Beck was born in Los Angeles, California, to David Campbell (a musician and son of a Presbyterian minister) and Bibbe Hansen (a former dancer for The Velvet Underground, founding member of the satirical band Black Fag, and visual artist). When his parents separated, Beck stayed with his mother and brother in Los Angeles, where he was influenced by that 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.
Although Beck's work defies easy description, his eclecticism and genre experiments have sparked comparisons with Prince, though Beck was undoubtedly a less prolific artist, and drew on an absurdist, free-flowing lyrical style totally original when first exposed to mainstream audiences (indeed, some critics labeled him and his breakthrough single Loser as novelties - see below). Despite this individualism, Beck's music was very much a product of the 90s and the media age in general, with hip hop, indie/underground rock, electronic music and genre-benders like the Beastie Boys as notable touchstones; in addition, some critics could not resist likening his head-spinning lyrical aesthetic to a post-modern Bob Dylan sensibility.
After dropping out of high school in the mid-1980s, Beck educated himself and traveled widely. In Germany, he spent time with his grandfather, fluxus artist Al Hansen. His artistic relationship with his grandfather may have influenced both his album art and sense of musical collage. He began the musical activity in 1988. The late-80's found him in New York City as part of the punk-influenced anti-folk music movement.
Beck returned to Los Angeles at the turn of the decade, destitute but motivated. During this time, Beck sought out (or snuck onto) stages at venues all over Los Angeles, from punk clubs to coffee shops. Some of his earliest and most thought-provoking recordings were achieved by working with Tom Grimley at Poop Alley Studios, a part of WIN Records.
In this atmosphere of heady creativity the founders of Bong Load Custom Records discovered Beck. Their 1993 12" vinyl Loser, from an initial run of 530 copies, created a sensation on college and alternative radio that led to a furious bidding war between 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 (he may have owed Bong Load another album or two).
In 1994, Geffen's official debut release of Mellow Gold made Beck a mainstream smash success; it also led to his iconic status as the "slacker" representative of the alternative rock scene, although the title of the song had been ironic.
At the same time, he released Stereopathetic Soulmanure on Flipside Records and One Foot in the Grave on independent K Records. Beck took his act on the road with the 1995 Lollapalooza tour. Still, some critics panned him as a one-hit wonder. Audiences' (especially at Lollapalooza) familiarity with Loser only, and their general disinterest in his other work only reinforced his image as a one-hit wonder. It's been said said that Beck released Stereopathetic Soulmanure and One Foot in the Grave to shake the Gen X-ers that associated themselves with him and made "Loser" their slacker anthem.
The one-hit wonder label was put to rest with the release of 1996's Odelay, a collaborative effort with The Dust Brothers, producers of Paul's Boutique. The lead single, "Where It's At", received heavy airplay and its video was in constant rotation on MTV. Within the year, Odelay had received perfect reviews in Rolling Stone and Spin magazines, having been listed on countless "Best of" lists (it topped the Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 'Album of the Year'), receiving double-platinum status, and earning an impressive number of industry awards, including two Grammys.
Odelay was followed in 1998 by Mutations. Produced by Nigel Godrich of Radiohead fame, it was intended as a stopgap measure before the next album proper. Recorded over two weeks, during which Beck recorded one song a day, the sessions produced 14 songs. Mutations was a departure from the electronic density of Odelay, and was filled with folk and blues influences. Songs on the album consisted of older tracks, some even dating back as far as 1994.
In 1999, Geffen released the much-anticipated Midnite Vultures, an orgy of sexual and culinary innuendo supported by a world tour. For Beck, it was a return to the high-energy performances that had been his trademark as far back as Lollapalooza.
After Midnite Vultures came Sea Change in 2002, another airy and emotional album with producer Nigel Godrich, which became Beck's first U.S. Top 10 album, reaching # 8. Sea Change was conceptualized as an album with one unifying theme—the stages following the end of a relationship. The album also featured string arrangements by Beck's father and a sonically dense mix reminiscient of Mutations. The Sea Change tour featured The Flaming Lips as Beck's opening and backing band.
In September 2003, Beck returned to the studio to work on his sixth major-label album. 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. The album was released in March of 2005 and despite critical acclaim, the album received a more lackluster response from Beck's indie-oriented fanbase.
Beck married Marissa Ribisi in April 2004, shortly before the birth of their son, Cosimo Henri Hansen. 2004 also saw the release of "10 Years of Mellow Gold," a short documentary about Beck's first album.
Beck's next album, The Information was released on October 3, 2006. It is a largely electronic and ambient, filled with blips and beeps. It was produced by Nigel Godrich, who worked on "Sea Change" and a longtime Radiohead and Thom Yorke producer. The first single was Nausea, an acoustic rock hip hop song. The next single was Cellphone's Dead, and the third single was Think I'm In Love.
