History Music / BeckMusician

* NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer: On ''Series/LastWeekTonightWithJohnOliver'', John Oliver sardonically mentioned that, as far as inconvenient facts go, one easily ignorable fact is that Beck was a Scientologist. In 2019, however, he[[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/beck-says-he-is-not-a-scientologist-1257357 stated]] that he was no longer a member and when he was involved, it was for family reasons. (Beck's father and ex-wife are both members).

* {{Retraux}}: Beck's 2012 "album" ''Song Reader'' was originally released not as a record, or a CD, or a collection of UsefulNotes/MP3 files, or as any kind of recorded performance at all--it was published as ''printed sheet music''. 20 tracks worth. If you can read traditional music notation and you have a piano or guitar, knock yourself out. Beck himself performed "I'm Down" and "Sorry" from ''Song Reader'' in live shows before finally releasing ''Song Reader'' as a record in 2014, except he only sang "Heaven's Ladder" and outsourced the rest to artists such as Music/JackWhite, Music/{{Fun}}, Music/JarvisCocker, Music/{{Sparks}}, among many others.

** The chorus for "Loser".

Not to be confused with Music/JeffBeck, Glenn Beck, or the manga ''Manga/{{BECK}}'' and its anime adaptation.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** The title character of "Nitemare Hippy Girl" is described as having "marijuana on the bathroom tile" - .

* ThreeChordsAn dTheTruth:

* ClumsyCopyrightCensorship: His head is blurred out in the beginning of the video for "Loser", because he was wearing a ''Franchise/StarWars'' mask without getting permission for it.

** The ''Mutations'' secret track "Diamond Bollocks" is heavier and darker than "Static" or any other song on the album. It's even more pronounced on some foreign copies on which it isn't a secret and occupies its own track after "Static" without the buffer of silence. Whiplash also occurs within the song as it changes styles abruptly.

* StylisticSuck: Beck is specialized on this, apparently.
** That little silly solo part in "Girl". Unlike the rest of the song, it sounds like a bunch of random notes played on untuned guitar.
** Going by his initial idea, the lyrics to "Loser". The video too, as it looks like it cost 20 bucks to film, and every video from ''Mellow Gold'' is low-cost and made to look sucky.
** His vocal delivery on the verses of "Gamma Ray" is full of stuttering and hesitant pauses, as though he was either nervous or just struggling to remember the lyrics, while the chorus is sung much more confidently. Beck himself has said "I was trying to sound as bad as I could, for a laugh".
** Various early songs, such as "Trouble All My Days" (from ''Golden Feelings'') and "Total Soul Future (Eat It)" (from ''Stereopathetic Soulmanure''), have Beck detuning his guitar intentionally badly, to create bizarre and hilarious music.
* SubliminalSeduction: At one point in "Loser," the chorus is sung backwards.
%%* SurrealHumor: Frequently.
%%* SurrealMusicVideo: Plenty.
* TakeThat: His first single, "MTV Makes Me Want To Smoke Crack."
* TakeThatMe:
** "Loser" is a PissTakeRap to himself and his poor rapping ability.
** "Hotwax"'s GratuitousSpanish chorus translates to "I'm a broken record/I've got chewing gum in my brain".
** And we can't forget his ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' appearance.
* TextlessAlbumCover: ''Sea Change'', ''Colors''.

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth:

* LyricalDissonance:
** "Girl", which sounds like a cheery pop song unless you listen closely to the lyrics.
** "Lost Cause" is a milder case, with fairly depressing lyrics set to upbeat acoustic guitars.

* ''Stereopathetic Soulmanure'' (1994) - These first two albums comprised largely lo-fi, country- and folk-influenced material, quite different from what he made his name with. This was the earliest album of his to be released on CD, a week before Mellow Gold came out. Most of the songs on here are from 1992 and 1993. Despite being an obscure album it's known for the song "Rowboat" which Johnny Cash heard and covered.

