| Beck | |
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Beck in concert, playing his primary guitar, a Vintage Silvertone - September 29, 2006 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Beck David Campbell[1][2] |
| Born | July 8, 1970 Los Angeles, California, United States |
| Genres | Alternative rock, anti-folk |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, musician, producer |
| Instruments | Vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass, drums, harmonica, percussion, sitar, banjo, slide guitar, twelve-string guitar, glockenspiel, vocoder, kalimba, melodica, beatboxing |
| Years active | 1988–present |
| Labels | DGC, Interscope, Geffen, XL, Bong Load |
| Associated acts | The Flaming Lips, Devendra Banhart, Charlotte Gainsbourg, The White Stripes, JSBX, Thurston Moore |
| Website | www.beck.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| [1449 Silvertone Danelectro] | |
Beck Hansen (born Bek David Campbell, July 8, 1970)[3] is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck. With a pop art collage of musical styles, oblique and ironic lyrics, and postmodern arrangements incorporating samples, drum machines, live instrumentation and sound effects, Beck has been hailed by critics throughout his musical career as being amongst the most creative and idiosyncratic musicians of 1990s and 2000s alternative rock.
The four-time platinum artist rose to underground popularity with his early works, which combined social criticism (as in "MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack" and "Deep Fried Love") with musical and lyrical experimentation. He first earned wider public attention for his breakthrough single "Loser", a 1994 hit.
Two of Beck's most popular and acclaimed recordings are Odelay (1996) and Sea Change (2002).[4][5][6] Odelay was awarded Album of the Year by the American magazine Rolling Stone and by UK publications NME and Mojo. Odelay also received a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. Both Odelay and Sea Change appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Beck was born in Los Angeles, California, to David Campbell, a Canadian musician, and Bibbe Hansen, a visual artist and former Warhol "star". His father is of Scottish heritage and his mother is half Norwegian, a quarter Jewish and a quarter Swedish.[7] His maternal grandfather is Al Hansen, a visual collage artist of the Fluxus school of art. Beck's paternal grandfather was a Presbyterian minister. When his parents separated, Beck stayed with his mother and brother in Los Angeles, where he was influenced by the city's diverse musical offerings—everything from hip hop to Latin music and his mother's art scene—all of which would later reappear in his recorded and published work.[8]
After dropping out of high school in the mid-1980s, Beck traveled to Europe and developed his musical talent as a street musician. In Germany, he spent time with his grandfather Al Hansen. The late 1980s found him in New York City, involved in the punk-influenced anti-folk music movement.[9]
In 1988, Beck recorded a cassette entitled Banjo Story, which has since become available in bootleg form.[10] He returned to Los Angeles at the turn of the decade. He lived in a shed and took a variety of low-paying, dead-end jobs (at one point working as a leaf blower operator), all the while continuing to develop his music. Beck also sought out (or sneaked onto) stages at venues all over Los Angeles, from punk clubs to coffee shops and playing on the streets. During this time, he met Chris Ballew (founder of The Presidents of the United States of America). They performed on the streets as a duo for a while. Some of his earliest recordings were achieved by working with Tom Grimley at Poop Alley Studios, a part of WIN Records.[11]
In 1993 Beck released his first studio album, Golden Feelings, on Peter Hughes's Sonic Enemy label. It was initially released only on cassette (though later on CD in limited quantities). It has been estimated that only between 500 and 750 copies were made, making it a rare artifact.[12] AllMusic.com would later describe the album as "an extremely interesting, entertaining, and humorous document that proves that from the start, Beck had his heart set on making experimentation his only gimmick".[13]
1993 saw Bong Load Custom Records (owned by Tom Rothrock, Rob Schnapf, and Bradshaw Lambert) sign Beck to their fledgling label.[14] His first release for Bong Load was "Loser", a collaboration between hip hop nuance producer Carl Stephenson and Beck. The song created a sensation when radio host Chris Douridas played the song on Morning Becomes Eclectic, the flagship music program from Santa Monica College radio station KCRW.[15] That exposure and a subsequent live performance on the show July 23, 1993, led to a bidding war among labels to sign Beck. Eventually, he chose Geffen Records, who offered him terms that included an allowance for the release of independent albums while under contract.[16] Of all the record labels to offer Beck a contract, Geffen offered him the least amount of money, but the greatest amount of creative freedom.
