Beck Information (Sea Change, Odelay) @ Feebly.org

Beck Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970)^[5] is an American ^ b. English is the de facto language of American government and the sole language spoken at home by 80% of Americans age five and older. Spanish is the second most commonly spoken language musician, singer-songwriter Singer-songwriter are musicians who write, compose and sing their own material including lyrics and melodies. They often provide the sole accompaniment to an entire composition or song, typically using a guitar or piano. A number of other well-known musicians may write some of their own songs, but are usually called singers instead, and multi-instrumentalist known by the stage name A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians Beck. With a pop art Pop art is an art movement that emerged in the mid 1950s in Britain and in the late 1950s in the United States. Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist's use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of fine art. Pop removes the material from its context and isolates the object, collage of musical styles, oblique and ironic Irony is a situation, literary technique, or rhetorical device, in which there is an incongruity or discordance that goes strikingly beyond the most simple and evident meaning of words or actions. Verbal and situational irony is often intentionally used as emphasis in an assertion of a truth. The ironic form of simile, irony used in sarcasm, and lyrics, and postmodern Postmodernism is a tendency in contemporary culture characterized by the rejection of objective truth and global cultural narrative. It emphasizes the role of language, power relations, and motivations; in particular it attacks the use of sharp classifications such as male versus female, straight versus gay, white versus black, and imperial versus arrangements incorporating samples In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song. The wide spread use of sampling in popular music originated with the birth of Hip Hop music in New York in the late 70's and early 80's. This is typically done with a sampler, which can be a, drum machines A drum machine, also referred to as a drum pad, is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums and/or other percussion instruments. Drum machines are very useful instruments for a wide variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music. They are also a common necessity when session drummers are not available or, live instrumentation and sound effects, Beck has been hailed by critics and the public throughout his musical career as being amongst the most creative and idiosyncratic musicians of 1990s and 2000s alternative rock Alternative rock is a genre of rock music that emerged in the 1980s and became widely popular in the 1990s. Alternative rock consists of various subgenres that have emerged from the independent music scene since the 1980s, such as grunge, Britpop, gothic rock, and indie pop. These genres are unified by their collective debt to the style and/or.

The four-time platinum artist rose to underground popularity with his early works, which combined social criticism (as in "MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack" and "Deep Fried Love") with musical and lyrical experimentation. He first earned wider public attention for his breakthrough single In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a short recording of one or more separate tracks. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear on an album. Often, these are the most popular "Loser", a 1994 hit.

Two of Beck's most popular and acclaimed recordings were Odelay (1996) and Sea Change (2002).^[6]^[7]^[8] Odelay was awarded Album of the Year by American magazine Rolling Stone Rolling Stone is a U.S.-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason and by UK publications NME The New Musical Express is a popular music magazine in the United Kingdom that has been published weekly since March 1952. It was the first British paper to include a singles chart, which first appeared in the 14 November 1952 edition. The magazine's commercial heyday was during the 1970s when it became the best-selling British music magazine and Mojo Mojo is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music. Mojo was first published on 15 October 1993; in keeping with its classic. Odelay also received a Grammy The Grammy Awards —or Grammys—are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry. The awards ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and some of the awards of more popular interest are presented in a widely-viewed televised ceremony nomination for Album of the Year The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is the most prestigious award category at the Grammys. It has been awarded since 1959 and though it was originally presented to the artist alone, the award is now presented to the artist, the producer, the engineer and/or mixer and the mastering engineer. In 1962, the award name was extended to Album of the. Sea Change was also awarded Album of the Year by Rolling Stone.

