| "Valley Girl" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single byFrank andMoon Zappa | ||||
| from the albumShip Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch | ||||
| B-side | "You Are What You Is" | |||
| Released | June 1982 | |||
| Recorded | 1982 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:59 (album version) 3:47 (single version) | |||
| Label | Barking Pumpkin,CBS | |||
| Songwriter(s) |
| |||
| Producer(s) | Frank Zappa | |||
| Frank Zappa singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Official audio | ||||
| "Valley Girl" onYouTube | ||||
"Valley Girl" is a song by American musicianFrank Zappa, released as the sole single from his 1982 albumShip Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch and featuring his then-14-year-old daughterMoon. Though Zappa intended it to mockingly satirizeSan Fernando Valley teen culture, the song's success inadvertently popularized the "valley girl" stereotype and its associated mannerisms. It peaked at number 32 on theBillboard Hot 100. The song was also nominated for theGrammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal at the25th Annual Grammy Awards.
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.[1] The lyrics were a deliberate attack on the slang and behavior of stereotypicalvalley girls. Zappa stressed that it was not a happy song, and that he hated theSan Fernando Valley, calling it "a most depressing place."[2] Moon supplied Frank with much of the content, speaking typical "valley girl" or "Valspeak" phrases she heard at "parties, bar mitzvahs, andthe Galleria."[3]
Musically, the song is atypical for Zappa because of its conventional structure compared to his other compositions, and is played entirely in4
4time signature with the exception of the7
4 groove at the very end.
"Valley Girl" was picked up byKROQ-FM, who obtained anacetate disc 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."[2] 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.[4]
The song was Zappa's only Top 40 single in North America, peaking at #32 on the USBillboard Hot 100 chart and at #18 on the CanadianRPM 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 albumStrictly Commercial.
In the U.S. theB-side 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.
In July 1982, "Valley Girl" was stunted overPhiladelphia's "Hot Hits" formatted stationWCAU-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 radiodisc jockey 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" byThe Steve Miller Band) 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.[5]
Though intended as a parody, the single popularized the valley girl stereotype nationwide.[6][7][8] Following the single's release, there was a significant increase in "Valspeak" slang usage, whether ironically spoken or not. In particular, the filmValley Girl 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".[9] 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."[3]
Mimi Pond created a comic book about the song,The Valley Girl's Guide to Life, which launched her career.[10]
A parody entitled "Valley Dudes" was recorded in 1982 by The Straight A's.[11][12]
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.
| Chart (1982) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| CanadaRPM Top Singles[13] | 18 |
| USBillboardTop Tracks[14] | 12 |
| USBillboardHot 100[14] | 32 |
Citations
Books