His next 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.
Modern Guilt was the eighth studio album by Beck. It was released on July 8, 2008. The album fulfilled Beck's recording contract with Interscope Records. Outside of North America, the record was released by XL Recordings. Its three singles were Chemtrails, Gamma Ray, and Youthless.
Modern Guilt features two contributions by Cat Power and was produced by Beck and Danger Mouse.
The album entered both the Billboard 200 and the Canadian Albums Chart at number four, and gave Beck his first ever Top 10 placing on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at number nine. The album has also been Beck's best charting album in Australia, reaching 13. It sold 84,000 copies in its first week. Although successful, this does not match the first week sales of The Information, which were 99,000. In December 2008, Modern Guilt was nominated for Best Alternative Album at the 51st Grammy Awards.
Song Reader, a project Beck released in December 2012, is 20 songs presented only as sheet music, in the hopes that enterprising musicians will record their own versions. The idea of Song Reader came about nearly fifteen years prior, shortly after the release of Odelay. When sent a book of transcribed sheet music for that album, Beck decided to play through it and grew interested in the world before recorded sound. He aimed to keep the arrangements as open as possible, to re-create the simplicity of the standards, and became preoccupied with creating only pieces that could fit within the Great American Songbook. In 2013 Beck began playing special Song Reader concerts with a variety of guests and announced he was working on a record of Song Reader material with other musicians as well as possibly a compilation of fan versions.
In the summer of 2013, Beck was reported to be working on two new studio albums: one a more self-contained acoustic disc in the vein of One Foot in the Grave and another described as a "proper follow-up" to Modern Guilt. Beck expects to release both albums independently. He released two standalone singles over the course of the summer: the electro ballad Defriended and the chorus-heavy I Won't Be Long. A third single, Gimme, appeared on September 17.
In October 2013, it was announced that Beck signed to Capitol Records. Beck released his twelfth studio album entitled Morning Phase on 21 February 2014. For the recording of Morning Phase, Beck reunited with many of the same musicians with whom he had worked on the critically acclaimed 2002 album Sea Change. On January 20, 2014, the album's first single Blue Moon was released. Beck released the second single, Waking Light, on February 4, 2014.
4 years later, on October 13th, 2017, Beck released the second album that was supposed to come out alongside Morning Phase. This album was called Colors. Colors is very different from Beck's previous albums, in which he takes a stab at pop music. Beck's expertise, mixing genres, works in this album when he mixes Alternative Rock, hip hop, and a lot of Pop. The album's earliest single, "Dreams", was released in June 2015, and three more ("Wow", "Dear Life", "Up All Night") were released between June 2016 and September 2017. The title track was released as a single in April 2018. The album won the Best Alternative Music Album and Best Engineered Album (Non-Classic) at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
After a short wait, Beck released Hyperspace on November 22, 2019. There was little marketing for this album. The whole album is a collaboration with Pharrell Williams, as he produced almost every song on the album. The album's first single was "Saw Lightning" released on April 15, 2019, and had a folk-pop sound to it. It doesn't fit with the rest of the album's synth lo-fi sound. Other singles were "Hyperlife" and "Uneventful Days" on October 17, 2019, and "Dark Places" on November 7, 2019.
2) BECK can refer to a fictional rock band from the Japanese Anime series BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad. The fictional BECK's songs feature in the BECK Original Sound Track. BECK's style and members are highly influenced by various different artists. From vocals in the style of Zack De La Rocha from Rage Against the Machine, guitar influenced by Tom Morello of the same band, the band is highly influenced by rap-rock.
As the series develops, other influence appear, including guitar in the style of Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page, and Red Hot Chili Peppers John Frusciante. During the series, the band covers a famous The Beatles song, 'I've got a Feeling'. The name BECK could have possibly been influenced by the first artist Beck, mentioned above. Harold Sakushi, the original author of the series, has confirmed that BECK is generally based around the Red Hot Chili Peppers, being his favourite band.
Cold Brain
Beck Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Unmoved,
Untouched,
Unglued
Alone at last
No thoughts,
No mind
To rot
A trail of disaster
A final curse
Abandoned hearse
We ride disowned
Corroded to the bone
The fields of green
Are bent, obscene
I lay upon the gravel
A worm of hope
A hangman's rope
Pulls me one way or the other
A final curse
Abandoned hearse
We write this song
Corroded to the bone
A bird of song
Is heard no longer
In the evacuated heavens
The drain is drawn
And drained and gone
And on and on, it doesn't matter
A final the curse
Abandoned hearse
We write this song
Corroded to the bone
In "Cold Brain," Beck explores themes of isolation, despair, and hopelessness. The song describes a person who is alone and has no thoughts or mind to keep them company. The line "a trail of disaster" suggests that this person has left a path of destruction behind them. The chorus repeats the lines "a final curse, abandoned hearse" four times, adding to the feeling of finality and despair.
