Recent Illinois Wesleyan grad Brandon Chopp picked up the Phi Beta Kappa Liberal Arts Scholar Award at the Bloomington school for his senior thesis on the late 1960s musical output of provocative songwriter Frank Zappa.
The history major and Hispanic studies minor wanted to analyze how Zappa used lyrics and music to critique and skewer American conformity during the period.
We were fortunate that Chopp also answered our frequent call to tell us What’s on Your Turntable?, utilizing his research and Zappa albums to give an audio synopsis of his paper.
In the audio you can hear below by clicking the play button, Chopp focused on Zappa’s “Freakout,” “Absolutely Free,” and “We’re Only in it for the Money” albums.
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