Beck
Beck
Singer, guitarist
In 1994 Beck rode his fluke hit single “Loser” to stardom. Buoyed by heavy rotation on MTV and all-around raves for the song’s odd rap-folk, stream-of-consciousness flavor, “Loser” assumed generational anthem status. This was due in large part to the emerging critical consensus surrounding the song, which held that its mordant lyrics—festooned as they were with pop culture references and downbeat non-sequiters—fit in nicely with popular “Generation X” mythology. “On the strength of ‘Loser,’” wrote Entertainment Weekly’s Mark Lewman, “[Beck] has, much to his own dazed bemusement, become a pop star without even trying.” Over the next two years it became clear that Beck’s new-found stardom would have little effect on his musical interests, which often took him into radio-unfriendly territory. Armed with a major-label recording contract that permitted him to continue to record for small independent labels, he released two records before coming out with his second major-label release, Odelay. The album was widely praised by critics who assured readers that Beck was no one-hit wonder.
L.A. Roots
Beck Hansen was born and raised in Los Angeles, though he did live with his maternal grandparents in Kansas City for a brief time (his grandfather was a Presbyterian minister). Beck’s father was a bluegrass street musician, an occupation that piqued his son’s interest in music at an early age. By ninth grade, Beck’s disillusionment with school prompted him to drop out and take a succession of entry-level jobs, from stock boy to video store clerk. “I’m sure there’s something good about high school, but not any of the ones I went to,” he told Jancee Dunn in Rolling Stone. But he struggled in the work world as well; he recalled that he was even fired from his stock boy job. “They didn’t like the way I dressed,” he told Dunn. “Not that I was dressing outrageously or anything. They just didn’t like my style. I was just wearing jeans and a shirt from Sears. I don’t know. They had high expectations for stock positions.”
By the time he was about 16, Beck had purchased a guitar and begun following in his father’s street-playing footsteps. “I just carried my guitar everywhere,” he reported to Dunn. “I was just kind of ready for any sudden jamboree that might befall me. I used to play down at Lafayette Park, near where I used to live as a kid, and all these Salvadoran guys would be playing soccer, and I’d be practicing a Leadbelly song. The Salvadoran guys would just be shaking their heads.” Indeed, Beck was a dedicated student of the works of
For the Record…
Born Beck Hansen, July 8, 1970, in Los Angeles, CA; father was a street musician; mother (Bibbe) was a member of underground L.A. punk-drag band Black Fag.
Started playing on streets at age 16; released first single, “Loser,” on Bong Load Custom Records, 1993; signed with DGC label, which released his first album, Mellow Gold, 1994; member of 1995 Lollapalooza tour; after making two records on independent labels, released Odelay in 1996.
Addresses : Record company —DGC Records, 9130 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90069.
folk and blues legends such as Woody Guthrie, Fred McDowell, and Mississippi John Hurt. As he grew older, though, he became increasingly interested in grafting those musical genres onto rap and other modern musical styles. This interest intensified after he paid a visit to New York’s East Village anti-folk scene in the late 1980s.
By age eighteen Beck was playing at local L.A. clubs and passing out armloads of tapes. He eventually caught the attention of a small record label called Bong Load Custom Records, which released his odd song “Loser” as a single. To the amazement of all, the song became a tremendous hit in the metropolitan area, and recording industry talent scouts were soon courting the artist with abandon. Or as Dunn described it, “when [’Loser’] became an instant hit on local radio, major labels set upon Beck like starving rats in a peach barrel.” After receiving assurances from Geffen subsidiary DGC that he would be allowed to release songs on independent labels as well as DGC, Beck signed on.