On February 22, 1994, Flipside Records released Stereopathetic Soulmanure. A sprawling 25-track album, it contained the fan favorites "Satan Gave Me a Taco", "Rowboat", and "Thunderpeel", as well nonsensical spoken tracks, noise (such as leafblowers), and live recordings. Johnny Cash would later record "Rowboat" and include it on his 1996 album Unchained. Cash later said that the song "sounded like something I might have written or might have done in the [1960s, when] I was kinda going through some weird times."[17] "Satan Gave Me a Taco" was acknowledged by Allen Ginsberg to be one of his favorite contemporary works of pop poetry.[18]
In March 1994, Geffen released Beck's major label debut, Mellow Gold. The album, created with Bong Load's Rothrock and Schnapf, as well as Carl Stephenson, turned Beck into a mainstream success.[14] The record received the best ratings possible from Spin, Robert Christgau, Rolling Stone's Album Guide and AllMusic. The album included the aforementioned single "Loser".
On June 27, Olympia, Washington–based independent label K Records released Beck's third album of 1994, One Foot in the Grave. The recording featured a number of notable musicians from the independent music scene, including Beat Happening's Calvin Johnson, The Presidents of the United States of America's Chris Ballew, and Built to Spill members Scott Plouf and James Bertram. Sam Jayne, who played in the Olympia band Lync with James Bertram, also appears on the album.
Beck took his act on the road in 1994 with a worldwide tour, followed by a spot on the main stage of the 1995 Lollapalooza tour.
When the time came to record his follow-up to Mellow Gold, Beck enlisted Rothrock and Schnapf as producers and began recording an album of moody, low-key acoustic numbers to showcase his songwriting. Eventually, Beck shelved the album and pursued a more upbeat approach. Beck was introduced to the Dust Brothers, producers of the Beastie Boys' album Paul's Boutique, whose cut-and-paste, sample-heavy production suited Beck's vision of a more fun, accessible album.[14]
The result, 1996's Odelay, would put the "one-hit wonder" criticisms to rest. The lead single, "Where It's At", received much airplay, and its video was in heavy rotation on MTV. Within the year Odelay received praise from Rolling Stone magazine,[19] appeared on countless "Best of" lists (it topped the Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for "Album of the Year"), and earned a number of industry awards, including two Grammys. Besides "Where It's At", three other singles were released from the album: "Devils Haircut", "Jack-Ass" and "The New Pollution".[20]
Beginning in 1993, Beck contributed to Forest for the Trees, an experimental trip hop project by collaborator Carl Stephenson. The project released a self-titled record in 1997, followed by an EP in 1999. Beck added spoken word, harmonica, and various other instruments.[21]
Odelay was followed in 1998 by the release of Mutations. Though the album was originally slated for release by Bong Load Records, Geffen intervened and issued the record against Beck's wishes.[22][23] The artist then sought to void his contracts with both record labels, and in turn the labels sued him for breach of contract. The litigation went on for years and it remains unclear to this day if it has ever been completely resolved.[24] Mutations was produced by Beck and Nigel Godrich (frequent producer and collaborator with Radiohead) and is believed to have been intended as a stopgap measure before the proper next album. Recorded over two weeks, during which Beck recorded one song a day, the sessions produced fourteen songs. Mutations was a departure from the electronic density of Odelay and shows heavy folk and blues influences. Tracks on the album consisted of older songs, some dating back as early as 1994.[25]
In 1999, Beck was awarded Best Alternative Music Performance for Mutations at the 42nd Grammy Awards.[26]
In November, Geffen released the much-anticipated Midnite Vultures,[27] which was supported by an extensive world tour. For Beck, it was a return to the high-energy performances that had been his trademark as far back as Lollapalooza. The live stage set included a red bed that descended from the ceiling for the song "Debra", and the touring band was complemented by a brass section.[28] Midnite Vultures was nominated for Best Album at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards.[29] Beck released a number of B-sides and soundtrack-only songs as well, including "Deadweight" from the A Life Less Ordinary soundtrack, "Midnite Vultures" (curiously, not on the album of the same name), David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" from Moulin Rouge!, and a cover of The Korgis' "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime", which appeared in two memory-alteration-themed productions: the 2004 movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the last episode of the first season of Dollhouse. He is also credited on the French band Air’s 2001 album 10 000 Hz Legend for vocals on the songs "Don't Be Light" and "The Vagabond" (as well as harmonica on the latter). He sang a duet with Emmylou Harris on Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons, performing "Sin City".[30]
In 2001, the Beck EP, which consists of B-sides from the Midnite Vultures era, was released. The EP was only available from Beck's website, and only 10,000 copies were printed.
