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.
We Dance Alone
Beck Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Tell me your thoughts
I want to live for a day
And the way that we lost
But a unfortunately the train
Got crissed not crossed
Left the keys in the car
So the legs have to walk
Waiting for rain
And the dank ain't afraid
Of what pain might be
To the pleasure we knew
Before we had to move on
I did my best for you
Doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo
Darker
We dance alone this way
It's getting darker
We dance alone this way
I waited for a fire
To collide with the planet
Tried to get back on the world
As it was turning around
There's millions of pieces
Crashed
Watching every minute
Of the wreckage go past passed
Cause motions wearing down
All my thoughts
'Til they're all smoothed out
Like rocks were tossed
Ducks and drakes
We descended on the reality
Down below
Darker
We dance alone this way
It's getting darker
We dance alone this way
I'm gonna grab a train
Gonna break the hope
I put the life beating out
Like a stray in a boat
Let the scenery pass
Like a blown-out TV
Thought I saw a ghost
But it might have been me
Might have been the world
That was moving too fast
Caught up in the future
That was coming to pass
Now looking for a place
Where the lights unravel
Last ditch road
Trespassers travel on
Darker
We dance alone this way
It's getting darker
We dance alone this way
We dance alone this way
Beck's "We Dance Alone" is a dark, introspective song that speaks of loneliness and the search for something real amidst the chaos of life. The lyrics paint vivid pictures of a desolate landscape and a world in disarray. The song is open to interpretation, but one possible meaning is that it is about the human condition and the struggle to find meaning in a world that is often harsh and unforgiving.
In the first verse, the singer seems to be talking to someone through a telegram, asking for their thoughts and expressing a desire to live for a day. The singer reflects on a past relationship that was lost and laments the fact that they are now forced to walk through a desert, waiting for rain. The imagery of the "dank" not being afraid of pain suggests that the singer will endure whatever hardships come their way, but they still long for the pleasure they once knew. The final line, "I did my best for you," suggests some kind of regret or apology for the way the relationship ended.
The second verse introduces a sense of chaos as the singer describes a planet colliding with a fire and trying to get back on the world as it turns around. The imagery of millions of pieces crashing suggests a sense of destruction and loss. The singer watches as the wreckage passes by and notes that "motions [are] wearing down" their thoughts until they become "smoothed out like rocks were tossed." The phrase "ducks and drakes" means skipping stones on water, a metaphor for the singer's experience of reality being fragmented and disjointed.
The chorus speaks of dancing alone in the dark, suggesting a sense of isolation and loneliness. The line "We dance alone this way" could imply that everyone is alone in their own way and that we are all searching for connection and meaning.
Line by Line Meaning
Send a telegram
Please express your thoughts to me by any means possible
Tell me your thoughts
Please share your opinions and emotions
I want to live for a day
I wish to experience life to the fullest extent, if only for one day
And the way that we lost
The path we took has led us to defeat and failure
But a unfortunately the train
Regrettably, the transportation method intended for our journey did not go smoothly
Got crissed not crossed
The train's route ended up being convoluted and confusing
Left the keys in the car
Some essential items were forgotten or lost
So the legs have to walk
As a result, we must continue on foot
Desert terrain and the wayward plain
We find ourselves in a barren, aimless landscape
Waiting for rain
Hopeful for a change of climate or circumstance
And the dank ain't afraid
Despite the unfavorable situation, we remain unafraid
Of what pain might be
We are aware that there may be hardships, but we are not deterred
To the pleasure we knew
We cling to memories of previous happiness
Before we had to move on
Before we had to leave things behind and continue forward
I did my best for you
I tried my hardest to please you and do what was best
Darker
The situation is becoming bleaker
We dance alone this way
We are facing these challenges solo and persist nonetheless
It's getting darker
The situation is deteriorating further
I waited for a fire
I hoped for an opportunity to start anew, to be passionate and driven once again
To collide with the planet
To feel the force of life and inspiration overpower us
Tried to get back on the world
Attempted to reintegrate ourselves back into society
As it was turning around
But found that the world kept changing, making the challenge greater
There's millions of pieces
So many fragments and broken parts to sift through