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Musical style
4 Art career
5 Personal life
- 5.1 Scientology
6 Appearances in media
7 Discography
- 7.1 Studio albums
8 References
9 External links

Early life

Beck was born in Los Angeles, California Los Angeles is the second largest city in the United States, the largest city in the state of California and the western United States, with a population of 3.83 million within its administrative limits on a land area of 498.3 square miles (1,290.6 km2). The urban area of Los Angeles extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population, to David Campbell, a Canadian musician, and Bibbe Hansen, a visual artist and former Warhol "star". His maternal grandfather was Al Hansen Al Hansen was an American artist considered as one of the most important Fluxus figures. He was a Norwegian American, a visual collage artist of the Fluxus Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning, architecture, and design. Fluxus is often school of art. His paternal grandfather was a Presbyterian Presbyterianism refers to many different Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, and organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures, and the necessity of grace through faith in Christ minister, while his maternal grandmother was Jewish The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation. Converts to Judaism, whose status as Jews within the Jewish ethnos;^[9] Beck himself is a Scientologist Scientology is a body of beliefs and related practices created by writer L. Ron Hubbard , starting in 1952, as a successor to his earlier self-help system, Dianetics. Hubbard characterized Scientology as a religion and in 1953 incorporated the Church of Scientology in Camden, New Jersey, as are his wife and his father. Beck's mother, Bibbe, also has Norwegian 83% of the population of Norway are members of the Christian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway. Norway is highly secularized, and only about 10% of the population attend religious services more than once a month and Swedish Historically Norse paganism, Christianity and more recently Secularism. Also see Religion in Sweden ancestry. When his parents separated, Beck stayed with his mother and brother in Los Angeles, where he was influenced by the city's diverse musical offerings—everything from hip hop Hip hop is a musical genre which developed as part of hip hop culture, and is defined by key stylistic elements such as rapping, DJing, sampling, scratching and beatboxing. Hip hop began in the South Bronx of New York City in the 1970s. The term rap is often used synonymously with hip hop, but hip hop denotes the practices of an entire subculture to Latin music Latin American Music is the music of all countries in Latin America and comes in many varieties. Latin America is home to musical styles such as the simple, rural conjunto music of northern Mexico, the sophisticated habanera of Cuba, the rhythmic sounds of the Puerto Rican plena, the symphonies of Heitor Villa-Lobos, and the simple and moving and his mother's art scene—all of which would later reappear in his recorded and published work.^[10]

Career

1985–1992: Early performing and first releases

After dropping out of high school in the mid-1980s, Beck traveled to Europe and developed his musical talent as a street musician. In Germany A region named Germania, inhabited by several Germanic peoples, has been known and documented before AD 100. Beginning in the 10th century, German territories formed a central part of the Holy Roman Empire, which lasted until 1806. During the 16th century, northern Germany became the centre of the Protestant Reformation. As a modern nation-state,, he spent time with his grandfather Al Hansen Al Hansen was an American artist considered as one of the most important Fluxus figures. He was a Norwegian American. The late 1980s found him in New York City New York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over global commerce, finance, media, culture, art, fashion, research, education, and entertainment. As host of the, involved in the punk Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed the perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock. They created fast, hard-edged music, typically with short songs,-influenced anti-folk Anti-folk is a music genre that takes the earnestness of politically charged 1960s folk music and punk and subverts it. The defining characteristics of this anti-folk are difficult to identify, as they vary from one artist to the next. Nonetheless, the music tends to sound raw or experimental; it also generally mocks the seriousness and pretension music movement.^[11]

In 1988, Beck recorded a cassette entitled Banjo Story, which has since become available in bootleg A bootleg recording is an audio and/or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist, or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging. A great many such recordings are simply copied and traded among fans of the artist without financial exchange, but form.^[12] He returned to Los Angeles at the turn of the decade. He lived in a shed and took a variety of low-paying, dead-end jobs (at one point working as a leaf blower A leaf blower is a gardening tool that propels air out of a nozzle to move yard debris such as leaves. Leaf blowers are usually powered by two-stroke engine or an electric motor, but four-stroke engines were recently introduced to partially address air pollution concerns. Leaf blowers are typically self contained handheld units, or backpack operator), all the while continuing to develop his music. Beck also sought out (or sneaked onto) stages at venues all over Los Angeles, from punk clubs to coffee shops and playing on the streets. During this time, he met Chris Ballew (founder of The Presidents of the United States of America The Presidents of the United States of America, commonly referred to as The Presidents, is a twice Grammy-nominated American alternative rock band. The band formed in Seattle, USA, in 1993. The three-piece group currently comprises vocalist and "basitarist" Chris Ballew, drummer and vocalist Jason Finn with "guitbassist" and). They performed on the streets as a duo for a while. Some of his earliest recordings were achieved by working with Tom Grimley at Poop Alley Studios, a part of WIN Records.^[13]

