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

[Jesse Sheidlower]

On Sun, Jun 19, 2011 at 04:20:58PM -0400, Garson O'Toole wrote:
> 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.

This is not found in a formal interview; it's in a pullout box headed
"Loose Talk," containing a few humorous quotations. The first one is:

"Rock journalism is people who can't write interviewing people who can't
talk for people who can't read."--Frank Zappa

(in _Rolling Stone_ 26 Jan. 1978 p. 15)

That seems to be the earliest example of this in the magazine itself.
There are a number of pieces by Michael Duffey in 1977 and one in 1978,
but they don't contain this. At least according to the search engine.

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org