- Aluminum Christmas Trees: Whilst much of "Orange Claw Hammer" is metaphorical nonsense, a 'cherry phosphate' is indeed a real drink (named for its use of phosphoric acid) which was popular from the late 1800s until World War II. The use of the even-then antiquated phrase in the song symbolises how long the seaman has been away.
- Audience-Alienating Era: Between 1972 and 1975, he pursued a more mainstream-friendly sound in an attempt to reach a wider audience. While The Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot have their fans, Unconditionally Guaranteed and Bluejeans and Moonbeams are almost universally disliked.
- Awesome Music:
- Trout Mask Replica is considered this by many critics and musicians, most notably John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
- Safe as Milk would qualify. While it's nowhere near the experimentation he would pioneer in later albums, it's still got some good music in the form of "Zig Zag Wanderer", "Dropout Boogie", "Electricity", and "Abba Zabba".
- Probably any fan of any artist would say 'all of it', but almost every album Beefheart made was filled with completely original and wonderful songs that drew rave reviews and critical acclaim; all except his two 'Tragic Band' albums, which still have one or two good songs...
- Ensemble Dark Horse: Despite having limited involvement musically, The Mascara Snake is quite popular with fans thanks to his routine with Beefheart on "Pena".
- Faux Symbolism: Whether this is intentional or not depends on who was was giving the particular explanation of the "symbolism", and when (Van Vliet tended to change his stories practically every time he was interviewed).
- Growing the Beard: Whilst the group had a reputation as a hard rhythm & blues group, "Electricity" (and particularly the video
of it at the Cannes Festival) established them as something bizarre indeed. The abstract lyrics recited in an unconventional manner, the unorthodox drum patterns, and slide guitar used in a freeform manner were like nothing before heard. - Hilarious in Hindsight:
- As Mike Barnes notes in his biography, Beefheart anticipated that Unconditionally Guaranteed would make him the most money of his career up to that point. The album flopped... but because Beefheart had signed to a new label which took far less of a cut and ensured more of a cut by co-crediting his wife as songwriter (he also credited Andy DiMartino, the album's producer), he did, in fact make more money off it than he had off previous albums. However, he didn't care enough to pay his band, who promptly left him.
- Art Tripp’s stage name Ed Marimba, giving that his former boss would later hired a Marimba player named Ed.
- Sampled Up: The backing music in "The Blimp" is "Charles Ives" by The Mothers, who were rehearsing in the next room whilst Zappa was taking the call that produced the lyrics. Zappa liked the combination so much he says (as is heard at the end) that they should use it as is for the album. Although performing it live, Zappa didn't originally use "Charles Ives" on an album, only including a live version on You Can't Do That on Stage Anymore years later. (It later did appear on some reissues of Weasels Ripped My Flesh as the closing section of "Didja Get Any Onya?", though.). In an interesting example, the two musicians who played on "Charles Ives" (percussionist Art Tripp and bassist Roy Estrada) - were later in the Magic Band, with the latter joining only for the Clear Spot era, so performances of the Blimp in that era are legitimate.
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