Died On This Date (December 17, 2010) Captain Beefheart / Rock Legend
themusicsover Captain Beefheart (Born Don Glen Vliet)
January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010
Captain Beefheart was a respected, innovative, and highly influential rock musician who launched his 40-year career in 1964. A multi-instrumentalist with a powerful voice, Beefheart found himself at the top 1960s avant-garde rock heap. He was a high school classmate of Frank Zappa with whom he occasionally recorded and performed with. In 1969, Beefheart released his groundbreaking opus, Trout Mask Replica on Zappa’s Straight Records. Sonically, the album found itself somewhere in the middle of blues, psychedelia, jazz and rock. In 2003, Rolling Stone magazine positioned it at #58 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time. It is commonly cited as an influence on post-punk and alternative rock. Beefheart could count no less than Paul McCartney and John Lennon as fans – at one point they had planned to make him the first artist on their experimental label, Zapple, but the idea for the label was scrapped. Others he is said to have influenced are the Velvet Underground, the Residents, Throbbing Gristle, and arguably, the entire industrial movement. He retired from music in 1982 to put more focus on his talents as a visual artist. It has been reported that his paintings can command as much as $40,000. Captain Beefheart died on December 17, 2010 of complications from Multiple Sclerosis. He was 69.
What You Should Own
Although he also managed among others, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas and Gerry & the Pacemakers, Brian Epstein is best remembered as manager of the Beatles. Many give him credit for the early success of the band. Epstein first met the Beatles after the Cavern Club show on November 9, 1961. By late January of 1962, Epstein was officially the band’s manager. He helped facilitate many of the band’s earliest successes, but by January of 1966, the Beatles decided not to renew their contract which was due to expire the following year. Epstein was notoriously addicted to drugs, and on August 27, 1967, he died of what was ruled and accidental overdose. He was 32 years old. In later years, Paul McCartney claimed that “if anyone was the fifth Beatle, it was Brian.” And 
Roy Buchanan was a respected blues guitarist who rose to prominence in the late ’50s thanks in part to his prowess on the Telecaster. Rolling Stone placed him at #57 in their list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time. He got his professional start early, playing with 
