Captain Beefheart, dead at 69: Music as an action painting
When Don Van Vliet – better known as Captain Beefheart -- died Friday at age 69, he left behind a lifetime of ground-breaking albums that enchanted, puzzled and disturbed even as they assured his reputation as one of rock’s avant-garde visionaries.
The confusion was at least partially by design. Whether dealing with his band members, record companies or his fans, Beefheart made himself a moving target, impossible to define or fully understand. Yet his self-contained musical logic and outsider spirit influenced countless artists, including Johnny Lydon, Devo, PJ Harvey, Joe Strummer, the Residents, Tom Waits, Pere Ubu and the Fall. These artists, of course, did not sound much like Captain Beefheart. No one could. But his intent – that of being the sole inhabitant of a small, strange, entirely self-constructed world – was hugely inspiring, an artist who refused compromise.
Don Glen Vliet was born in January 1941 in Glendale, Calif. He demonstrated an early affinity for art (sculpture in particular), but began focusing on music after meeting a similarly precocious and gifted young musician named Frank Zappa in high school.
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