“Loser” Hits It Big
In 1994 DGC released Beck’s first album, Mellow Gold, which the artist termed “my idea of the K-Mart Satan record.” The nationwide popularity of “Loser” ensured the album good sales, but critics quickly noted that the record had many additional treasures. Rolling Stone critic Michael Azerrad commented that “Beck makes ultrasurrealhip-hop-folk that harkens back to’Subterranean Homesick Blues,’” adding that “Beck’s verbal collages get close to the truth of his milieu and our times. Think of it as generational code or stream of unconsciousness. But it’s really called poetry.” Knight-Ridder writer Tom Moon called the album “thought-provoking,” commenting that “with little regard for linear thought, Beck shuffles advertising catch-phrases and other artifacts of contemporary life into a recombinant testimonial, an intentionally obscure commentary on things we’d just as soon overlook. It’s triumphantly anti-professional, idiot-savant music in which a heartfelt solo can be provided by kazoo as easily as guitar.” Even underwhelmed critics such as Musician’s Dave DiMartino—who wrote that the album’s underlying themes of victimization, anger, and “self-absorption are not only unattractive and innocuous, they’re wimpy”—admitted that “Beck’s lyric gifts are obvious and his musical influences…more or less impeccable.”
Beck returned to the world of independent labels for his next two efforts, Stereopathetic Soulmanure (on Flip-side) and One Foot in the Grave (on the K label). The latter album was particularly interesting, for its songs—though warped as always by Beck’s distinctive artistic prism—provided telling insight into the artist’s traditional folk and blues roots. As David Browne wrote in Entertainment Weekly, “Grave is a genial throwaway—both a loving tribute to, and a gentle mocking of, various folk musics—that is clearly not meant to be Mellow Golds big follow-up.”
Releases Odelay
In 1996 Beck unveiled his major label follow-up, the well-received Odelay. The songs on Odelay, produced in collaboration with the renowned Dust Brothers (John King and Michael Simpson), continued where Mellow Gold left off. Brimming with oddball pop culture references and disconcerting imagery, the record further burnished Beck’s reputation as one of the music world’s more unique talents. Newsweeks David Gates called the album “American eclectic music, a ‘90s analogue to the genre-smooshing slumgullion of Bob Wills, Elvis Presley or Bob Dylan.”
For his part, Beck seemed to remain bemused by his fame and his reputation as a “slacker” icon. “Smart, funny and strange, he floats along in his own time-space continuum,” reflected Dunn. “He seems unattached to any particular group or generation despite the slacker albatross around his neck.” Nor does he take too seriously an approach to his creative output. As he told Dunn in 1996: “I remember talking to some journalist in Hong Kong, and he read me out lyrics to one of my songs that weren’t anything close to the ones I wrote. They were so much better. I’ve been kicking myself ever since that I didn’t write down what he thought they were.”
Selected discography
Golden Feelings, Sonic Enemy, 1993 (EP).
A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight, Finger Paint Records, 1994.
Mellow Gold, DGC, 1994.
Stereopathetic Soulmanure, Flipside, 1994.
One Foot in the Grave, K, 1994.
Odelay, DGC, 1996.
Sources
Entertainment Weekly, March 27, 1994; April 8, 1994; August 5, 1994.
Knight-Ridder Tribune News Service, April 1, 1994.
Musician, April 1994.
Newsweek, August 5, 1996.
New York Times, March 27, 1994; June 23, 1996.
New Yorker, April 18, 1994.
Playboy, July 1994.
Rolling Stone, April 7, 1994; July 11, 1996.
Spin, July 1994; December 1994.
Stereo Review, July 1994.
Village Voice, March 29, 1994.
Additional information for this profile was provided by Geffen Records, Inc.
—Kevin Hillstrom
Beck
Beck
Singer, songwriter, guitarist
In 1994 Beck rode his fluke hit single “Loser” to stardom. Buoyed by heavy rotation on MTV and all-around raves for the song’s odd rap-folk, stream-of-consciousness flavor, “Loser” assumed generational anthem status. This was due in large part to the emerging critical consensus surrounding the song, which held that its mordant lyrics—festooned as they were with pop culture references and downbeat non sequi-turs—fit in nicely with popular “Generation X” mythology. “On the strength of ’Loser,’” wrote Entertainment Weekly’s Mark Lewman, “[Beck] has, much to his own dazed bemusement, become a pop star without even trying.” Over the next two years it became clear that Beck’s new-found stardom would have little effect on his musical interests, which often took him into radio-unfriendly territory. Armed with a major-label recording contract that permitted him to continue to record for small independent labels, he released two records before coming out with his second major-label release, Odelay. The album was widely praised by critics who assured readers that Beck was no one-hit wonder. His following releases, including Midnite Vultures and Sea Change, proved, as a New Yorker reviewer commented, that “of the musicians active today, few deserve the title recording ‘artist’ more that Beck.”