In 2002, Beck released Sea Change, which, like Mutations, was produced by Nigel Godrich. It became Beck's first US Top 10 album, reaching #8. The album also received critical acclaim, earning five stars from Rolling Stone (the magazine's highest rating) and placing second in the Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 2002. Sea Change was conceptualized around one unifying theme: the end of a relationship. The album featured string arrangements by Beck's father, David Campbell, and a sonically dense mix reminiscent of Mutations. Although some radio singles were released, no commercial singles were made available to the public. In August 2002, prior to the release of Sea Change, Beck embarked on a solo acoustic tour of small theaters and halls, during which he played several songs from the forthcoming album. The post-release Sea Change tour featured The Flaming Lips as Beck's opening and backing band.[31]
A song Beck co-wrote with William Orbit, "Feel Good Time", was recorded by pop singer Pink for inclusion on the soundtrack of the 2003 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.[32] Beck also covered the Bruce Haack song titled "Funky Lil Song" for Dimension Mix, a tribute album dedicated to the music of electronic music pioneer Haack and his Dimension 5 Records, which his long time friend and collaborator Ross Harris produced to benefit Cure Autism Now.
In 2004, Beck returned to the studio to work on his sixth major-label studio album.[33] The record, Guero, was produced by the Dust Brothers and Tony Hoffer and features a collaboration with Jack White of The White Stripes; it marked a return to Odelay-era sound.[33] The album was released in March 2005 and enjoyed critical acclaim from most mainstream press, earning four of five stars from Rolling Stone,[34] as well as a "Critic's Choice" recognition from The New York Times.[35] The album received a less enthusiastic response from Pitchfork Media, which ran a lukewarm and disappointed 6.6 out of 10 review;[36] it was also given poor reviews by Q magazine, Dusted and Mojo.[37] The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts, pushing 162,000 copies in the first week and giving Beck his best week ever in terms of commercial sales and chart position.[38] Since the release of Guero, the album's first single, "E-Pro" (which samples the drum track from the Beastie Boys hit "So What'cha Want"), has been well received by the mainstream rock community, receiving significant play time on mainstream radio.[39] The second single, "Girl", received decent play time on mainstream radio and heavy airplay on college and independent radio.[40] The third and final single of the album was "Hell Yes."[41] The deluxe edition DVD version of the album featured more than 100 videos. Viewers could use the two additional video streams and four subpicture streams to create their own visual remixes for each track. The DVD package was so advanced that a small percentage of DVD players were unable to access certain tracks, due to the complicated nature of the technology used by video artists D-Fuse.
On February 1, 2005, Beck released an EP featuring four remixes of songs from Guero by independent artists who use sounds from various early 8-bit video game devices like the Game Boy. The EP, GameBoy Variations, featured "Ghettochip Malfunction" [Hell Yes] and "GameBoy/Homeboy" [Que' Onda Guero], both remixed by the band 8-Bit, and also had "Bad Cartridge" [E-Pro] and "Bit Rate Variation in B-Flat" [Girl], the last two being remixed by Paza {The X-Dump}. The EP cover art shows a long-haired person headbanging to his Game Boy, which is plugged into an amplifier like an electric guitar. This EP was featured in an issue of Nintendo Power. A music video for "Gameboy/Homeboy" was made by Wyld File.[42] Also at this time, Beck released A Brief Overview, a promotional retrospective album featuring tracks from Guero, Sea Change, Mutations, Midnite Vultures and Odelay. This compilation also features "Ghettochip Malfunction" and two versions of "E-Pro," the lead single from Guero.[43]
Beck performed at the music and arts festival Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee on June 17, 2006, with a set that featured many songs from Guero. In addition to his band, Beck was accompanied by a group of puppets, dressed as him and members of his band. Live video feed of the puppets' performance was broadcast on video screens to the audience. The puppet show was included throughout his 2006 world tour.[44] On December 6, 2005, the remix album Guerolito was released, featuring the entire Guero album remixed by acclaimed musicians as well as cover art by Marcel Dzama.
