Frank Zappa referred to them as the “Mothers of the Mothers of Invention” as well as simply calling Don Van Vliet (they were childhood friends and rivals) an “asshole”. You could say everyone from Tom Waits to the White Stripes probably owes Beefheart a thing or two, Ry Cooder even had a brief stint in the original band. He retired from music to pursue the visual arts, or so the story goes, but here is a pretty fun beach party video…dig the top hat Capt…you are the cat’s meow. Here is a nice little bit of text cut from Wiki-

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 claimed to have written all of the songs for Trout Mask in one marathon 8-hour writing session, but we now know the band did much to shape them during the 8 months they were rehearsed. Van Vliet also claimed to have taught both Harkleroad and bassist Mark Boston to play their instruments from scratch; in fact the pair were already accomplished musicians before joining the band.[14] Last, Van Vliet claimed to have gone a year and half without sleeping. When asked how this was possible, he replied that he only ate fruit — a typical Beefheartian non sequitur.

Electricity-

A nice performance of Ashtray Heart from 1980 (Thanks to Wildwoodflower for the link)-

Captain Beefheart- Wiki
Captain Beefheart- Radar Station