While studying at Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster he met the teenage Frank Zappa. They began collaborating on pop song parodies and a movie script called Captain Beefheart vs. the Grunt People"Captain Beefheart vs. the Grunt People". The Captain Beefheart Radar Station. URL accessed on February 27 2006. the first appearance of the Beefheart name. Van Vliet's stage name came from a term used by his Uncle Alan. Alan had a habit of exposing himself to Don's girlfriend, Laurie. Alan would urinate with the bathroom door open and, if she was walking by, mumble about his penis, saying "Ahh, what a beauty! It looks just like a big, fine beef heart."Zappa, Frank & Occhiogrosso, Peter (1990). The Real Frank Zappa Book. Fireside. ISBN 0671705725. In a 1970 interview with Rolling Stone, Van Vliet requests "don't ask me why or how" he and Zappa came up with the name. He would later claim in an appearance on Late Night with David Letterman that the name referred to "a beef in ^* heart" about how humans were treating the environment.

Van Vliet enrolled at Antelope Valley Junior College as an art major, but left the following year. After managing a chain of shoe stores, Van Vliet relocated to Cucamonga, California to reconnect with Zappa, who inspired Van Vliet's entry into music performing. Van Vliet was reportedly quite shyZappa, Frank (March 1977). International Times., but able to imitate the deep voice of blues singer Howlin' Wolf and in possession of an astonishing four-and-a-half octave vocal range". Eventually growing comfortable performing, he learned harmonica, and played around southern California, at dances and small clubs.

Professional music career

Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band signed to A&M Records and released two 1966 singles, a version of Bo Diddley's "Diddy Wah Diddy" followed by "Moonchild" written by David Gates. Both were local Los Angeles hits. The band was by now beginning to play "underground" venues such as the Avalon Ballroom in San Francisco.

Some time in 1966 demos of what became the Safe as Milk material were submitted to A&M. Jerry Moss (the M in A&M) reportedly described the new direction as "too negative" and they were dropped from the label. But by the end of 1966 they were signed to Buddah Records and John French had joined as drummer. French would be the mainstay of the band until 1971, and returned twice after that (1975-77 and 1980 - he now leads the reformed Magic Band). French had the patience required to be able to translate Van Vliet's musical ideas (often expressed by whistling or banging on the piano) for the other players. In French's absence this role was taken over by Bill Harkleroad.

The Safe as Milk material needed much more work, and the 20-year-old Ry Cooder was asked to help. They began recording in Spring 1967, with Richard Perry producing (his first job as producer). Cooder did not hang around long after the album was recorded. The album was finally released in September 1967.

In August, guitarist Jeff Cotton was recruited and the Snouffer/Cotton/Handley/French line-up began recording for the second album around November. It is said to have been intended to be a double album called It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper with one disc recorded live (or live in the studio). What finally emerged in October 1968 was Strictly Personal, on producer Bob Krasnow's Blue Thumb Records. After the album was released Van Vliet, in interviews, constructed a myth which alleged that the tapes of the album had been remixed by Krasnow without the band's knowledge, and further, that he had ruined it by adding modish psychedelic effects (phasing, backwards tapes, etc). In fact this was likely Beefheart's hasty rebuttal to some negative reaction to the album from some quarters, but the myth has persisted, and is included as fact in Jason Ankeny's All Music Guide biography. This was also the period in which Van Vliet started creating his own myth, for example, by saying in an interview that having not slept for a year, he'd dreamed the whole Strictly Personal album in one 24 hour sleep. Earlier recordings of two of the Strictly Personal songs and two other songs were released by Buddah in 1971 under the title Mirror Man. The original release bore a sleeve note claiming that the material had been recorded "one night in Los Angeles in 1965". This was a ruse to circumvent possible copyright issues; in fact it probably dates from late summer 1967.

Trout Mask Replica

Full article: Trout Mask Replica

The 28 songs on Trout Mask Replica draw on blues music, Bo Diddley, free jazz, and sea shanties but the relentless practice blended the music into an iconoclastic whole of conflicting tempi, harsh slide guitar, loping drumming, and honking saxophone and bass clarinet. Van Vliet's vocals range from growling blues singing to frenzied falsetto to laconic, casual ramblings. His lyrics often seem impenetrably strange and nonsensical, but closer examination actually reveals complex poetic use of wordplay, metaphor and all manner of references: music history, American and international politics, the Holocaust, love and sexuality, Steve Reich, gospel music, conformity. Although the album was effectively recorded live, Van Vliet recorded much of the vocals whilst isolated from the rest of the band in a different room, only being in partial synch with the music by hearing the slight sound leakage through the studio window.Chusid, Irwin (2000). Songs in the Key of Z: The Curious Universe of Outsider Music, pp. 129–140. London: Cherry Red Books. ISBN 1901447111

Van Vliet used the ensuing publicity, particularly with a 1970 Rolling Stone interview with Langdon Winner, to promulgate a number of myths which have subsequently been quoted as fact. Winner's article stated, for instance, that neither Van Vliet nor the members of the Magic Band ever took drugs, but guitarist Bill Harkleroad later discredited this. Van Vliet also claimed to have taught both Harkleroad and bassist Mark Boston from scratch; in fact the pair were already accomplished musicians before joining the band.

Critic Steve Huey writes that the album's influence "was felt more in spirit than in direct copycatting, as a catalyst rather than a literal musical starting point. However, its inspiring reimagining of what was possible in a rock context laid the groundwork for countless experiments in rock surrealism to follow, especially during the punk/new wave era." Matt Groening has written that his first reaction to Trout Mask Replica was that it was "the worst thing ever heard", but now lists the album as one of his favorites.Groening, Matt (December 1993). "[http://www.beefheart.com/datharp/groening.htm Plastic Factory". Mojo.

Later music