Beck Hansen was born on July 8, 1970, and raised in Los Angeles, though he did live with his maternal grandparents in Kansas City for a brief time (his grandfather was a Presbyterian minister). Beck’s father was a bluegrass street musician, an occupation that piqued his son’s interest in music at an early age. By ninth grade, Beck’s disillusionment with school prompted him to drop out and take a succession of entry-level jobs, from stock boy to video store clerk. “I’m sure there’s something good about high school, but not any of the ones I went to,” he told Jancee Dunn in Rolling Stone. But he struggled in the work world as well; he recalled that he was even fired from his stock boy job. “They didn’t like the way I dressed,” he told Dunn. “Not that I was dressing outrageously or anything. They just didn’t like my style. I was just wearing jeans and a shirt from Sears. I don’t know. They had high expectations for stock positions.”
By the time he was about 16, Beck had purchased a guitar and begun following in his father’s street-playing footsteps. “I just carried my guitar everywhere,” he reported to Dunn. “I was just kind of ready for any sudden jamboree that might befall me. I used to play down at Lafayette Park, near where I used to live as a kid, and all these Salvadoran guys would be playing soccer, and I’d be practicing a Leadbelly song. The Salvadoran guys would just be shaking their heads.” Indeed, Beck was a dedicated student of the works of folk and blues legends such as Woody Guthrie, Fred McDowell, and Mississippi John Hurt. As he grew older, though, he became increasingly interested in grafting those musical genres onto rap and other modern musical styles. This interest intensified after he paid a visit
For the Record…
Born Beck Hansen on July 8, 1970, in Los Angeles, CA; father (David Campbell) was a string arranger and street musician; mother (Bibbe) was a member of underground Los Angeles punk-drag band Black Fag.
Started playing on streets at age 16; released first single, “Loser,” on Bong Load Custom Records, 1993; signed with DGC label, which released his first album, Mellow Gold, 1994; member of 1995 Lollapalooza tour; after making two records on independent labels, released Odelay, 1996; released Midnite Vultures, 1999; released Sea Change, 2002.
Awards: Grammy Awards, Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for “Where It’s At,” Best Alternative Music performance for Odelay, 1997, Best Alternative Music Performance for Mutations, 1999.
Addresses: Record company —DGC Records, 9130 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90069. Website— Beck Official Website: http://www.beck.com.
to New York’s East Village anti-folk scene in the late 1980s.
By age 18 Beck was playing at local Los Angeles clubs and passing out armloads of tapes. He eventually caught the attention of a small record label called Bong Load Custom Records, which released his odd song “Loser” as a single. To the amazement of all, the song became a tremendous hit in the metropolitan area, and recording industry talent scouts were soon courting the artist with abandon. Or as Dunn described it, “when ‘Loser’ became an instant hit on local radio, major labels set upon Beck like starving rats in a peach barrel.” After receiving assurances from Geffen subsidiary DGC that he would be allowed to release songs on independent labels as well as DGC, Beck signed on.
In 1994 DGC released Beck’s first album, Mellow Gold, which the artist termed “my idea of the K-Mart Satan record.” The nationwide popularity of “Loser” ensured the album good sales, but critics quickly noted that the record had many additional treasures. Rolling Stone critic Michael Azerrad commented that “Beck makes ultrasurreal hip-hop-folk that harkens back to ’Subterranean Homesick Blues,’” adding that “Beck’s verbal collages get close to the truth of his milieu and our times. Think of it as generational code or stream of unconsciousness. But it’s really called poetry.” Knight-Ridder writer Tom Moon called the album “thought-provoking,” commenting that “with little regard for linear thought, Beck shuffles advertising catch-phrases and other artifacts of contemporary life into a recombinant testimonial, an intentionally obscure commentary on things we’d just as soon overlook. It’s triumphantly anti-professional, idiot-savant music in which a heartfelt solo can be provided by kazoo as easily as guitar.” Even under-whelmed critics such as Musician’s Dave DiMartino—who wrote that the album’s underlying themes of victimization, anger, and “self-absorption are not only unattractive and innocuous, they’re wimpy”—admitted that “Beck’s lyric gifts are obvious and his musical influences … more or less impeccable.”
