Beck

Beck took the lo-fi sound of DIY indie rock to the top of the charts in 1994 with his oddball folk-rap hit "Loser." But his avant-pop musical palette extends well beyond the beats and samples of that hit, including everything from feedback and other sources of noise to toy instruments and found sounds. His disjointed, surreal lyrics have often been compared to Highway 61 Revisited-era Bob Dylan.

Beck was born in L.A. to bohemian parents. His mother, Bibbe, was raised amid New York's Andy Warhol Factory art scene of the '60s and in the '90s was part of the underground L.A. punk-drag band Black Fag. His father was a bluegrass street musician. During his childhood, Beck was shuttled back and forth between his mother in L.A. and his paternal grandparents in Kansas. His grandfather, Al Hansen, was a pioneer in the avant-garde Fluxus movement, and in 1998, Beck helped put together a traveling art exhibition that paired his visual artwork with his late grandfather’s. During his teens he discovered the music of Sonic Youth and Pussy Galore. After hearing a record by Mississippi John Hurt at a friend’s house, however, he began playing his own postpunk brand of acoustic country blues.

In 1989 Beck took a bus to New York City, where he caught the tail end of the ill-fated East Village antifolk scene. After running out of money, Beck moved back to L.A., where he started performing in arty Silverlake coffeeshops along with other underground acts such as Ethyl Meatplow and That Dog. He was approached during this period by Bongload Records owner Tom Rothrock, whose casual recording sessions with Beck produced “Loser.” The single came out on Bongload and became so popular on L.A.’s alternative radio station KROQ that it led to a bidding war among the major labels. DGC signed Beck to an unusual deal whereby the songwriter could continue recording for tiny indie labels. “Loser” reached #10 and its album, the critically acclaimed Mellow Gold (#13, 1994), sold 500,000 copies. A second single, “Beercan,” reached only #27 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Chart, and Beck seemed in danger of being lumped in with novelty acts.

Stereopathetic Soulmanure, another critical success, failed to sell as big because it was released on the tiny L.A. label Flipside. One Foot in the Grave, released on the Olympia, Washington, label K later that year, showed Beck’s songwriting was becoming stronger and more focused than ever.

It was Odelay (#16, 1996) that really put Beck on the map. The platinum album pushed his earlier sound-pastiche experiments further, earned album-of-the-year nods from publications including ROLLING STONE, Spin, and the Village Voice, and won Beck two Grammys: Best Alternative Music Performance for the album, and Best Rock Male Vocal Performance for “Where It’s At.” Beck toured for two full years with a full band, DJ, and horn section and earned a reputation as an impressive live performer.

Beck’s next album, Mutations (#13, 1998), offered considerably quieter, stripped-down fare, reminiscent of the folky One Foot in the Grave. Intended for release on the indie label Bongload, which had released the 12-inch of “Loser,” it was released on DGC instead. With the pop-culture-meets-soul Midnite Vultures (#34, 1999), Beck returned to his sonic-collage making. The album, which he produced himself (except for two tracks he coproduced with the Dust Brothers, who also coproduced Odelay), featured Stax-Volt horns on “Sexx Laws” and the falsetto soul workout “Debra,” which was written during the Odelay sessions and had become a live staple. Both albums garnered critical praise (with Vultures earning two Grammy nominations), went gold.

Sea Changes, released in 2002 and produced by Mutations sound man Nigel Godrich, elevated Beck to what many critics described as a new level of maturity. ROLLING STONE awarded it five stars as it soon peaked at #8 on the U.S. charts. Guero reunited Beck and the Dust brothers in the studio for a stew of groove-grinding, hook-laden cuts heard on the singles “E-Pro” and “Girl.” On October 3, 2006, Beck dropped The Information, his seventh major label album and first to feature a blank cover for fans to decorate with an included book of stickers.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)