Captain Beefheart Has Left the Planet

If you appreciate, enjoy, or can’t live without music that is quirky, odd, or otherwise different, you should understand that this man made your exposure to it much more likely. The oddities and humor  in pop music today owe a debt to Captain Beefheart.

Once upon a time, Rolling Stone mattered.

Captain Beefheart, aka Don Van Vliet, was also one of the people who brought avant garde jazz elements into rock music.  His music is esoteric, strange, and, for many, irresistible. You may not like it, but you can’t call it bad.

The new, shiny corporate Rolling Stone did an obituary, but at least it has a link to the interview from the above issue: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/captain-beefheart-dead-at-age-69-20101217

While my memories of the 1980s are often rather hazy, I remember with total clarity hearing this song on a college radio station at around 3:00AM in a state of, uh, altered perception:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW3ZzsP3XPI

It was mesmerizing, if for no other reason than I had never head anything like it before. It opened the door to my appreciation of trulyalternative music.

The song may sound random, it is in fact totally rehearsed. He knew exactly how he wanted his music to sound, and made sure that it did.

I strongly encourage you to listen to it several times. Let it get into your head. Someday, you may find yourself walking down the street and seemingly for no reason blurt out “It’s the blimp!”

Or maybe that’s just me.