Captain Beefheart

This is the post in our Musician of the Day series.



Captain Beefheart or Don Van Vliet was born in 1941 in California. As a child he began very interested in and very good at sculpting and was even invited to sculpt on a television show. But Vliet claims that his parents discouraged his sculpting by turning down scholarship offers and moving to a very remote town.

He eventually began working with local music groups including the Omens and the Blackouts. It was around this time that he also met fellow teenager Frank Zappa and the two spent much of their time locked in Vliet's room listening to records. It was Zappa who would help Vliet get over his fear of performing and it was the two of them together who came up with the Captain Beefheart name.

He eventually started performing under the Captain Beefheart name as collaborations with Frank Zappa and others. As he performed they started creating stories to go along with the Captain Beefheart persona and eventually Vliet decided that Captain Beefheart needed a Magic Band.

In 1966 Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band were signed to A & M Records. They released two singles and began gaining a following in the L.A. Underground. Sometime that year demos for the new album Safe as Milk reached the producers of A & M and they decided the band's direction was too negative and they dropped them from the label.

Captain Beefheart was then signed to Buddah Records. There was no doubt that the Safe as Milk material needed more work and they called in help, after which they were able to start recording in 1967.

In 1969 Trout Mask Replica was released on Frank Zappa's new label. The album became Vliet's magnum opus because it combined so many different styles and genres. The album included 28 songs and took the group 8 months to perfect and record.

The band continued to work and create albums but they never reached the same critical acclaim as Trout Mask Replica. The last album was released in 1982 after which Vliet retired from music in order to focus on being an artist.

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