1982. My dad was showing me around his record collection when he yanked out Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefeart. Being that I was very young, I ran away screaming in pure horror. There’s not much else to tell, here, except that my father usually handled that album with care from then on. Only, from time to time, he liked to see if I would still jump.
Its presence in his record collection – and please remember these were the days of big vinyl disks – kept my hands and curiosity at bay. That album cover is burned into my mind like a smoldering scar.
Those who know me can understand why it’s much less frightening to see Fred Kreuger in a nearly perfect mirror image of the same album cover. “Freddy’s Greatest Hits” recently came to my attention by way of a blog devoted to the foolhardy days of vinyl. Here are the covers, side by side. Continue reading “Did Freddy Kreuger Plagiarize Captain Beefheart?”