Beck returned to the world of independent labels or his next two efforts, Stereopathetic Soulmanure (on Flipside) and One Foot in the Grave (on the K label). The latter album was particularly interesting, as its songs—though warped as always by Beck’s distinctive artistic prism—provided telling insight into the artist’s traditional folk and blues roots. As David Browne wrote in Entertainment Weekly, “Grave is a genial throw-away—both a loving tribute to, and a gentle mocking of, various folk musics—that is clearly not meant to be Mellow Gold’s big follow-up.”
In 1996 Beck unveiled his major label follow-up, the well-received Odelay. The songs on Odelay, produced in collaboration with the renowned Dust Brothers (John King and Michael Simpson), continued where Mellow Gold left off. Brimming with oddball pop culture references and disconcerting imagery, the record further burnished Beck’s reputation as one of the music world’s more unique talents. Newsweeks David Gates called the album “American eclectic music, a ’90s analogue to the genre-smooshing slumgullion of Bob Wills, Elvis Presley or Bob Dylan.”
For his part, Beck seemed to remain bemused by his fame and his reputation as a “slacker” icon. “Smart, funny and strange, he floats along in his own time-space continuum,” reflected Dunn. “He seems unattached to any particular group or generation despite the slacker albatross around his neck.” Nor does he take too seriously an approach to his creative output. As he told Dunn in 1996: “I remember talking to some journalist in Hong Kong, and he read me out lyrics to one of my songs that weren’t anything close to the ones I wrote. They were so much better. I’ve been kicking myself ever since that I didn’t write down what he thought they were.”
Beck’s next album, Mutations, was released in 1998. The unofficial follow-up to the Grammy Award-winning Odelay (the same way Beck’s two post-Mellow Gold releases weren’t “official” follow-ups to his breakthrough album), Mutations was a collection of acoustic-based, neo-country tunes with a hint of lo-fi psychedelia behind them. A New Yorker reviewer praised the fact that even the most downbeat tunes on the album “celebrated the hope of the hopeless … never at the expense of great tunes or wordplay.” The album, produced by Nigel Godrich, the man behind Radiohead’s Kid A, was well-received by both the press and the public, and earned Beck his third Grammy Award.
Midnite Vultures, Beck’s next release, was stylistically as far removed from Mutations as an album could be. With its mixture of hip-hop, soul, and funk, the album was an homage to Prince, a love letter to R&B and soul, but also “a slippery satire on the glossy excesses of late-90s culture,” as Blender writer Dorian Lynskey noted. From his seduction of a JC Penny salesclerk in “Debra” to the faux-gangsta rap of “Hollwood Freaks” and the electro-party jam “Get Real Paid,” Beck critiqued pop culture with a wink and a smirk.
The fun didn’t last for long, though. Soon after the release of Midnite Vultures, Beck’s decade-long relationship with his girlfriend, stylist Leigh Limon, came to an end. He went through a prolific period of post-breakup recording, composing nearly an album’s worth of tunes before shelving them for the next two years. The songs resurfaced in 2002 as Sea Change, which, true to its title, is a remarkable transformation from any of Beck’s previous albums. Reviewers called the album “emotionally naked,” “confessional,” “his most personal work yet.” With only a cursory listen to Sea Change, it might be easy to compare it to the stripped-down songs found on Mutations. But while those songs still maintained some of Beck’s lyrical playfulness and trademark inventive style, the songs on Sea Change are soul-baring and extremely personal compared to anything Beck has ever released. “These are the best kind of loss songs,” a New Yorker reviewer wrote, “wistful, not pitiful; confident, not decadent.” He earned yet another Grammy nomination for the set.
