I like my Zappa, Residents, Henry Cow, John Zorn and Mr. Bungle.
So no, it's not just because I think Beefheart is "weird and pretentious", though I do think he's very pretentious, the problem is people shouldn't confuse challenging music with great music. While the bands I mentioned do things outside of the norm they're still very talented composers and musicians, which is not the opinion I have when it comes to Beefheart, a think his band does most of the work anyway.
He had some talented backing musicians, Zoot Horn Rollo had some great guitar licks and Trout Mask Replica wouldn't have been sh*t without him I don't think.
Beefheart himself was an interesting personality, that goes without saying, I don't however consider him a musical genius. I appreciate his massive influence but that can't stop me from liking just about everything Beefheart influenced more than Beefheart himself.
Besides, the best stuff he did was when he sang for Zappa.
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