In 1993 Beck released his first studio album, Golden Feelings, on Peter Hughes's Sonic Enemy label. It was initially released only on cassette (though later on CD in limited quantities). It has been estimated that only between 500 and 750 copies were made, making it a rare artifact.^[14] AllMusic.com would later describe the album as "an extremely interesting, entertaining, and humorous document that proves that from the start, Beck had his heart set on making experimentation his only gimmick".^[15]

1993–1995: "Loser", Mellow Gold, and independent albums

1993 saw Bong Load Custom Records (owned by Tom Rothrock, Rob Schnapf, and Bradshaw Lambert) sign Beck to their fledgling label.^[16] His first release for Bong Load was "Loser", a collaboration between hip hop nuance producer Carl Stephenson and Beck. The song created a sensation when radio host Chris Douridas played the song on Morning Becomes Eclectic, the flagship music program from Santa Monica College radio station KCRW KCRW is a public radio station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, carrying a mix of National Public Radio news, talk radio and freeform music format. A network of repeaters and broadcast translators allows the station to serve the Los Angeles metropolitan area and other communities in Southern.^[17] That exposure and a subsequent live performance on the show July 23, 1993, led to a bidding war among labels to sign Beck. Eventually, he chose Geffen Records Geffen Records is an American record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as one third of UMG's Interscope-Geffen-A&M label group, who offered him terms that included an allowance for the release of independent albums while under contract.^[18] Of all the record labels to offer Beck a contract, Geffen offered him the least amount of money, but the greatest amount of creative freedom.^{[citation needed]}

On February 22, 1994, Flipside Records released Stereopathetic Soulmanure. A sprawling 25-track album, it contained the fan favorites "Satan Gave Me a Taco", "Rowboat", and "Thunderpeel", as well nonsensical spoken tracks, noise (such as leafblowers), and live recordings. Johnny Cash John R. "Johnny" Cash , born J. R. Cash, was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Although he is primarily remembered as a country music artist, his songs and sound spanned many other genres including rockabilly and rock and roll—especially would later record "Rowboat" and include it on his 1996 album Unchained. Cash later said that the song "sounded like something I might have written or might have done in the [1960s, when] I was kinda going through some weird times."^[19]

In March 1994, Geffen released Beck's major label debut, Mellow Gold. The album, created with Bong Load's Rothrock and Schnapf, as well as Carl Stephenson, turned Beck into a mainstream success.^[16] The record received the best ratings possible from Spin Spin is a music magazine. Founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr., it competes with industry stalwart Rolling Stone. Madonna was the artist on the cover of the first issue, Robert Christgau Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-professed "Dean of American Rock Critics", Rolling Stone Rolling Stone is a United States-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason's Album Guide and AllMusic Allmusic is a service of music guide, owned by All Media Guide. Allmusic was founded in 1991 by popular-culture archivist Michael Erlewine as a guide for consumers. Its first reference book was published the following year. AMG on the Internet predates the World Wide Web and was first available as a Gopher site.

On June 27, Olympia, Washington Olympia is the capital city of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat of Thurston County. It was incorporated on January 28, 1859. The population was 42,514 at the 2000 census. Olympia is a major cultural center of the Puget Sound region–based independent label K Records released Beck's third album of 1994, One Foot in the Grave. The recording featured a number of notable musicians from the independent music scene, including Beat Happening's Calvin Johnson, Presidents of the United States of America's Chris Ballew, and Built to Spill members Scott Plouf and James Bertram.

