10 Extreme Rock Albums That Will Blow Your Mind

Don Van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart, is an artist rightfully beloved by all fans of experimental rock. A gifted child prodigy, Vliet could be a volatile and difficult character, to say the least. In his early years, he shared a tempestuous friendship with the equally talented Frank Zappa, collaborating on some classic Zappa cuts.

Following two solo albums, 1966's Safe As Milk and 1967's Strictly Personal, Vliet produced an avant-garde masterpiece in Trout Mask Replica, which first saw the light of day in 1971.

Despite public admiration from the likes of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, Vliet would never achieve a great level of commercial success. A few seconds listen to Trout Mask Replica will show you why. This is complex, artist music which knocks down the blues and rock 'n roll and rebuilds them in an elemental, highly individual style, which veers from the obtuse to the playful.

To prepare his band for the recording of this album, Vliet purportedly kept the assembled players in a cult-like environment, secluded in a small house in Woodland Hills, LA, for several months. Those who underwent this ordeal speak of excruciating physical and emotional torture.

It was as if Vliet had determined to reduce his players to rubble, in order to sculpt them anew in his own image. The results are simply astonishing.