“I respect musicians who put out the same record over and over again and develop something. I do,” he told Blender. “I just decided to cast my net a bit wider.”
Selected discography
Golden Feelings (EP), Sonic Enemy, 1993.
A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight, Finger Paint, 1994.
Mellow Gold, DGC, 1994.
Stereopathetic Soulmanure, Flipside, 1994.
One Foot in the Grave, K, 1994.
Odelay, DGC, 1996.
Mutations, DGC, 1998.
Midnite Vultures, DGC, 1999.
Sea Change, Interscope, 2002.
Sources
Periodicals
Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, November 24, 2002.
Entertainment Weekly, March 27, 1994; April 8, 1994; August 5, 1994; October 30, 1998.
Interview, May 2001.
Knight-Ridder Tribune News Service, April 1, 1994; September 23, 2002; October 2, 2002.
Music 23, 2002; October 2, 2002.
Musician, April 2002.
Newsweek, August 5, 1996; November 29, 1999.
New Yorker, April 18, 1994; October 14, 2002.
New York Times, March 27, 1994; June 23, 1996.
Playboy, July 1994.
Rolling Stone, April 7, 1994; July 11, 1996.
Spin, July 1994; December 1994.
Stereo Review, July 1994.
Time, September 30, 2002.
Village Voice, March 29, 1994; September 18, 2002.
Online
“Beck: Artist of the Year,” Salon, http://archive.salon.com/dec96/beck961216.html (February 11, 2003).
“Beck: Sea Change,” Pop Matters, http://www.popmatters.com/music/reviews/b/beck-seachange.shtml (February 11, 2003).
“Guess I’m Doing Fine,” Salon, http://www.salon.com/ent/music/feature/2002/10/02/beck/print.html (February 2, 2003).
“The Heartbreak Kid,” Blender, http://www.blender.com/articles/issueiO/beck.html (February 19, 2003).
“Hlwd. Freak,” Salon, http://dir.salon.com/ent/music/feature/1999/11/10/beck/index.html (February 11, 2003).
Additional information was provided by Geffen Records, Inc.
—Kevin Hillstrom
Beck
BECK
Born: Beck Hansen; Los Angeles, California, 8 July 1970
Genre: Rock
Best-selling album since 1990: Odelay (1996)
Hit songs since 1990: "Where It's At," "Devil's Haircut," "New Pollution"
The talented chameleonlike singer/songwriter who calls himself Beck has been keeping his fans and critics guessing ever since the debut of his tongue-in-cheek, catchy, but elusive single "Loser" in 1993. Beck has released a handful of albums in just seven years, each one a cohesive unit but different from the others in scope, genre, inspiration, and tone. Some dismiss his lyrics as nonsensical gibberish, while others detect irony, sarcasm, cynicism, and hope. His multiplatinum-selling album Odelay! (1996) brought Beck into the mainstream pop world.
Beck is adept at combining elements of every genre of music that has influenced him into complete songs. He exemplifies the best of the folk tradition because his songs are well-constructed and based on roots music such as blues, jazz, and folk. But what separates Beck is the fearlessness with which he blends whatever moves him, whether it is James Brown–influenced soul music, the agile rhymes and rhythms of hip-hop, or the synthetic programming tools that allow him to weave and splice samples, beats, blips, loops, and other noises into postmodern songs in which everything is fodder for inspiration
Musical Background
Born in California, Beck grew up the son of a blue-grass street musician, David Campbell, and an office worker, Bibbe Hansen. He grew up in East Los Angeles, a section of the city known, at the time, for its crime problems. East L.A., however, was fraught with colorful characters and musical influences from all around the world, including Spanish, Caribbean, African, and Mexican. Beck credits his youth in Los Angeles as a huge musical influence. Beck also spent some time living with his grandparents in Kansas as a child and became deeply influenced by church hymns and gospel music; his grandfather was a Presbyterian minister.
