied they reunite, when the same complaining neighbor calls the police who, with car sirens blaring, surround the garage. Then it's explained that this is "Joe's first confrontation with the law," implying that later in the story he would have more trouble with the police. The officer lets him off.