Captain Beefheart’s real name was Don Van Vliet. He led a life that makes a chronological profile a great deal of fun to read. The sense is that behind the odd names and difficult music — you don’t hum Captain Beefheart tunes — was a brilliant guy.
Don Vliet (he added the “Van” later, according to AllMusic) was born in 1941 and grew up in California. He had strong artistic tendencies and was an avid — even obsessive — sculptor as a child. He was offered a scholarship in Europe, but his parents’ stiff resistance, due to feelings that such a life was effeminate, kept him from accepting.
Van Vliet gravitated to music and developed a close and apparently sometimes stormy relationship with Frank Zappa. He joined the Magic Band and eventually took control. Wikipedia notes that Van Vliet exerted strong control and drove out some members, including Ry Cooder.
Beefheart’s influence was great. Wikipedia says that John Lennon and Paul McCartney were fans, though Van Vliet was dismissive of them. One song in the playlist — “Beatle Bones ‘N Smokin’ Stones” — made fun of The Beatles.
Wikipedia portrays Van Vlient as a major artist:[/column][column size=one_half position=last ] [/column]
Van Vliet has been described as “…one of modern music’s true innovators” with “…a singular body of work virtually unrivaled in its daring and fluid creativity.”[4][8] Although he achieved little commercial or mainstream critical success,[9] he sustained a cult following as a “highly significant” and “incalculable” influence on an array of new wave, punk, post-punk, experimental and alternative rock musicians.
Any life as out there as Van Vliet’s will have some high comedy. This is from AllMusic:
At the same time, however, Zappa formed his own label, Straight Records, and he soon approached Van Vliet with the promise of complete creative control. A deal was struck, and after writing 28 songs in a nine-hour frenzy, Beefheart formed the definitive lineup of the Magic Band — made up of Semens, Drumbo, guitarist Zoot Horn Rollo (born Bill Harkleroad), bassist Rockette Morton (Mark Boston), and bass clarinetist the Mascara Snake (Victor Fleming) — to record the seminal 1969 double album Trout Mask Replica.
It’s even funnier if you read it out loud. It sounds like rock and roll Mad Libs. Zappa produced some of Beefheart’s albums, and his influence is obvious.
The artistic talent was real. The Wikipedia profile says that he made more money from painting than from music. AllMusic adds that paintings he produced after retiring from music sold for as much as $25,000.
Van Vliet died from multiple sclerosis in 2010.
It’s interesting to note that Captain Beefheart’s Wikipedia profile is about 13,000 words. Apparently, the contributors to the site consider him more important that Albert Einstein (9,000 words) and William Shakespeare (7,000).
AllMusic, Wikipedia and Ultimate Classic Rock also were used to prepare this post. The fan site Captain Beefheart Radar Station looks extremely comprehensive. It’s a bit too intense to be useful when researching a brief post, however. The thumbnail photos for the playlist are from Jon-Luc and Ian Burt.
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