I gotta go with Urban on this one, he's influenced a lot of great talents. Zappa, Henry Cow, Can, Tom Waits, The Residents, Public Image Ltd, Wire, Sonic Youth, White Stripes, Primus, dEUS, PJ Harvey. But generally there's not really much out there influenced by Beefheart that I don't actually prefer to Beefheart.
Trout Mask Replica is kickass and all, but I don't know about it being a stroke of genius. You could find any group of bluesmen, get them drunk out of their asses and they would probably produce something of a similar result. What I'm basically saying is I don't think simply deconstructing something (in this case, the blues) is genius in itself, I was never a big fan of the Dada movement.
I still haven't voted yet, really undecided on this one. He simply influenced a lot of artists I like and he's put out some stuff I like but a lot of stuff I generally don't care for. So I don't know if he deserves my vote or not, if I were to vote for everyone I just plain "like" I would be voting for everyone.
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