Beck's seventh major-label studio album, The Information, which again reunited him with Nigel Godrich, was released on October 3, 2006. The release marked the first time in seven years that Beck released studio albums in consecutive years. The album reportedly took more than three years to make and has been described as "quasi hip-hop". It came with a sheet of stickers, which were to be used to "make your own album cover." Because of this, The Information was disqualified by the Official Chart Company from entering the UK Albums Chart,[45][46] but in the US it gave Beck his third straight Top 10 studio album peak on the Billboard 200, reaching #7.[47] The lead US single, "Nausea," officially went to radio on September 5, 2006. In the UK, the first single was "Cellphone's Dead".[48]
A non-album single, "Timebomb", was released on iTunes on August 21, 2007, and the limited edition vinyl 12" was released on November 2, 2007, with an instrumental version of the song on the B-side. In December, 2007, it was announced that "Timebomb" had been nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance.[49]
In February 2008, Beck stated in an interview with Rolling Stone that he had been working on a new album "with an unnamed producer" and that he expected it to be released by the end of the year. In early March 2008, the unnamed producer was revealed to be Danger Mouse.[50] The new album Modern Guilt was released on Interscope in North America and Australia, and on XL Records in the rest of the world.[51] The single "Chemtrails" was made available on Beck's MySpace and website. In early June, Beck performed several songs from the new album at The Echo in Los Angeles. Modern Guilt was released in July 2008. A complete acoustic version of Modern Guilt, recorded in Japan, was featured as videos on Beck's website in 2009.
In an August 2010 interview with Pitchfork Media,[52] Beck revealed that he wanted to release at least a song by the end of the summer. That culminated in Beck-written songs for fictionalized band Sex Bob-omb on the Scott Pilgrim movie soundtrack.[53]
On December 13, 2010, RCRD LBL premiered a Beck remix of Lykke Li's "Get Some."[54]
In July 2011 it was announced that Beck is working on an album with country singer Dwight Yoakam and that they've already recorded some songs.[55][56]
On June 18, 2009, Beck announced that he was starting an experiment called Record Club, in which he and other musicians would record cover versions of entire albums in one day. The first album covered by Beck's Record Club was The Velvet Underground & Nico. Starting on June 18, the club began posting covers of songs from the album on Thursday evenings, each with its own video.[57] On September 4, 2009, Beck announced the second Record Club album, Songs of Leonard Cohen. Contributors included MGMT, Devendra Banhart, Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother and Binki Shapiro of Little Joy.[58] In the third Record Club venture, Wilco, Feist, Jamie Lidell and James Gadson joined Beck to cover Skip Spence's Oar. The first song, "Little Hands", was posted on Beck's website on November 12, 2009.[59] The Record Club has since covered albums by INXS and Yanni.
On June 19, 2009, Beck announced Planned Obsolescence, a weekly DJ set put together by Beck or guest DJs. Soon after, on July 7, Beck announced that his website would be featuring "extended informal conversations with musicians, artists, filmmakers, and other various persons" in a section called Irrelevant Topics. Then, on July 12, he added a section called Videotheque, which he said would contain "promotional videos from each album, as well as live clips, tv show appearances and other rarities".
Also in 2009, Beck collaborated with Charlotte Gainsbourg on her album IRM, which was released in January 2010. Beck wrote the music, co-wrote the lyrics, and produced and mixed the album. The lead single, "Heaven Can Wait", is a duet by Beck and Gainsbourg.[60]
In late February 2010, it was announced that electronic artist Tobacco of Black Moth Super Rainbow had collaborated with Beck on two songs, "Fresh Hex" and "Grape Aerosmith", on his upcoming album Maniac Meat. Tobacco revealed that in making the album, Beck sent the vocal parts to him, and that they had never actually met.
In March 2010, Beck revealed that he had produced songs for the new Jamie Lidell album, Compass.[61]
In the summer of 2010, Beck contributed songs to both The Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack, with "Let's Get Lost" (a duet with Bat for Lashes), and True Blood (HBO Original Series Soundtrack, Vol. 2), with "Bad Blood". He also contributed songs to soundtrack of the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, which was released in August 2010. Two of the songs that Beck specifically wrote for the film appeared in its theatrical trailer.[53]
In 2011, he collaborated with Seu Jorge on a track entitled Tropicália (Mario C. 2011 Remix) for the Red Hot Organization's most recent charitable album "Red Hot+Rio 2." The album is a follow-up to the 1996 "Red Hot + Rio." Proceeds from the sales will be donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues.[62] He also contributed on the song "Attracted to Us" on Turtleneck & Chain, the newest album from The Lonely Island.
Also in 2011, Beck produced a solo album by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth called Demolished Thoughts. An album he produced for Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks, Mirror Traffic, was released in August 2011.
