The musicians who were way ahead of their time thread.

[Crowman2009]

And most of the time not successful.

I'll start this one off with a group known as Coven. You don't have to play this album backwards to find out what messages they are sending. In fact, they're in you face about it with the album title:

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. The New York Dolls

The first album came out in 1972. It sounds as if it were released yesterday.

[Crowman2009]

2. I'm a Man by Jobriath

The first openly gay rock star. And like the previous act, wasn't well received by the music buying public:

[GReedDiamond]

3. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band..."Frownland"...

...from the Trout Mask Replica LP (which is on YouTube in its entirety).

[Crowman2009]

7. That album is a dose of insanity that I need for these even more insane times.

I have the CD because I don't trust my internet connection.

[sop]

8. I saw Captain Beefheart as the opening act for Jethro Tull many years ago.

The crowd wouldn't stop milling around, talking and yelling for Jethro Tull, so Van Vliet got reallly pissed, stopped in the middle of his first or second number, began complaining loudly into his mic the sound was crap, got into an argument with people in the crowd, stormed off the stage when people started booing and didn't come back. Jethro Tull was great that night.

[GReedDiamond]

9. Interesting pairing...kinda makes me think of...

...when Jimi Hendrix opened for the Monkees.

I saw the Captain when he played at the Troubadour in Los Angeles after the release of Doc at the Radar Station.

I had a stereo cassette tape recorder inside a box of Wheaties - the bouncer at the door asked me why I had a box of Wheaties, I answered, "in case I get hungry" and he let me in, so I was able to record the show.

At one point, the Captain angrily yelled at the sound man "I sound like I'm coming through cotton!"

The audience was on his side though, since they were there to see him, and not some "mainstream" rock act like Tull.

My Jethro Tull story is, I saw them three years in a row, 1973-1975, in the suburban Chicago area, and they did the same exact show, including the bass player wearing a tiger striped outfit, which matched the tiger stripe pattern on his bass, and at some point in the set, he would bend over onto all-fours and he'd "poop" out tennis balls (!)...1975 was the last time I saw them live.

[peacebuzzard]

4. Hendrix.

Of course.

[badseedboy]

5. Jimmie Spheeris, Leon Russell, Lene Lovich,

Rita Jean Bodine

[poli-junkie]

6. David Bowie

[EarlG]

10. I first heard this in the mid-2000s and was amazed at how far ahead of its time it was

as a precursor to jungle/electronica which didn't really come into its own until almost two decades after this was written.

This Heat -- "24 track loop" -- from the album "This Heat" which was written between 1976 and 1978, and released in 1979.

This Heat only put out a couple of albums, and they must have been pretty confounding to people at the time, but they influenced a lot of different genres later on.

[The Polack MSgt]

11. The Cars released their debut album 42 years ago

and it still sounds like it's from the future

[ProfessorGAC]

13. On Board, Sarge

I was driving to work one morning listening to WCKG, one of the big FM rock stations.
DJ was so smitten, he played Just What I Needed. Then after the break, played You're All I've Got/Bye Bye Love.
At lunchtime, I went to the mall a few miles from the lab to buy the album.
It was "What?!? What?!? What?!?". I've been hooked ever since.
Elliot Easton is one of the great unsung guitar heroes ever!!!!

[The Polack MSgt]

15. I listened to A Wheeling WV station a Pittsburgh Station and a damn Steubenville Ohio station

And in 1978 EVERYONE was flipping out over the debut album.

It was gonna save us all from crap pop songs and shitty disco, clear up acne and fix the gas crises.

Not one bad song on the record. IMHO

[ProfessorGAC]

17. The Production Is Masterful

Clear, clean, and every part is easily heard.
It almost seems like all the parts are the most important thing except there's no conflict and the empty space is audio intoxication.

[cayugafalls]

12. Screamin Jay Hawkins.

Sure he was drunk when he recorded the song, but he inadvertently influenced so many artist and is credited in some circles as influencing a lot of the macabre genre of rock music.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

14. Rosetta Tharpe.

Before Hendrix, Elvis and Chuck Berry, there was Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/forgotten-guitar-hendrix-elvis-and-chuck-berry-there-was-sister-rosetta-tharpe

[The Polack MSgt]

16. Great pick

[mr_lebowski]

18. Velvet Underground, Can & Kraftwerk come immediately to mind for me ... (nt)

[Sewa]

19. Mahavishnu Orchestra

A powerhouse lineup of musicians. Groundbreaking music that fused several musical styles. The inter play between the members was magical.

[Crowman2009]

21. Crazy World of Arthur Brown - Fire