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.
Hell
Beck Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
On assembly lines
Fake prizes
Risin' out of the bomb-holes
Skeleton boys hyped up on purple
Smoke rings blow from across the disco
Bank notes burn like broken equipment
Lookin' for shelter readjust your position
Two dimensions dumb your head down
Duck don't look now company missiles
Power is raunchy rent-a-cops are watching
Makin' their dreams out of paper mache
Cliche wasted hate taste tested
Hell yes I'm movin' this way I'm doin' this thing
(Please enjoy)
Hell yes I'm turnin' it on
I'm workin' my legs hell yes
I'm callin' you out I'm switchin' my plates
(Please enjoy)
Hell yes
I'm cleanin' the floor my beat is correct
Stretched to the limit attention spans
Snap back retract collapse into laugh tracks
Noise response applause and hand claps
Floodgates open to the sound of the rainbow
Breaking points on the verge of pointless
Fools anointed to the followers fanfare
Look for the common not superficial
Code red cola war conformity crisis
Perfunctory idols rewriting their bibles
With magic markers running out of their ink
Lives in white out
Turn the lights out
Fax machine anthems get your damn hands up
Hell yes I'm movin' this way I'm doin' this thing
(Please enjoy)
Hell yes I'm turnin' it on I'm workin' my legs
Hell yes I'm callin' you out I'm switchin' my plates
(Please enjoy)
Hell yes
I'm cleanin' the floor
My beat is correct
The lyrics to Beck’s song “Hell” satirize contemporary society and its institutions. The assembly lines and fake prizes represent the monotony and emptiness of the modern workplace. The bomb holes imply past war and destruction, perhaps suggesting that society is built on violence and destruction. The “skeleton boys” may refer to soldiers or perhaps people who have lost their identity in a world of conformity. The smoke rings and disco create an image of frivolity and excess. The bank notes burning suggest that money and capitalism are failing.
The song suggests that the current state of society has led to thought control and ghost-written confessions, which in turn create two-dimensional, dumbed-down humans. The company missiles and rent-a-cops show a world where power is crude and dangerous. The “paper mache cliche wasted hate taste tested” emphasizes the way society creates and consumes hate and negativity as if they were products. The chorus of the song provides a call to action, a defiance against this system, but also an acceptance of it. The singer acknowledges that they are “movin’ this way” and “turnin’ it on,” indicating that they are participating in and complicit with the current state of society, but also they’re aware of it.
Interestingly, the song’s title, “Hell,” is only mentioned once in the song, and not even in the chorus. The song is essentially a critique of modernity and the systems in place that keep people complacent. The music video for the song features Beck traveling through various scenarios that illustrate the lyrics, including a factory, a dance club, and a record store. The song was released in 2005 as part of Beck’s album "Guero" and features a guest rap from the artist's friend, rapper Dirt McGirt (a.k.a. Ol' Dirty Bastard).
Line by Line Meaning
Looking for my place
Searching for a sense of belonging or purpose.
On assembly lines
Trapped in a monotonous, robotic lifestyle.
Fake prizes
Material possessions or achievements that offer no real fulfillment or satisfaction.
Risin' out of the bomb holes
Referring to the devastating effects of war and destruction.
Skeleton boys hyped up on purple
Struggling or suffering individuals relying on drugs for escape or numbness.
Smoke rings blow from across the disco
A decadent and superficial scene filled with vice and indulgence.
Bank notes burn like broken equipment
Money and wealth losing their value and becoming useless.
Lookin' for shelter readjust your position
Urging the listener to adapt to the harsh realities of the world and seek safety or refuge.
Thought control ghost written confessions
Society and media manipulating or distorting one's thoughts and beliefs.
Two dimensions dumb your head down
Living in a shallow or simple-minded existence that hinders growth and intellect.
Duck don't look now company missiles
Avoiding the danger or destruction caused by the corporate world or capitalist society.
Power is raunchy rent-a-cops are watching
Those in power using any means necessary to maintain control and order, even to the point of being perverse or corrupt.
Makin' their dreams out of paper mache
Pursuing unattainable or illusory goals that are flimsy and fragile.
Cliche wasted hate taste tested
Rehashed, uninspired negativity that offers nothing new or constructive.
Hell yes I'm movin' this way I'm doin' this thing
Expressing a confident and determined attitude toward taking control of one's life and choices.
(please enjoy)
Sarcastically acknowledging the superficial and shallow nature of modern entertainment and culture.