Beck's musical style has been considered alternative[63] and indie.[64] He has been known to play many of the instruments in his music himself.[65] He has also done some remixes for fellow artists, notably David Bowie and Björk. Beck has been known to synthesize several musical elements together in his music, including folk, Latin, hip hop, funk, many types of rock and blues.[66] He has also taken music from Los Angeles as a reference point in his songs.[66]
Pitchfork Media applauded Midnite Vultures, saying, "Beck wonderfully blends Prince, Talking Heads, Paul's Boutique, 'Shake Your Bon-Bon', and Mathlete on Midnite Vultures, his most consistent and playful album yet." The review continued to comment on Beck, saying that his mix of goofy piety and ambiguous intent helped the album.[67] A Beck song called "Harry Partch," a tribute to the composer and his "Corporeal" music, employs Partch's 43-tone scale.[68]
During 1998, Beck's art collaborations with his grandfather Al Hansen were featured in an exhibition entitled "Beck & Al Hansen: Playing With Matches", which showcased solo and collaborative collage, assemblage, drawing and poetry works.[69] The show toured from the Santa Monica Museum of Art to galleries in New York City and Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada. A catalog of the show was published by Plug In Editions/Smart Art Press.[70]
From 1991 to 2000, Beck was in a relationship with designer Leigh Limon. Their breakup is said to have inspired his 2002 album, Sea Change.[71] He wrote most of the songs for the album in one week after the breakup.[72] Beck married actress Marissa Ribisi, the twin sister of actor Giovanni Ribisi, in April 2004,[73] shortly before the birth of their son, Cosimo Henri.[74] Ribisi gave birth to their daughter, Tuesday, in 2007.[75]
Beck has been involved in Scientology for most of his life; his wife, Marissa, is also a second-generation Scientologist. Marissa and her twin brother, Giovanni, were delivered by Beck's mother, Bibbe.[76] Beck publicly acknowledged his affiliation with Scientology for the first time in an interview published in The New York Times Magazine on March 6, 2005. Further confirmation came in an interview with the Irish Sunday Tribune's i Magazine on June 11, 2005, where he was quoted as saying, "Yeah, I'm a Scientologist. My father has been a Scientologist for about 35 years, so I grew up in and around it." When questioned by the interviewer about Scientology's core beliefs, he replied:
What it actually is is just sort of, uh, you know, I think it's about philosophy and sort of, uh, all these kinds of, you know, ideals that are common to a lot of religions....There's nothing fantastical...just a real deep grassroots concerted effort for humanitarian causes. I don't know if you know the stuff they have. It's unbelievable the stuff they are doing. Education...they have free centres all over the place for poor kids. They have the number one drug rehabilitation programme in the entire world (called Narconon). It has a 90-something percent success rate...When you look at the actual facts and not what's conjured in people's minds that's all bullshit to me because I've actually seen stuff first hand.[77]
The 1986 punk rock musical Population: 1 features a young Beck in a small nonspeaking role alongside Tomata du Plenty of The Screamers.[78] Beck also appeared in Southlander (2001), an American independent film by Steve Hanft and Ross Harris.
Beck has performed on Saturday Night Live six times; these shows were hosted by Kevin Spacey, Bill Paxton, Christina Ricci, Jennifer Garner, Tom Brady and Hugh Laurie. During his 2006 performance in the Hugh Laurie episode, Beck was accompanied by the puppets that had been used on-stage during his world tour. He has made two cameo appearances as himself on Saturday Night Live: one in a sketch about medicinal marijuana, and one in a VH1 Behind the Music parody that featured "Fat Albert & the Junkyard Gang."[79]
Beck performed a guest voice as himself in Matt Groening's animated show Futurama, in the episode "Bendin' in the Wind".[80] He performed in episode 11 of the fourth season of The Larry Sanders Show, in which the producer character Artie (Rip Torn) referred to him as a "hillbilly from outer space".[81] He also made a very brief voice appearance in 1998 cartoon feature film, The Rugrats Movie,[82] and guest-starred as himself in a 1997 episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast entitled "Edelweiss."[83]
Beck has also made appearances in the Adult Swim show Mission Hill. Accepting an award, he comes up on stage wearing the new "Spicy pants" trend. In consequence the main character begins throwing all of his "Beck" albums out his upper-story window.
In an episode of Celebrity Deathmatch, Beck was featured fighting Björk in a "battle to be the best monosyllabic musician of all time", which ended with both of them slain by Bach, who appeared via a time machine.
On January 22, 2010, Beck appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien's last show as a backup guitarist for a Will Ferrell–led rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" alongside ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, Ben Harper, and O'Brien himself on guitar.[84]
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