* ChurchOfHappyology: Beck was raised a Scientologist and, until 2019, was one of the more prominent examples. He was far from preachy about it, and in fact used to end interviews if it was brought up. Whilst he's willing to talk about it (if sparingly) this days, his accounts of his childhood remain pretty lacking because he leaves out anything about his religion (which took up a lot of his time). In 2019, Beck [[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/beck-says-he-is-not-a-scientologist-1257357 stated]] that he was not a practicing Scientologist, that he primarily involved himself with it for family reasons, and that only in the early 2000s was he strongly involved, when he took counselling after his girlfriend left him (his outlook at this time was captured in his acclaimed ''Sea Change'').

* RefrainFromAssuming: "Where It's At" is often mislabeled as "Two Turntables and a Microphone."

* NiceHat: Became part of Beck's wardrobe from ''The Information'' onwards.

* {{Corpsing}}:
** The end of "Corvette Bummer," in which Beck starts [[WordSaladLyrics listing random items]] until breaking into a fit of laughter.
** He also cracks up on the song "Bogusflow", as well as several radio sessions.

Since then, he has released 9 more albums, his latest being 2019's ''Hyperspace''. During this time, he had become noted for the [[NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly large variety of genres]] his work takes in. Critics have deemed him one of the most definitive solo artists in AlternativeRock (if not the most influential), with ''Odelay'' and ''Sea Change'' being among his most acclaimed records.

* ''Music/{{Odelay}}'' (1996) - Returning to the NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly, produced by The Dust Brothers (with some contributions from [[Music/BeastieBoys Mario Caldato]], Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf). Widely considered his masterpiece, sometimes compared to ''[[Music/BeastieBoys Paul's Boutique]]'' due to being produced by the same team of The Dust Brothers and Caldato.

* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: This being Beck, not only will this occur from album to album, but sometimes in the middle of a song itself.

** "Rental Car" has a section where guest vocalist Petra Haden does some yodel-like scatting: Beck and his {{Record Producer}}s The Dust Brothers originally wanted to use a sample of a yodeling record they'd found, but couldn't find any copyright information on it, so they called Petra in to do something similar and made it sound like a sample.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Varies to the point that anyone getting into Beck expecting a single kind of sound will be sorely disappointed:
** Beck's earlier stuff tends to be higher on the scale, ranging from a steady 4 ("Loser") all the way to a very hard 10 with parts reaching 11 ("Mutherfuker").
** As a whole, however, songs tend to stay within 4-6, occasionally having heavier 8-9 sections ("Devil's Haircut", "Hotwax") or softer 1-2 sections ("Lost Cause", "Think I'm in Love"). It is always hard to predict what you'll get from Beck.

Not to be confused with Music/JeffBeck, Radio/GlennBeck, or the manga ''Manga/{{BECK}}'' and its anime adaptation.

* ''Music/MellowGold'' (1994) - The debut of Beck's famous [[AlternativeRock Alt Rock]] GenreBusting style. A.k.a. TheOneWith "Loser".

* ''Music/{{Odelay}}'' (1996) - Returning to the NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly, produced by Music/TheDustBrothers (with some contributions from [[Music/BeastieBoys Mario Caldato]], Tom Rothrock and Rob Schnapf). Widely considered his masterpiece, sometimes compared to ''[[Music/BeastieBoys Paul's Boutique]]'' due to being produced by the same team of Music/TheDustBrothers and Caldato.

* ''Colors'' (2017) - Radio-friendly DancePop, which experienced over two years of DevelopmentHell (its first single "Dreams" came out in June 2015!).

* {{Mondegreen}}: Invoked with "Girl", which contains a chorus line that's either "My sun-eyed girl" or "My cyanide girl". The album's lyric booklet simply reads the line as "my ... girl", leaving the actual sung word unclear. Due to the song's dark lyrical matter, public opinions have shifted more towards "cyanide" as the correct answer.

!!Tropes demonstrated by Beck include:

** Fans still disagree as to what the chorus of "Girl" is. It's either "my cyanide girl," "my sun-eyed girl," or "my sonar girl". The lyric sheet only says "Hey, my... girl".

** "Que Onda Guero" has this throughout in both lyrics and voice clips.