At the age of sixteen, after spending most of his teen years working odd jobs, Beck bought a guitar and became a street musician, like his father. He played on the city buses, on the street, and in coffeehouses. He eventually caught the attention of an executive with BMG music, who connected him with Karl Stephenson, a hip-hop producer. The end result was the genre-spanning single "Loser," which put Beck on the map as a quirky new talent. Radio stations were infatuated with the song, and MTV played the video constantly. In the self-deprecating, tongue-in-cheek song, Beck sings half in Spanish and half in English in the refrain, "Yo soy perdido / I'm a loser baby / So why don't you kill me?" During the verses he raps over scratchy beats and a repeated acoustic guitar riff. While some critics initially dismissed him as a one-hit wonder, this unusual song barely scratched the surface of his talents. The song's non sequitur lyrics caused some critics to believe they were just random, nonsensical words strung together; others recognize Beck's intent to play with language and create a jumbled, free-form poetry over guitar, drum machines, keyboards, and any other instrument.
From Loser to Multiplatinum Success
With major-label album debut Mellow Gold (1994), Beck was poised for an interesting and varied career. Odelay! (1996) proved to Beck's skeptics that "Loser" was no accident. Co-produced with the Dust Brothers, well known for their work with hip-hop and electronica artists, nearly every song on Odelay! offers something slightly different. With the lead single "Where It's At," which mixes elements of rap, blues, and other musical forms, Beck hit number five on the Billboard Modern Rock tracks chart and sixty-one on the Billboard Top 100. The song also earned him a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance (1996). The second single, "Devil's Haircut," with its spy-thriller guitar riff and sped-up, chunky beat-box drum loop in the chorus, is basically a funked-up blues song. No one knows what Beck really means when he says "I've got a devil's haircut / In my mind / got a devil's haircut / in my mind," but what the sound and the imagery together convey is more important than any literal reading of the words. Cribbing from a Rolling Stones tune and creating a loop of the guitar riff gave Beck inspiration for the self-deprecating song "Jack-Ass," in which he sings, "I've been creeping along in the same, stale shoes / Loose ends tying the noose in the back of my mind." Tunes like "Jack-Ass" prove that Beck could be literal and create easily understood metaphors.
After the huge success of Odelay!, Beck toured in support of the album and produced an album that was completely different, Mutations (1998). He wrote the songs, recorded them quickly, and pointed out in interviews with reporters that it was not an official follow-up but merely something he wanted to do. Mutations, with its slow ballads and country waltzes, launched the bossa nova–flavored single "Tropicalia" and achieved platinum status. Beck followed up with Midnight Vultures (1999), which borrows heavily from soul and funk. With Beck having covered just about every genre, critics wondered if he could keep up the impressive and exhaustive pace.
A Change of Pace
Following his breakup with his longtime girlfriend, Leigh Limon, Beck released the somber, beautiful, and introspective album Sea Change (2002), a musical diary of a journey through heartbreak. A mostly acoustic affair, with sad, wailing guitars, hollowed-out vocals, and lyrics loaded with themes of loss, Sea Change signals Beck's consistent versatility and proved he could be both sincere and ironic. Notable tracks include the tearjerkers "Guess I'm Doin' Fine" and "Lost Cause." Beck was uncertain as to whether or not he ought to release such a downtrodden set of tunes, but Sea Change was met with critical acclaim and positive sales, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Top 200 chart. It also landed in the number-two slot, behind Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, on the Village Voice Critics' Poll of the best albums of 2002.
Singer, songwriter, experimental genius, Beck made his mark in the mid-1990s with a cheeky hit but has grown into a skilled, versatile, and accomplished postmodern musician.
SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:
Mellow Gold (1994, DGC); Odelay! (DGC, 1996); Mutations (DGC, 1998); Midnight Vultures (DGC, 1999); Sea Change (DGC, 2002).
carrie havranek
beck
beck1 / bek/ • n. chiefly Brit. a mountain stream.beck • n. poetic/lit. a gesture requesting attention, such as a nod or wave.PHRASES: at someone's beck and call always having to be ready to obey someone's orders immediately.