“Valley Girl” is a song by Frank Zappa featuring his daughter Moon Unit Zappa. Released in 1982 as part of the album Ship Arriving Too Late to Save a Drowning Witch, the song is a satirical commentary on the Valley Girl subculture that was popular in the early 1980s in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles.

Background and Style

• Genre: Comedy rock, new wave
• Length: 4:50
• Label: Barking Pumpkin Records
• Producers: Frank Zappa

Notable Features

• Lyrics and Performance: Moon Unit Zappa’s spoken word performance captures the distinctive “Valspeak” of Valley Girls, characterized by phrases like “like,” “gag me with a spoon,” and “totally.”
• Cultural Impact: The song popularized the Valley Girl stereotype and contributed to the widespread use of “Valspeak” in popular culture.
• Chart Success: “Valley Girl” became one of Frank Zappa’s most commercially successful songs, reaching No. 32 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Themes

The song humorously critiques the superficiality and consumerism associated with the Valley Girl lifestyle, highlighting the gap between this subculture and other aspects of American society in the early ’80s.

Legacy

“Valley Girl” remains an iconic piece of 1980s pop culture, remembered both for its catchy, satirical lyrics and its influence on the portrayal of teenage subcultures in media.