Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Frank Zappa

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The following is an archived discussion of a featured article nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured article candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The article was promoted by User:SandyGeorgia 03:55, 24 September 2008 [1].

Frank Zappa[edit]

Nominator(s): HJensen, talk
previous FAC (19:31, 12 August 2008)


This article recently (narrowly, imo) failed a FAC, and since then, the main concerns have been addressed: A few of the late reviews that ultimately contributed to the thumbs down suggested a PR before resubmission; this has been done, and the automated responses have been addressed. Compared to the version that was up for FAC, this version includes a section on Legacy at the end, as this was strongly recommended at the FAC.

Note that there is deliberately no independent section on Personal Life, as Frank Zappa's life was his music and career, and because he was not a celebrity-style person with a life in media (like, e.g., Michael Jackson). This argument was accepted at the previous FAC, and therefore no such section exists.

I am looking forward to your input. Thanks for the attention, --HJensen, talk 18:24, 15 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

non-free content comments - I dont understand why Image:ZappaDailyReport1965.jpg is there, when a reference to the article would suffice, and Image:MothersBBC1968b.jpg doesnt seem to significantly increases understanding.

There are a lot of non-free sound files(8), I appreciate that given Zappa's iconic status some of these are going to be used, but could someone more musically inclined than myself review the minimal use issues? Fasach Nua (talk) 13:58, 16 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Replies. The two images have detailed Fair Use rationales that explain their inclusion. As for the sound files, several of them (5) were scrutinized here, and after reediting their length, all of them were judged to conform with minimal usage guidelines (max 30 sec. or max 10% of total duration for tracks shorter than 5 minutes – no upper bound on number of clips used in an article except relevance). The remainder three samples also conform.--HJensen, talk 15:52, 16 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The number of sound files also represent the range and diversity of Zappa's compositions and performances given the length of his career and the various genres in which he worked. Lame Name (talk) 16:57, 16 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
oppose (criteria 3)- The images may have "detailed Fair Use rationales", but as far as I can tell neither of them have valid detailed fair use rationales Fasach Nua (talk) 11:58, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. My only reservation during this article's previous FAC was the lack of a Legacy section. That issue has now been more than adequately addressed in my opinion. --Malleus Fatuorum (talk) 17:18, 16 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support. I supported the article during its previous FAC and am even more supportive of it now that the fine Legacy section has been added. I can see that the Legacy section completes the article. —Mattisse (Talk) 18:10, 16 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support Great article, great subject. I was shocked this failed its previous FAC but hopefully that can change now. This article covers everything one could possibly need or hope for. Domiy (talk) 22:48, 16 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Comment. This sentence needs to be fixed in the lead: "He maintains being a major influence on musicians and composers." Kaldari (talk) 01:26, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Fixed. (By Malleus Fatuorum.) --HJensen, talk 07:42, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Opposse What's there is good, but it lacks a section about his music (in a theoretical perspective) and guitar playing, like the german and swedish Zappa articles have. 81.229.101.211 (talk) 20:17, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Comment. Well, in Zappa's case one can never stop. I think his music is described throughout this article. I don't read German very well, but I cannot see that article contains much more than is here. The presentation is just different. In terms of musical theory, I can see that the Gernman article has some examples with sheet music, but a lot of the text commenting on those appears unreferenced. So maybe it is not the best model to strive for?--HJensen, talk 21:35, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Giggy's comments

You've done great work overall. A few minor things to fix up and I should be able to support soon. Cheers, Giggy (talk) 05:24, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Responses. a) Fixed quotebox. b) Great catch on italics; I couldn't find others. c) Removed "he". d) I now understand why the Vilnius picture cannot be used. I guess we we'll have to wait for the replica to be put up in Baltimore! e) As for the point about the word "motivation" in relation to the Hall of Fame, I am in doubt. I have seen the word used when explaining other awards (one example), but English is not my first language, so any alternative suggestion is welcome. Thanks for the input! --HJensen, talk 08:24, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
re. Baltimore: just be wary of FOP in the USA (I don't think that would be allowed either... :-( ). For the "motivation" stuff, I did a reword that hopefully makes it better (but feel free to revert if not). Giggy (talk) 09:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
re.re. Thanks! To bad about the (future) bust; you are completely right about it based on the cited rules. Good rewording! --HJensen, talk 12:22, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support; an excellent biography, very well done. Giggy (talk) 09:06, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Comments - sources were checked at the last FAC. Still look good from that. Links all checked out with the link checker tool. Ealdgyth - Talk 19:29, 17 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

  • Support — Excellent. Well written, well researched, well-sourced, neutral. Great article. (Ibaranoff24 (talk) 01:49, 21 September 2008 (UTC))[reply]
  • Support. This is a terrific article style- and citation-wise; a great deal of care has obviously gone into it. A few things you might consider (I also took the liberty of making a few minor style edits):
    • "In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote for rock bands, jazz ensembles, synthesizers, symphony orchestra, and created musique concrète works." Excuse the pedantry but grammatically I think there really should be an "and" before "symphony orchestra", as the last of the list he "wrote for". A simpler way to resolve this might be to phrase it "In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, electronic, orchestral, and musique concrète works." By the same token, the next sentence should really read "He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed album covers." or some such.
    • The section heading 1980s: As productive as ever strikes me as a tad opiniated – is there something more neutral we could use instead?
    • Shouldn't synclavier be capitalised, as it is in the instrument's article, since it's a proper name?
  • Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 13:01, 21 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks a lot. I have changed the lead as suggested, and capitalized "Synclavier". As for the title "1980s: As productive as ever" I have for now just changed it into "1980s: Productive as ever". I don't know if that makes it slightly more netural. I don't have English as my mother tongue, so I chose the word "productive" just to indicate that Zappa kept releasing albums at a high rate (in 1981 two double albums and a triple). I didn't intend it to imply that it was high quality. I am, of course, open to alternatives. Best, --HJensen, talk 18:57, 21 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Re. the section title, I don't know that it's any more neutral now but as I can't think of anything more appropriate I shan't make a fuss, particularly as it doesn't seem to bother anyone. By the way, if English is not your first language, my admiration for the effort and standard of work here only increases - well done! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) 06:39, 24 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support - Ah, it's back again <smiles>. You've put in a phenomenal amount of research into this, it deserves to be featured. —Sunday | Speak 20:31, 22 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]


  • Please solicit additional feedback on the image issues from Elcobbola or Awadewit or other image reviewers; time doesn't permit me to check every image in every FAC. Also, please fix the dab link identified in the dabfinder (reviewers should be checking for this, not me). SandyGeorgia (Talk) 01:13, 23 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Responses Thanks to Giggy for the fix (I had received the "Yay, no disambiguation templates from on linked pages" when testing for dabs previously, but things should be fine now.). As for the two images, I have not much time on hand as of now, so I took the easy way out for me at the moment and removed the pictures. Interpretations of Fair Use reasons are also hard for me to understand (I know other articles are irrelevant here, but a recent main page article had several non-free images, several of which were just screenshots from films; cf. Jackie Chan.)--HJensen, talk 12:20, 23 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Addendum I have, however, seeked advice on the two images with the suggested editors.--HJensen, talk 21:23, 23 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Closing remark At Wikipedia:Media copyright questions, both images in question have been deemed unsuitable (even if they were free, due to poor picture quality), so I "rest my case on those". :-) --HJensen, talk 05:50, 24 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • Support, a minor issue; according to the manual of style for images, the images should "face" the text, so maybe the image from Norway should be used in the infobox instead? FunkMonk (talk) 15:06, 23 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Response Good idea! Done :-) --HJensen, talk 21:20, 23 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.
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