Beck

Recording under his first name only, Californian singer-songwriter and producer Beck Hansen is regarded as one of the most creative pop/rock musicians of the last 15 years or so.

Beck was born in 1970 to a creative family - his father was a musician and his mother an artist. After dropping out of high school he went travelling and first flexed his musical muscles by busking. Back in LA in 1991, he recorded a self-deprecating folk song over hip-hop beats in the kitchen of a local producer – when it was eventually released as “Loser” in 1993, it became a local cult hit and sparked a major-label bidding war. Beck chose to sign for Geffen because they allowed him to continue to release uncommercial material on smaller labels simultaneously.

Geffen released “Loser” internationally in 1994 and it became a worldwide hit, with the memorable chorus line “I’m a loser baby, so why don’t you kill me” striking a chord with disenchanted youths. The album that accompanied it, Mellow Gold, went platinum and was praised my many critics, but others were already bored by over exposure to the big single, which was now being labelled a “novelty” hit. In time Mellow Gold has become known as one of his best LPs. Meanwhile Beck released two independent records of earlier, low-quality recordings that helped him garner a reputation in the emerging lo-fi scene.

His second major-label album in 1996 confirmed that Beck was no one hit wonder. Assisted by Beastie Boys’ producers The Dust Brothers, Beck effortlessly fused elements of folk, blues, hip-hop, funk and country music together for the modern masterpiece Odelay. Aided by hit singles “Where It’s At” and “Devils Haircut”, it went on to sell over two million copies and won an armful of awards, including two Grammys and several Album of the Year prizes.

His 1998 follow-up, Mutations, was slightly different with blues and Brazilian music featuring heavily, and 1999’s Midnite Vultures was a Prince-inspired funk record. In 2002 came another much-heralded album in a completely different style, the aptly titled Sea Change. By replacing his hip-hop and funk tendencies with intimate acoustic guitar and strings, and replacing irony and wit with sincerity, Sea Change displayed yet another side to Beck’s eclectic musical personality.

In 2004 Beck collaborated with the Dust Brothers again for Guero, which sounded similar to Odelay but was met with mixed reviews. The Information, released in 2006, was also met with a slightly underwhelming response, with most reviewers considering these latter two albums to be good but not among Beck’s best work.