Beck took his act on the road in 1994 with a worldwide tour, followed by a spot on the main stage of the 1995 Lollapalooza Lollapalooza is an annual music festival featuring alternative rock, hip hop, and punk rock bands, dance and comedy performances, and craft booths. It has also provided a platform for non-profit and political groups. Lollapalooza has featured a diverse range of bands and has helped expose and popularize alternative rock groups such as Pearl Jam, tour. Some critics at the time dismissed him as a one-hit wonder Some one-hit wonders are the result of novelty songs during fads. Examples include Rick Dees’ "Disco Duck", related to the disco craze of the 1970s; C. W. McCall's "Convoy", related to the CB radio craze of the 1970s; and Buckner & Garcia’s "Pac-Man Fever", related to the 1980s-era arcade game Pac-Man off the success of "Loser."

1996–1997: Odelay

When the time came to record his follow-up to Mellow Gold, Beck enlisted Rothrock and Schnapf as producers and began recording an album of moody, low-key acoustic numbers to showcase his songwriting. Eventually, Beck shelved the album and pursued a more upbeat approach. Beck was introduced to the Dust Brothers, producers of the Beastie Boys' album Paul's Boutique, whose cut-and-paste, sample In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song. The wide spread use of sampling in popular music originated with the birth of Hip Hop music in New York in the late 70's and early 80's. This is typically done with a sampler, which can be a-heavy production suited Beck's vision of a more fun, accessible album.^[16]

The result, 1996's Odelay, would put the "one-hit wonder" criticisms to rest. The lead single, "Where It's At", received much airplay, and its video was in heavy rotation on MTV. Within the year Odelay received praise from Rolling Stone Rolling Stone is a U.S.-based magazine devoted to music, politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason magazine,^[20] appeared on countless "Best of" lists (it topped the Pazz & Jop The Pazz & Jop critics' poll is a poll of music critics run by The Village Voice newspaper. It is compiled every year from the top ten lists of hundreds of music critics . Albums have been voted upon every year since 1974 (voting also took place in 1971), and votes for singles have been tabulated since 1979 Critics Poll for "Album of the Year"), and earned a number of industry awards, including two Grammys The Grammy Awards —or Grammys—are presented annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States for outstanding achievements in the music industry. The awards ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and some of the awards of more popular interest are presented in a widely-viewed televised ceremony. Besides "Where It's At", three other singles were released from the album: "Devils Haircut", "Jack-Ass" and "The New Pollution".^[21]

Beginning in 1993, Beck made contributions to Mellow Gold contributor Carl Stephenson's experimental trip hop Trip hop is a music genre that refers to a musical trend that began in the mid-1990s of downtempo electronic music and grew out of England's hip hop and house scenes, including the Bristol underground scene. It has been described as "Europe's alternative of choice in the second half of the '90s", and a one-up fusion "of Hip-Hop and project, Forest for the Trees. The project released a self-titled record in 1997, followed by an EP in 1999. Beck added spoken word, harmonica, and various other instruments.^[22]

1998–2001: Mutations and Midnite Vultures

Odelay was followed in 1998 by the release of Mutations. Though the album was originally slated for release by Bong Load Records, Geffen intervened and issued the record against Beck's wishes.^[23]^[24] The artist then sought to void his contracts with both record labels, and in turn the labels sued him for breach of contract. The litigation went on for years and it remains unclear to this day if it has ever been completely resolved.^[25] Mutations was produced by Beck and Nigel Godrich Nigel Godrich, , is a recording engineer, record producer and musician. He is best known for his work with the English alternative rock band Radiohead and is sometimes referred to as the "sixth member" of the band. He has also been a member of lead singer Thom Yorke's live band, Atoms for Peace, since 2009 (frequent producer and collaborator with Radiohead Radiohead are an English alternative rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood (lead guitar, keyboard, other instruments), Ed O'Brien (guitar, backing vocals), Colin Greenwood (bass guitar, synthesisers) and Phil Selway (drums, percussion)) and is believed to have been intended as a stopgap measure before the proper next album^{[citation needed]}. Recorded over two weeks, during which Beck recorded one song a day, the sessions produced fourteen songs. Mutations was a departure from the electronic density of Odelay and shows heavy folk and blues influences. Tracks on the album consisted of older songs, some dating back as early as 1994.^[26]

In 1999, Beck was awarded Best Alternative Music Performance for Mutations at the 42nd Grammy Awards.^[27]