Crashed
Everything seems to have descended into chaos and ruin
Watching every minute
Closely observing every moment in detail, perhaps in disbelief
Of the wreckage go past passed
The aftermath of our endeavors leaving plenty of destruction in its wake
Cause motions wearing down
Exhausted from the constant turmoil and instability
All my thoughts
Even my thoughts and beliefs are becoming increasingly smoothed out and less complicated
'Til they're all smoothed out
Until they are all dulled and reduced to a simple form
Like rocks were tossed
Metaphorical rocks that were once sharp and defined are now smoothed and unremarkable
Ducks and drakes
Everything is unstable and unpredictable, like playing the game of skipping rocks across water
We descended on the reality
We are coming to grips and facing harsh, real-life situations
Down below
Descending into the hardships and challenges that are below the surface
I'm gonna grab a train
I intend to catch the train of opportunity and fortune
Gonna break the hope
Unfortunately, it seems like these hopes and aspirations may not come to fruition after all
I put the life beating out
I feel as though the vibrancy and excitement in my life has slowly diminished and disappeared
Like a stray in a boat
Feeling lost and adrift, without direction or purpose
Let the scenery pass
Allowing the surroundings and situations to unfold naturally without interference
Like a blown-out TV
Experiencing a lack of stimulation and excitement from these surroundings, leaving only emptiness and frustration
Thought I saw a ghost
A fleeting moment of hope or inspiration that quickly dissipated, leaving only confusion and doubt
But it might have been me
Perhaps it was only me imagining or projecting this glimmer of light
Might have been the world
Or it could have been something in the environment happening outside of my control
That was moving too fast
Overwhelming us with too many changes and difficulties too quickly
Caught up in the future
Obsessed with what is to come, and struggling to manage the present
That was coming to pass
The future events that we envisioned are now beginning to become a reality
Now looking for a place
We search for a new and better environment and situation to inhabit
Where the lights unravel
A world where opportunities and good fortune shine and unravel before our eyes
Last ditch road
The final opportunity to succeed that we are taking
Trespassers travel on
We are venturing off the beaten path in search of something different and new
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: HANSEN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@roiybenkel682
Send a telegram
Tell me your thoughts
I wanna live for a day
In the way that we lost
But unfortunately the twain
Got crissed not crossed
Left the keys in the car
So the legs have to walked
On a desert terrain
We were wayward and plain
Waiting for rain
In a decade afraid
Of what pain might do
To the pleasure we knew
Before we had to move on
I did my best for you
Darker
We dance alone this way
It's getting darker
We dance alone this way
I waited for a fire
To come out of the ground
I tried to get back on the world
As it was turning around
Splinters and pieces
From a life that crashed
Watching every minute
Of the wreckage go past
'Cause motions wearing down
All my thoughts
Till they're all smoothed out
Like rocks we tossed
Ducks and drakes over
Water we go
Where we see there's only memories
Drowning below
Darker
We dance alone this way
It's getting darker
We dance alone this way
On a gravel train
We were waiting for hope
I was a light fading out
Like a stray on a rope
I let the scenery pass
Like a blown-out TV
Thought I saw a ghost
But it might have been me
Might have been the world
That was moving too fast
Caught up in the future
That was drunk on the past
Now, looking for a place
Where the nights unravel
Last ditch road
Trespassers travel on
Darker
We dance alone this way
It's getting darker
We dance alone this way
We dance alone this way
@nickeynickers
Beck has the best music videos. Ever.
@pixelshmixel5369
Umm..... Gorillaz?
@WmJoseSinclair
THIS one is certainly visually one of the best I've seen.. check out Ron Fricke's films Baraka & Sensara, he also worked on Planet Earth.. some of the best visual stuff ever made, he also worked on Planet Earth, those are his time lapse camperas
@pixelshmixel5369
Beck's videos are great, but Gorillaz literally have the best video ever, they are an animated band!
@VandergriftMoefies
They are not even comparable. They are trying to achieve completely different things. Dumb thing to even bring up Gorillaz.
@placeholdername5559
Well of course. Who else has bears making their videos?
@WiloPolis03
I love how Beck is known for being an incredibly goofy and off-kilter musician but can actually spit bars when he feels like doing so
@carmenishere
My mom got me "The Information" christmas 2006 XD really surprised me! still one of my favorite albums
@getitstandswithukraine6637
What about now? :>
@MixyTape
Cool mom