Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

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Biography

Lancaster CA, United States (1965 – 1982)

Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band were an American band who created music that has occasionally been dubbed “-”. Their music was characterized by bluesy melodies, shambolic instrumentation, idiosyncratic, unbound timings, the growls and shrieks of Beefheart’s vocals and his surreal, poetic lyrics. Throughout their career, the band’s musical direction was tightly controlled by Don van Vliet (1941 - 2010), aka Captain Beefheart, who subjected the band to intense regimes of rehearsal; this tension combined with poor salary contributing to the break-up of the original Magic Band. Beefheart reformed a new band of musicians under the name, but left the music industry for good in 1982 to pursue his career as a painter.

With the exception of British disc jockey John Peel, they saw little critical endorsement or recognition in their years active, but their influence was highly significant; to later artists such as The Residents and Tom Waits, as well as to the movement, which appreciated both their stripped-down sound and Van Vliet’s unleashed, expressive vocal delivery. In recent years their importance has been acknowledged by the mainstream music press, with Trout Mask Replica (1969) reaching number 58 on Rolling Stone Magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list (beating albums like Led Zeppelin’s Physical Graffiti and John Lennon’s Imagine). In 1988 Fast N Bulbous: A Tribute to Captain Beefheart, was released, featuring such diverse artists as XTC, Sonic Youth and The Mock Turtles.
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  • kfshradio

    Fast and bulbous!

    14 May 8:16pm Reply

  • sunheadbowed

    He was definitely crazy on a social level -- I'm sure being around him or working for him would be a waking nightmare; but he was a genius artist, too.

    6 May 11:29pm Reply

  • StopMakeTheEyes

    Thanks.

    4 May 5:21pm Reply

  • StopMakeTheEyes

    " http://www.last.fm/music/Captain+Beefheart++His+Magic+Band " to Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band Please, Ladies and Gentleman.

    28 Apr 2:21pm Reply

  • beautifuldaddy

    I'd say he was both

    28 Apr 1:55am Reply

  • PlzDontBan

    I think that Don wasn't a visionary but crazy tbh.

    27 Apr 3:50am Reply

  • sunheadbowed

    He's a God-like post-dubstep singer with shit songs.

    27 Apr 12:20am Reply

  • Neue_regel_

    @sunheadbowed James Blake who??

    26 Apr 7:09pm Reply

  • cjkisaragi

    Seriously though, trolls used to be quite amusing on this site, and now they are piss-poor.

    23 Apr 4:02pm Reply

  • GinoAnello

    Grimes sucks

    23 Apr 4:30am Reply

  • Jaw-Bone

    Thom Yorke and Grimes are true visionaries. [2] at least someone else here doesnt have terrible taste

    23 Apr 3:16am Reply

  • iamholgerczukay

    C'mon dudez, everyone knows Animal Collective invented being weird. I wouldn't pay people like that too much attention, people who can't wrap their head around the fact that someone might have a different opinion than them. OH HEY, guys I was just at Target and they were having a killer sale on Fedoras! I'm wearing 12 as we speak.

    23 Apr 12:52am Reply

  • sunheadbowed

    James Blake > Don Van Vliet.

    22 Apr 1:29am Reply

  • beautifuldaddy

    I'm eagerly awaiting Jaw-Bone's answer

    19 Apr 11:28pm Reply

  • sunheadbowed

    Especially the part in the (I think) mellotron improv when he tells the guy in the crowd to shut up! "SHUT UP, BOY!"

    16 Apr 5:23pm Reply

  • fergalmc

    I think moments on the Grow Fins box set prove Beefheart's genius.

    16 Apr 2:33pm Reply

  • Groves89

    Thom Yorke and Grimes are true visionaries.

    16 Apr 6:51am Reply

  • fergalmc

    lel[2] Jaw-Bone, please do suggest me some music?

    16 Apr 3:35am Reply

  • Jaw-Bone

    nah i said what i meant. this music is for people who shop at hot topic and wear fedoras. listen to something that's actually good instead.

    15 Apr 11:42pm Reply

  • sunheadbowed

    You're pretty much an idiot if you use 4chan, I think you meant to type.

    15 Apr 5:38pm Reply
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