In November, Geffen released the much-anticipated Midnite Vultures,^[28] which was supported by an extensive world tour. For Beck, it was a return to the high-energy performances that had been his trademark as far back as Lollapalooza. The live stage set included a red bed that descended from the ceiling for the song "Debra", and the touring band was complemented by a brass section.^[29] Midnite Vultures was nominated for Best Album at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards.^[30] Beck released a number of B-sides and soundtrack-only songs as well, including "Deadweight" from the A Life Less Ordinary soundtrack, "Midnite Vultures" (curiously, not on the album of the same name), David Bowie's "Diamond Dogs" from Moulin Rouge!, and a cover of The Korgis' "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime", which appeared in two memory-alteration-themed productions: the 2004 movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the last episode of the first season of Dollhouse. He is also credited on the French band Air’s 2001 album 10 000 Hz Legend for vocals on the songs "Don't Be Light" and "The Vagabond" (as well as harmonica on the latter). He duetted with Emmylou Harris on Return of the Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons, performing "Sin City".^[31]

2002–2003: Sea Change

In 2001, the Beck EP, which consists of B-sides from the Midnite Vultures era, was released. The EP was only available from Beck's website, and only 10,000 copies were printed.

In 2002, Beck released Sea Change, which, like Mutations, was produced by Nigel Godrich. It became Beck's first US Top 10 album, reaching #8. The album also received critical acclaim, earning five stars from Rolling Stone (the magazine's highest rating) and placing second in the Pazz & Jop Critics Poll for 2002. Sea Change was conceptualized around one unifying theme: the end of a relationship. The album featured string arrangements by Beck's father, David Campbell, and a sonically dense mix reminiscent of Mutations. Although some radio singles were released, no commercial singles were made available to the public. In August 2002, prior to the release of Sea Change, Beck embarked on a solo acoustic tour of small theaters and halls, during which he played several songs from the forthcoming album. The post-release Sea Change tour featured The Flaming Lips as Beck's opening and backing band.^[32] A song Beck co-wrote with William Orbit, "Feel Good Time", was recorded by pop singer Pink for inclusion on the soundtrack of the 2003 film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.^[33] Beck also covered the Bruce Haack song titled "Funky Lil Song" for Dimension Mix, a tribute album dedicated to the music of electronic music pioneer Haack and his Dimension 5 Records, which his long time friend and collaborator Ross Harris produced to benefit Cure Autism Now.

2004–2007: Guero and The Information

In 2004, Beck returned to the studio to work on his sixth major-label studio album.^[34] The record, 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.^[34] The album was released in March 2005 and enjoyed critical acclaim from most mainstream press, earning four of five stars from Rolling Stone,^[35] as well as a "Critic's Choice" recognition from The New York Times.^[36] The album received a less enthusiastic response from Pitchfork Media, which ran a lukewarm and disappointed 6.6 out of 10 review;^[37] it was also given poor reviews by Q magazine, Dusted and Mojo.^[38] The album debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts, pushing 162,000 copies in the first week and giving Beck his best week ever in terms of commercial sales and chart position.^[39] Since the release of Guero, the album's first single, "E-Pro" (which samples the drum track from the Beastie Boys hit "So What'cha Want"), has been well received by the mainstream rock community, receiving significant play time on mainstream radio.^[40] The second single, "Girl", received decent play time on mainstream radio and heavy airplay on college and independent radio.^[41] The third and final single of the album was "Hell Yes."^[42] The deluxe edition DVD version of the album featured more than 100 videos. Viewers could use the two additional video streams and four subpicture streams to create their own visual remixes for each track. The DVD package was so advanced that a small percentage of DVD players were unable to access certain tracks, due to the complicated nature of the technology used by video artists D-Fuse.

