Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Beck
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
===Backlash and ''Odelay'' (1994–1997)=== Feeling as though he was "constantly trying to prove myself",<ref name="rs97"/> Beck suffered a backlash, with skeptics denouncing him as a self-indulgent fake and the latest marketing opportunity.<ref name=ew94>{{cite magazine| last=Lewman| first=Mark| title="Loser" Takes All|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]| date=April 8, 1994| issue =217| page =14| publisher =[[Time Inc.]]| location =New York City | issn = 1049-0434}}</ref> In the summer of 1994, Beck was struggling and many of his fellow musicians thought he had lost his way.<ref name="q97"/> Combined with "Loser"'s wildly popular music video and the world tour, Beck reacted believing the attention could not last, resulting in a status as a "[[one-hit wonder]]". At other concerts, crowds were treated to twenty minutes of [[reggae]] or [[Miles Davis]] or [[Punk jazz|jazz-punk]] iterations of "Loser".<ref name="nym12"/> At one-day festivals in California, he surrounded himself with an artnoise combo. The drummer set fire to his cymbals; the lead guitarist "played" his guitar with the strings faced towards his body; and Beck changed the words to "Loser" so that nobody could sing along.<ref name="q97"/> "I can't tell you how many times I was looking at faces that were looking back at me with complete bewilderment—or just pointing and shaking their heads and laughing—while performing during that period," he later recalled.<ref name=p4k11>{{cite web| url=https://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/8026-beck-15-years/| title=Beck: 15 Years| publisher=[[Pitchfork Media]]| date=August 17, 2011| access-date=July 11, 2013| author=Dombal, Ryan| archive-date=June 27, 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130627111120/http://pitchfork.com/features/interviews/8026-beck-15-years/| url-status=live}}</ref> Despite this, Beck gained the respect of his peers, such as [[Tom Petty]] and [[Johnny Cash]], and created an entire wave of bands determined to recapture the ''Mellow Gold'' sound.<ref name="ocr96"/> Feeling his previous releases were just collections of demos recorded over the course of several years, Beck desired to enter the studio and record an album in a continuous linear fashion, which became ''[[Odelay]]''.<ref name="p4k11"/> Beck blends country, blues, rap, jazz and rock on ''Odelay'', the result of a year and half of feverish "cutting, pasting, layering, dubbing, and, of course, sampling".<ref name=rs96>{{cite news| title=Beck: Resident Alien| work=[[Rolling Stone (magazine)|Rolling Stone]]| date=July 11, 1996 | author=Dunn, Jancee| issue =738/739| pages =50–51; 53| publisher =[[Jann Wenner|Wenner Media]] [[Limited liability company|LLC]]| location =New York City | issn =0035-791X}}</ref> Each day, the musicians started from scratch,<ref name="rs99"/> often working on songs for 16 hours straight.<ref name="rs96"/> ''Odelay''{{'}}s conception lies in an unfinished studio album Beck first embarked on following the success of "Loser", chronicling the difficult time he experienced: "There was a cycle of everyone dying around me," he recalled later.<ref name="ocr96"/> He was constantly recording, and eventually put together an album of somber, orchestrated folk tunes; one that, perhaps, "could have been a commercial blockbuster along with similarly themed work by [[Smashing Pumpkins]], [[Nine Inch Nails]] and [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]]".<ref name="ocr96"/> Instead, Beck plucked one song from it—the ''Odelay'' album closer "Ramshackle"—and shelved the rest ("Brother" and "Feather In Your Cap" were, however, later released as B-sides).<ref name="q97"/><ref name=ocr96>{{cite news| title=Beck Lives Through the Hype That Would Have Killed Most Losers| newspaper=[[The Orange County Register]]| date=October 9, 1996 | author=Brown, Mark| publisher =[[Freedom Communications]]| location =[[Santa Ana, CA|Santa Ana]] | issn = 0886-4934}}</ref> Beck was introduced to the [[Dust Brothers]], producers of the Beastie Boys' album ''[[Paul's Boutique]]'', whose cut-and-paste, sample-heavy production suited Beck's vision of a more fun, accessible album.{{Citation needed|date=August 2013}} After a record executive explained that ''Odelay'' would be a "huge mistake", he spent many months thinking "that I'd blown it forever".<ref name="nym12"/> ''Odelay'' was released on June 18, 1996, to commercial success and critical acclaim. The record produced several hit [[Single (music)|singles]] including "[[Where It's At (Beck song)|Where It's At]]", "[[Devils Haircut (song)|Devils Haircut]]", and "[[The New Pollution]]",<ref>[http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9709/05/mtv.music.awards/ "Beck, Jamiroquai big winners at MTV Music Awards"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215033521/http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/9709/05/mtv.music.awards/ |date=December 15, 2017 }}. ''CNN'', September 5, 1997</ref> and was nominated for the [[Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Album of the Year|Album of the Year]] in 1997, winning a [[Grammy Award]] for [[Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album|Best Alternative Music Album]] as well as a [[Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance]] for "Where It's At". During one busy week in January 1997, he landed his Grammy nominations, appeared on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' and ''[[Howard Stern (E! show)|Howard Stern]]'', and did a last-minute trot on ''[[The Rosie O'Donnell Show]]''. The combined buzz gave ''Odelay'' a second wind, leading to an expanded fan base and additional exposure<ref name="ew97"/> Beck enjoyed but, like several executives at Geffen, was bewildered by the success of ''Odelay''. He would often get recognized in public, which made him feel strange. "It's just weird. It doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel natural to me. I don't think I was made for that. I was never good at that," he later told [[Pitchfork Media|Pitchfork]].<ref name="p4k11"/> ''Odelay'' sold two million copies and put "one-hit wonder" criticisms to rest. During this time, he contributed the song "[[Deadweight (song)|Deadweight]]" to the soundtrack of the film ''[[A Life Less Ordinary]]'' (1997).<ref name="rs98"/>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)