If it truly sounded better why would you need a warming up period?
I suppose you don't appreciate the builder of an ugly castle?
Why wouldn't you? Tastes develop and become more refined and open up to stranger and wilder things over time, which is the reason why, as you get older, you're able to sit through things that would have seemed boring and strange as a kid. Someone who gets accustomed to Pink Floyd will require time to adjust to Beefheart just as someone who gets accustomed to Nickelback will require time to adjust to Pink Floyd. The fact that people aren't instantly gratified by something isn't evidence for it not possibly eventually sounding better to them. It's unreasonable to expect to like everything available to be liked, right away, IMO.
For me, the purpose of art has little to do with practical application and everything to do with communicating an experience/point of view in a way that's rewarding and feels right. If a piece of art does something tangibly impactful on an intellectual or cultural level, but it doesn't come across in how rewarding the experience is, I'll appreciate it, but on a level completely removed from how good I think the piece is. I can accept and appreciate the impact that Citizen Kane has had on films, but that has no bearing whatsoever on how good of a film I consider it. Just like I appreciate if a portion of a musicians earnings go towards charity or if their contributions somehow saved lives or resulted in social change, but that won't affect how good of a musician I think they are.
I think the intellectualized factors only matter when it comes across in how rewarding the thing feels (if the fact that it's bold or daring ACTUALLY communicates an inspired or liberated feeling, for example).
Now, obviously not everybody is going to see it that way. But the point is that I don't think Beefheart is great because it's inventive for the sake of being inventive-- to me, that's irrelevant-- I think he's great because I'm blown away that he was able to do something that I didn't think would work but does in an infectious, exciting, liberating, and affecting manner, that completely changes my understanding of what I might find satisfying.
I would encourage everybody NOT to consider Captain Beefheart great UNTIL they get that type of experience out of it, personally. It sends a misleading impression, IMO, and it's wildly premature to give them that label based on dispassionate acknowledgement alone. You're supposed to listen to it and you're supposed to enjoy it. Whether or not you do is another story.
