He locked his band inside a rented house for eight months on a near-starvation diet to force them to play music considered impossible, then, at the peak of a career comeback, walked away to become a painter. This episode explores the abrasive genius of Don Van Vliet, better known as Captain Beefheart.

We trace his life from child sculpting prodigy in California, through the parental rejection that diverted his creative energy into music, to the notorious making of Trout Mask Replica and his final, deliberate retirement from music.

• Winning a Los Angeles Zoo art prize at nine before his parents blocked a European scholarship
• His teenage friendship and lifelong rivalry with Frank Zappa in the Mojave Desert
• Walking off a 10-foot stage drop and derailing his shot at the Monterey Pop Festival
• The controlling, cu ...