Hell yes I'm turnin' it on
Activating one's potential and energy to make a difference or create change.
I'm workin' my legs hell yes
Taking action and making progress through hard work and determination.
I'm callin' you out I'm switchin' my plates
Challenging and confronting others or oneself to break out of a stagnant mindset or routine.
I'm cleanin' the floor my beat is correct
Focusing on the details and foundation of one's pursuits in order to build a strong and solid path forward.
Stretched to the limit attention spans
Descending into a world of distraction and confusion while grasping for external stimulation.
Snap back retract collapse into laugh tracks
Retreating or collapsing into mindless entertainment or humor as a means of escape.
Noise response applause and hand claps
Blindly following or accepting societal norms, trends, or expectations.
Floodgates open to the sound of the rainbow
Experiencing a sensory overload of colors, sounds, or information that overwhelms or confuses.
Breaking points on the verge of pointless
Being pushed past one's limits or capacity with no clear or meaningful outcome or purpose.
Fools anointed to the followers fanfare
Unqualified or undeserving individuals being praised and celebrated by the masses or media.
Look for the common not superficial
Encouraging people to search for genuine connections and humanity rather than shallow or superficial qualities.
Code red cola war conformity crisis
The oppressive and harmful effects of corporate consumerism and societal conformity.
Perfunctory idols rewriting their bibles
Influential or revered figures altering or distorting their own beliefs or values for personal gain or self-preservation.
With magic markers running out of their ink
Fading or losing the power or influence of one's ideas or efforts, often due to external forces or struggles.
Lives in white out
Existing in a state of confusion or uncertainty where clarity or direction are elusive.
Turn the lights out
Suggesting an end or conclusion to a situation or experience.
Fax machine anthems get your damn hands up
Mocking or criticizing the use of superficial or meaningless entertainment as a form of control or manipulation.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: JOHN ROBERT KING, MICHAEL S. SIMPSON, BECK DAVID HANSEN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Disisdabeast
Looking for my place
On assembly lines
Fake prizes
Rising out of the bombholes
Skeleton boys hyped up on purple
Smoke rings blow from across the disco
Bank notes burn like broken equipment
Looking for shelter readjust your position
Thought control ghost written confessions
Two dimensions dumb your head down
Duck don't look now company missiles
Power is raunchy rent-a-cops are watching
Making their dreams out of paper mache
Cliche wasted hate taste tested
[Chorus]
Hell yes i'm moving this way i'm doing this thing
(Please enjoy)
Hell yes i'm turning it on
I'm working my legs hell yes
I'm calling you out i'm switching my plates
(Please enjoy)
Hell yes
I'm cleaning the floor my beat is correct
[Verse 2]
Stretched to the limit attention spans
Snap back retract collapse into laugh tracks
Noise response applause and hand claps
Floodgates open to the sound of the rainbow
Breaking points on the verge of pointless
Fools anointed to the followers fanfare
Look for the common not superficial
Code red cola war conformity crisis
Perfunctory idols rewriting their bibles
With magic markers running out of their ink
Lives in white out
Turn the lights out
Fax machine anthems get your damn hands up
[Chorus]
Hell yes i'm moving this way i'm doing this thing
(Please enjoy)
Hell yes i'm turning it on i'm working my legs
Hell yes i'm calling you out i'm switching my plates
(Please enjoy)
Hell yes
I'm cleaning the floor
My beat is correct
[Outro]
(I like your bass)
Yes
(Your beat is nice)
Yes
Hell yes
Hell yes
Hell yes
Hell yes
Yes
@dokydoky
who was like HELL YES when they saw Beck declare he is not a Scientologist anymore
@ItsNotDarkYet
In the interview he actually said he was never a Scientologist.
@shannonnonameinilovecats0
Cool✌️
@mackenziedonahue7644
Who cares what he is as long as he keeps making music, I'd prefer him to get back to his Mellow Gold, Golden Feelings, and One Foot in the Grave albums. I love all his music but his old stuff touched me differently! In a good way! Lol
@jmarty1000
Oh no, what if he's now a Humanist? What will happen next?
@Denys_Fresh_Flesh
can you just quit that gang that easy without repercussions??
@chrismulligan5242
Beck is so underrated
@lisakarson3279
absolutely
@savvysymbiont
Hell Yes...!
@joebegley6928
How can someone who just won Best Album at The Grammys be underrated?