Quote: Frank Zappa on rock journalism (antedating); Also a question about the Rolling Stone magazine archive

[Shapiro, Fred]

Garson,

In my files I have a citation to Toronto Star, Sept. 24, 1977, for this quote.  I probably did not see the original source, and would welcome anyone verifying it.

Fred Shapiro



________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society [ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Garson O'Toole [adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM]
Sent: Sunday, June 19, 2011 4:20 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Quote: Frank Zappa on rock journalism (antedating); Also a              question about the Rolling Stone magazine archive

Frank Zappa once made a famously acerbic comment about rock n roll journalism.

The Oxford Dictionary of Humorous Quotations has the quote with a 1980
citation. So does the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. The Yale Book
of Quotations has a citation dated January 18, 1978.

Below is a slightly earlier cite in a syndicated newspaper column
produced by the Rolling Stone magazine. This citation suggests that
the saying first appeared in Rolling Stone magazine.

If you are a subscriber to Rolling Stone magazine then you have access
to the complete archive online. Is there a reader of this message that
can check whether Zappa's famous quote is in the Rolling Stone archive
in early 1978 or 1977? Alternatively, maybe some list member has the
archive in CD form and can search for this quotation.

Cite: 1978 January 3, Times-Picayune, Rolling Stone: Random Notes:
Alice Dries Out by Michael Duffey, Section 5, Page 2, (GB Page 46),
New Orleans, Louisiana. (GenealogyBank)

Frank Zappa on the merits of writing about rock 'n' roll:
Most rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who
can't talk for people who can't read." Thank you. Frank. We'll be in
touch.

If you have access to the archive do you think that it is useful? Is
the optical character recognition reliable enough for effective
searching? Are the images readable?

The wording in this earliest instance is slightly different. The word
"most" is deleted in later instances of the quotation.

Thanks to any list member that can help,
Garson

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