10 Musician And Band Names With Dark Unusual Origins
3. Captain Beefheart's Name Quotes His Exhibitionist Uncle
American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Don Van Vliet adopted the moniker Captain Beefheart early in his career. The musician gave a couple of differing accounts regarding the origin of his stage name, but it is most commonly attributed to his perverted uncle Alan.
According to Van Vliet, Alan was an exhibitionist who would regularly expose himself at family gatherings. Apparently, he would produce his penis, squeeze its head until it turned purple and refer to it as "a big, fine beef heart".
It is sometimes said that it was actually Captain Beefheart's close friend and collaborator Frank Zappa who came up with the name. Furthermore, when speaking to David Letterman, Van Vliet changed his story, noting that he had chosen the words Captain Beefheart to express the "beef in [his] heart" against society. Nonetheless, picking a name that was inspired by a sexually deviant relative is certainly plausible when taking into account the late Captain Beefheart's eccentric personality.