The whole thing about being an eccentric genius artiust is that MOST PEOPLE DON’T GET IT. I mean, it ain’t mainstream at all.
It took Doc At The radar Station (and an interview in Creem) for me to jump on board and I did with this album, the 1980 Doc At The Radar Station whioch I listened to diligently for a month waiting for it to click.
And it did click in a minimal way. At the time I was heavy into Dadaist experimental wonks like Cabaret Voltaire and Swell Maps, but what put me off Beefheart and His Magic band, was that he was writing barebone BLUES riffs, without melodies, and with truly bizarre.
A little earlier in his carerr, Don Van Vleit was playing with Frank Zappa you would probably love him. On the other hand, if you loved Zappa you probably already love him.
But here is something else. If you love the White STripes, you can hear how deeply jack White was influed by captain beefheart halfway thru “Sherriff Of Hongkong”.
So, this is where I went to mourn his death and I recommend you do the same.