On February 1, 2005, Beck released an EP featuring four remixes of songs from Guero by independent artists who use sounds from various early 8-bit video game devices like the Game Boy. The EP, GameBoy Variations, featured "Ghettochip Malfunction" [Hell Yes] and "GameBoy/Homeboy" [Que' Onda Guero], both remixed by the band 8-Bit, and also had "Bad Cartridge" [E-Pro] and "Bit Rate Variation in B-Flat" [Girl], the last two being remixed by Paza {The X-Dump}. The EP cover art shows a long-haired person headbanging to his Game Boy, which is plugged into an amplifier like an electric guitar. This EP was featured in an issue of Nintendo Power. A music video for "Gameboy/Homeboy" was made by Wyld File.^[43] Also at this time, Beck released A Brief Overview, a promotional retrospective album featuring tracks from Guero, Sea Change, Mutations, Midnite Vultures and Odelay. This compilation also features "Ghettochip Malfunction" and two versions of "E-Pro," the lead single from Guero.^[44]

Beck plays at the Sasquatch Music Festival in George, Washington. The screens show puppets that emulated the band throughout the show.

Beck performed at the music and arts festival Bonnaroo in Manchester, Tennessee on June 17, 2006, with a set that featured many songs from Guero. In addition to his band, Beck was accompanied by a group of puppets, dressed as him and members of his band. Live video feed of the puppets' performance was broadcast on video screens to the audience. The puppet show was included throughout his 2006 world tour.^[45] On December 6, 2005, the remix album Guerolito was released, featuring the entire Guero album remixed by acclaimed musicians as well as cover art by Marcel Dzama.

Beck's seventh major-label studio album, The Information, which again reunited him with Nigel Godrich, was released on October 3, 2006. The release marked the first time in seven years that Beck released studio albums in consecutive years. The album reportedly took more than three years to make and has been described as "quasi hip-hop". It came with a sheet of stickers, which were to be used to "make your own album cover." Because of this, The Information was disqualified by the Official Chart Company from entering the UK Albums Chart,^[46]^[47] but in the US it gave Beck his third straight Top 10 studio album peak on the Billboard 200, reaching #7.^[48] The lead US single, "Nausea," officially went to radio on September 5, 2006. In the UK, the first single was "Cellphone's Dead".^[49]

A non-album 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.^[50]

2008–present: Modern Guilt and Record Club

Musical style

Beck's musical style has been considered alternative^[60] and indie.^[61] He has been known to play many of the instruments in his music himself.^[62] Also he has done some remixes for fellow artists, notably David Bowie and Björk. Beck has been known to synthesize several musical elements together in his music, including folk, Hip hop, funk, many types of rock and blues.^[63] He has also taken music from Los Angeles as a reference point in his songs.^[63]

Pitchfork Media applauded Midnite Vultures, saying, "Beck wonderfully blends Prince, Talking Heads, Paul's Boutique, 'Shake Your Bon-Bon', and Mathlete on Midnite Vultures, his most consistent and playful album yet." The review continued to comment on Beck, saying that his mix of goofy piety and ambiguous intent helped the album.^[64] Sea Change was called "evocative music", with country rock roots. The songs on the album also had "a warm, enveloping sound" with the help of his acoustic guitar.^[65]

Art career

During 1998, Beck's art collaborations with his grandfather Al Hansen were featured in an exhibition entitled "Beck & Al Hansen: Playing With Matches", which showcased solo and collaborative collage, assemblage, drawing and poetry works.^[66] The show toured from the Santa Monica Museum of Art to galleries in New York City and Winnipeg, Manitoba, in Canada. A catalog of the show was published by Plug In Editions/Smart Art Press.^[67]

Personal life

From 1991 to 2000, Beck was in a relationship with designer Leigh Limon. Their breakup is said to have inspired his 2002 album, Sea Change.^[68] He wrote most of the songs for the album in one week after the breakup.^[69] Beck married actress Marissa Ribisi, the twin sister of actor Giovanni Ribisi, in April 2004,^[70] shortly before the birth of their son, Cosimo Henri.^[71] Ribisi gave birth to their daughter, Tuesday, in 2007.^[72]

Scientology

Beck has been involved in Scientology for most of his life; his wife is also a second-generation Scientologist. Marissa and her twin brother, Giovanni, were delivered by Beck's mother, Bibbe.^[73] Beck publicly acknowledged his affiliation with Scientology for the first time in an interview published in The New York Times Magazine on March 6, 2005. Further confirmation came in an interview with the Irish Sunday Tribune's i Magazine on June 11, 2005, where he was quoted as saying, "Yeah, I'm a Scientologist. My father has been a Scientologist for about 35 years, so I grew up in and around it." When questioned by the interviewer about Scientology's core beliefs, he replied:

What it actually is is just sort of, uh, you know, I think it's about philosophy and sort of, uh, all these kinds of, you know, ideals that are common to a lot of religions....There's nothing fantastical...just a real deep grassroots concerted effort for humanitarian causes. I don't know if you know the stuff they have. It's unbelievable the stuff they are doing. Education...they have free centres all over the place for poor kids. They have the number one drug rehabilitation programme in the entire world (called Narconon). It has a 90-something percent success rate...When you look at the actual facts and not what's conjured in people's minds that's all bullshit to me because I've actually seen stuff first hand.^[74]

Appearances in media

The 1986 punk rock musical Population: 1 features a young Beck in a small nonspeaking role alongside legendary rocker Tomata du Plenty of The Screamers.^[75]. Beck also appeared in Southlander (2001), an American independent film by Steve Hanft and Ross Harris.

Beck has performed on Saturday Night Live six times; these shows were hosted by Kevin Spacey, Bill Paxton, Christina Ricci, Jennifer Garner, Tom Brady and Hugh Laurie. During his 2006 performance in the Hugh Laurie episode, Beck was accompanied by the puppets that had been used on-stage during his world tour. He has made two cameo appearances as himself on Saturday Night Live: one in a sketch about medicinal marijuana, and one in a VH1 Behind the Music parody that featured "Fat Albert & the Junkyard Gang."^[76]

Beck performed a guest voice as himself in Matt Groening's animated show Futurama, in the episode "Bendin' in the Wind".^[77] He performed in episode 10 of the fourth season of The Larry Sanders Show, in which the producer character Artie (Rip Torn) referred to him as a "hillbilly from outer space".^[78] He also made a very brief voice appearance in 1998 cartoon feature film, The Rugrats Movie,^[79] and guest-starred as himself in a 1997 episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast entitled "Edelweiss."^[80]

Beck has also made appearances in the Adult Swim show Mission Hill. Accepting an award, he comes up on stage wearing the new "Spicy pants" trend. In consequence the main character begins throwing all of his "Beck" albums out his upper-story window.

In an episode of Celebrity Deathmatch, Beck was featured fighting Björk in a "battle to be the best monosyllabic musician of all time", which ended with both of them slain by Johann Sebastian Bach, who appeared via a time machine.

On January 22, 2010, Beck appeared on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien's last show as a backup guitarist for a Will Ferrell–led rendition of Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird" alongside ZZ Top guitarist Billy Gibbons, Ben Harper, and Conan O'Brien himself on guitar.^[81]

External links

Scientology portal

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Official website
Beck (I) at the Internet Movie Database
Whiskeyclone.net, large, informative Beck site
Stewoo.net, the largest Beck fan forum
Beck at Rolling Stone

Beck

Studio albums

Stereopathetic Soulmanure · Mellow Gold · One Foot in the Grave · Odelay · Mutations · Midnite Vultures · Sea Change · Guero · The Information · Modern Guilt

Other albums

Golden Feelings · A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight · Stray Blues · Hell Yes EP · Guerolito

Singles

Album	"Loser" · "Pay No Mind (Snoozer)" · "Beercan" · "It's All in Your Mind" · "Where It's At" · "Devils Haircut" · "The New Pollution" · "Sissyneck" · "Jack-Ass" · "Tropicalia" · "Cold Brains" · "Nobody's Fault but My Own" · "Sexx Laws" · "Mixed Bizness" · "Nicotine & Gravy" · "Lost Cause" · "Guess I'm Doing Fine" ·"E-Pro" · "Girl" · "Hell Yes" · "Cellphone's Dead" · "Nausea" · "Think I'm in Love" · "Chemtrails" · "Gamma Ray" · "Youthless"

Non-album	"MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack" · "Steve Threw Up" · "Deadweight" · "Timebomb"

Featured singles

"Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?" · "Heaven Can Wait"

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