Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar
by Frank Zappa

Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar by Frank Zappa
(Live album)
Year: 1981
Overall rank: 15,722nd   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
74/100 (from 77 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1981 (227th)
Award Top albums of the 1980s (2,114th)
Award Best albums of all time (15,722nd)

Listen on Spotify SPOTIFY
Product Details
Availability

eBay
eBay
Frank Zappa - Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar [New CD]
Condition: Brand New


eBay
eBay
Frank Zappa Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar 3LP Box Set, 1981 CBS LP
Condition: Used


eBay
eBay
Frank Zappa Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar Vinyl Box Set CBS Rock CBS 66164
Condition: Used


  My favourite store:  

Frank Zappa bestography

Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar is ranked 35th best out of 124 albums by Frank Zappa on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Frank Zappa is Hot Rats which is ranked number 233 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 6,762.

Frank Zappa album bestography « Higher ranked (15,512th)
Studio Tan
This album (15,722nd)
Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar
Lower ranked (16,706th) »
Jazz From Hell

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

Listen to Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar on YouTube

Loading content from YouTube...

Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

Sort Sort by
#
Track
Rating/Comments

Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 15,722nd | 1980s rank: 2,114th | 1981 rank: 227th

Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar collection

Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar ratings

Average Rating: 
74/100 (from 77 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 77 ratings for this album.

Sort Sort by
RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
75/100
 
01/02/2026 16:01 platus  Ratings distribution  5,85074/100
 
75/100
 
12/05/2025 14:32 Araldo  Ratings distribution  1,47280/100
 
75/100
 
11/05/2024 04:34 AAL2014  Ratings distribution  3,88775/100
 
70/100
 
01/12/2024 02:07 idiotican  Ratings distribution  2,80374/100
 
75/100
 
07/08/2023 10:14 LosWochos  Ratings distribution  47,10175/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 23% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 73.6/100, a mean average of 72.5/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 73.7/100. The standard deviation for this album is 14.0.

Please log in or register if you want to be able to leave a rating

Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar favourites

Showing all 6 members who have added this album as a favourite

Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar comments

Showing all 2 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
70/100
From 03/26/2022 17:30 | #283432
Showcases the best of Zappa's guitar work in my opinion. The style is fairly full on so I need to be in the right mood to listen to this. To be honest, Zappa was best when he was 'shut up'. So many of his works are spoilt with unnecessary drivel...
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
25/100
From 08/13/2013 00:53 | #83830
Shut up your guitar and sing once more!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Please log in or register if you want to be able to add a comment

Your feedback for Shut Up 'N Play Yer Guitar

Anonymous
Let us know what you think of this album by adding a comment or assigning a rating below.
The top comments are featured on our aggregated charts!
Log in or register to assign a rating or leave a comment for this album.
Best Albums of 1981
1. Moving Pictures by Rush
2. Computerwelt by Kraftwerk
3. Discipline by King Crimson
4. Juju by Siouxsie And The Banshees
5. My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts by Brian Eno & David Byrne
6. Time by Electric Light Orchestra
7. Faith by The Cure
8. Damaged by Black Flag
9. Dare by The Human League
10. Deceit by This Heat