The Colors of the Chameleon Knows as Beck

by Gene

Is Beck:
a) the cunning nu-rapper from Loser?
b)the countrified, twangy country boy of Jackass?
c)the pina-colada sippin songster of Tropicalia?
d)the party animal of Sexx Laws?
e)the brokenhearted pessimist of Lost Cause?
f)the loud, beat-backed boy behind E-Pro?

The beauty of this question lies in the answer:

Beck is all of the above, yet he’s none of the above at the same time.

Beck is one of the few – maybe even the only – artists today who has now had a successful 10-year run in the spotlight and yet, he cannot be pigeonholed into some kind of musical category. He’s the square peg for today’s round holed world of modern radio.

Sure, when Mellow Gold and Loser came out in 1994, Beck spent a year as the essential cover-boy for the ‘slacker’ generation (X). But that label fell off as soon as Odelay rocked the town like a moldy crouton with the fun-loving Where It’s At. Nobody new what to think of this kid from California when he hit the scene. And for his fans, many of them still can’t. Which is what makes being a Beck fan all the more pleasing.

The thing that makes Beck rare these days, and so likable and respected, is that he’s like most of us when it comes to music. His musical tastes aren’t locked into one particular genre. Depending on what he’s into at the time or the mood he’s in, that’s the type of album that comes out.

This has made him the fodder of some critics who accuse him of pure, coldhearted calculation on his part. These people claim there’s nothing spontaneous about Beck and there never will be. Then again, these are most likely the people that didn’t like him in the first place so it’s easy to see why they feel that way.

Most of us go through phases when certain kinds of music strike a chord with us more than others. One month, it may be British rockers like Bloc Party or the Futureheads, the next month it’s the power-pop and ballads of Guster, then it’s on to Johnny Cash and some old time, ticked off folk country. Most of us don’t go through life listening or enjoying to only one kind of music. Beck does the same thing, only he makes it, and he does so with tongue firmly planted in cheek from an entertainment standpoint.

His new album Guero is a great piece of sonic pleasure. In it are bits and pieces from all of Beck’s previous bodies of work. It’s radically different from track to track, yet it feels 100% Beck.

Sure, there are the paint-by-numbers, corporate-created bands like Slipknot, Nickelback, Good Charlotte, and Linkin Park who regurgitate the same stuff over and over and over. And yeah, those bands have certainly been/are popular, but in the long run, those bands won’t be remembered for being either groundbreaking or adventurous. But, they were all more “popular” than Beck at some point in their careers.

Then again, I’ll give you your 15,000 seat amphitheater show for any of those bands. Me? I’ll take seeing Beck perform in front of sold-out 3,000-5,000 seat venues today and any day over the last 10 years, and hopefully the next 10 years.

(Beck’s new fall tour kicks off soon. Check out his website to find out locations. Detroit and Chicago are on the docket. I highly, highly, highly recommend seeing him perform live. He is a pure entertainer and you will not be disappointed in seeing him live….that is of course, unless you’re a sap and you shell out $200 to see him open up for the Rocking-chair Stones and their 3,452,745th take on the song “satisfaction”. Enjoy. Mick and Keef need your support.)