The imagery in the song is bleak and unsettling. The "fields of green" are "bent, obscene," and the singer lies "upon the gravel." The reference to a "worm of hope" suggests that even though the singer may feel hopeless, there is still a glimmer of optimism. But the line "a hangman's rope/pulls me one way or the other" implies that this hope is fleeting and may not be enough to pull them out of their despair.
Overall, "Cold Brain" is a haunting and introspective song that delves into the darker corners of the human psyche.
Line by Line Meaning
Cold brains,
My mind is empty and unfeeling
Unmoved,
I am unaffected by the world around me
Untouched,
I am unscarred and unblemished
Unglued
I am disconnected from reality
Alone at last
I am finally by myself, but still empty
No thoughts,
I am devoid of any ideas or emotions
No mind
My brain is essentially dead and useless
To rot
Without purpose or life, I am simply decaying
Behind
I left a path of destruction in my wake
A trail of disaster
The destruction I left behind is all that remains of me
A final curse
My fate is sealed and cursed
Abandoned hearse
The vehicle of my final journey has been abandoned
We ride disowned
I am alone in death
Corroded to the bone
Even my very essence has been deteriorated
The fields of green
Even nature has been corrupted and tainted
Are bent, obscene
The beauty of nature has been twisted and perverted
I lay upon the gravel
I am reduced to a mere object on the ground
A worm of hope
I cling to a sliver of hope, despite my bleak situation
A hangman's rope
My fate is ultimately the same as a criminal's
Pulls me one way or the other
I am torn between life and death, hanging by a thread
We write this song
This is my final expression of myself and my thoughts
A bird of song
Even the beauty of music and sound has been taken away
Is heard no longer
Silence is all that remains
In the evacuated heavens
Even the skies have been emptied of life and joy
The drain is drawn
The end is near, and there is nothing left
And drained and gone
I have completely dissipated and disappeared
And on and on, it doesn't matter
My existence and my end are meaningless and insignificant
A final curse
I am doomed to this wretched fate
Abandoned hearse
I am left to be taken away in an empty carriage
Corroded to the bone
I am a mere shell of my former self, completely ruined
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Beck Hansen
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Roiy Benkel
Cold brains,
Unmoved,
Untouched,
Unglued
Alone at last
No thoughts,
No mind
To rot
Behind
A trail of disasters
A final the curse
Abandoned hearse
We ride disowned
Corroded to the bone
The fields of green
Are bent, obscene
I lay upon the gravel
A worm of hope
A hangman's rope
Pulls me one way or the other
A final curse
Abandoned hearse
We write this song
Corroded to the bone
A bird of song
Is heard no longer
In the evacuated heavens
The drain is drawn
And drained and gone
And on and on, it doesn't matter
A final the curse
Abandoned hearse
We rock the salt
Corroded to the bone
Hastin Nuraini
My argument was strong to begin with
I feel that it was worth and as an objective manner
I ought to be welcomed and take care of myself
With reality in the existential sense
The point I make am so eye-opening and some absolute value
Understandable to me
More orientation with the changes
Development that ranges across of my life stages
Josh Link
I listen to this album over and over and over and it NEVER gets old.
JohnEdward Kerr
It's amazing, but ten years after listening to it the last time I still know all the lyrics!
Maximus prime
I may be 11 but I love this song
youtubesucks1111
@Maximus prime That's amazing. I wish I knew about beck when I was 11.
Maximus prime
Thank you
Jake
SO good. When he goes "a final curse... abandoned hearse.." and all those instruments kick in, damn. A hangman's rope. All the imagery in here.
Roiy Benkel
Cold brains,
Unmoved,
Untouched,
Unglued
Alone at last
No thoughts,
No mind
To rot
Behind
A trail of disasters
A final the curse
Abandoned hearse
We ride disowned
Corroded to the bone
The fields of green
Are bent, obscene
I lay upon the gravel
A worm of hope
A hangman's rope
Pulls me one way or the other
A final curse
Abandoned hearse
We write this song
Corroded to the bone
A bird of song
Is heard no longer
In the evacuated heavens
The drain is drawn
And drained and gone
And on and on, it doesn't matter
A final the curse
Abandoned hearse
We rock the salt
Corroded to the bone
Andrew Ortiz
This would be awesome as an “end of the movie” song that starts right before the credits roll.
Moo
Or the Beginning of a really good movie.
Maximus prime
This song is so underrated