Captain Beefheart - R.I.P.

For many years Captain Beefheart aka, Don Van Vilet, had suffered from the debilitating disease of multiple sclerosis and Friday he succumbed to the disease at the age of 69. There is not a lot more you can comment about the legacy of Vilet than what has already been said through out the internet in the past 24 hours. Such an outpour of remembrance for Vilet throughout the world gives light onto what an influence Vilet was in the 60s, 70s, and the early part of the 80s.

Throughout the 60s and 70s, there was never a lack of abundance of blues/R&B-insipried rock. You had the popular groups such as the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who, etc. You also had bands not thrusted in the limelight who ascribed to the same influences, such as, Ten Years After, Moby Grape, and many others. Point is, the 60s and 70s had an explosion of white folk putting out their interpretations of the music their black contemporaries created.

However, Captain Beefheart and his contemporary, Frank Zappa did things differently. They took all those influences that groups all around the world were becoming famous for, and made it weird, made it crazy. They took the doo-wop sound, took the blues/jazz/R&B sound and took it in directions never heard before. In the broad scope of avant-garde and experimental rock, Captain Beefheart and Frank Zappa were the pioneers in bringing such music to a much larger audience. And for that Captain Beefheart, along with Frank Zappa should never be forgotten. Here is a performance from 1975 with Zappa and Vilet doing the Zappa composition, "The Torture Never Stops".

Pt. 1


Pt. 2