Biography
Beck Hansen was natural inside Los Angeles, California to parents David Campbell (the musician and the boy of a Presbyterian minister) and Bibbe Hansen (a ocular creative person of half Jewish descent). Once his parents separated, he stayed by having his mother & brother around LA, in which he was influenced by that city's diverse musical offerings—all about from either hip-hop to Latin music—and his mother's art scene – all of which would late reappear around his recorded & promulgated act.

Beck's music is typically considered to become average of good deal popular choice music of the Nineties by using its disdain for genre conventions, obtuse & ironic lyrics, and a melding of samples using played instruments. Even so, what placed him apart from either rock band such as Mr. Bungle and avant garde composers such as John Zorn, who experimented with similar genre raiding, was his free-flowing, sometimes absurd lyrical style. Hopefully likened by critics to the thomas more obscure moments of Bob Dylan and given an enthusiastic seal of approval by Allen Ginsberg, Beck was a hyperlink between a folk and beatnik past and a hip-hop present.

Fallowing dropping away from senior high in the mid-1980s, Beck educated himself and traveled widely. Inside Germany, he spent time sustaining his enate granddad, fluxus artist Al Hansen. New York City and the late '80s witnessed himself a share of the punk-influenced anti-folk music movement.

Beck returned to Los Angeles at a turn of the decade, destitute however ambystoma maculatum. To trprevent lines himself, he took the kind of great-paying, dead-end jobs, & possibly sleep in the shed, all the when continuing to have his music. When you took this instance, Beck sought retired (or even snuck onto) stages at venues completely on top Los Angeles, from either cheap clubs to cafe. In the spirit of an creative person struggling to produce the title for himself, his shows were memorable for their mix of humor & eccentricity. A bit of of his earliest & virtually all thought agitating recordings were achieved by working by having Tom Grimley at Poop Alley Studios, a a share of WIN Records.

It was in that atmosphere of heady creative thinking that a founders of Bong Load Custom Records discovered Beck. Their 1993 12" vinyl "Loser," from an initial run of 500 copies, created a sensation on alternative radio that led to a furious bidding war between labels to sign Beck. Eventually, he chose Geffen Records, who offered him terms that included allowing for the release of independent albums while under contract.

In 1994, Geffen's official debut release of Mellow Gold made Beck a mainstream success—and led to his iconic status as the "slacker" representative of the alternative rock scene. Beck would comment often that like "Loser," the song that inspired it, the "slacker" label was very ironic.

At the same time, he released Stereopathetic Soul Manure on Flipside Records and One Foot in the Grave on independent K Records. Beck took his act on the road with the 1995 Lollapalooza tour. Still, some critics panned him as a one-hit wonder. It didn't help that a lot of audiences (especially at Lollapalooza) were only familiar with "Loser"' and would generally ignore his other work.

That one-hit wonder label was put to rest with the release of 1996's Odelay, a collaborative effort with the Dust Brothers, producers of the Beastie Boys' ''Paul's Boutique''. The lead single, "Where It's At," received heavy airplay and its video was in constant rotation on MTV. Within the year, Odelay had received perfect reviews in Rolling Stone and Spin magazines, been listed on countless "Better of" lists, had received double-platinum status, and earned an impressive number of industry awards, including two Grammies.

Odelay was followed in 1998 by Mutations. Produced by Nigel Godrich of Radiohead fame, it was intended as a stopgap measure before the next album proper. Recorded over two weeks, during which Beck recorded one song a day, the sessions produced 14 songs. Mutations was a departure from the electronic density of Odelay, and was filled with folk and blues influences. Songs on the album consisted of older tracks, some even dating back as far as 1994. Track 10, "Sing It Over again", was written for Johnny Cash, but Beck never submitted it, considering it "rubbish." Cash would go on to record "Dory," a song that originally appeared on Beck's Stereopathetic Soul Manure.

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

In 1999, Geffen released the much-anticipated Midnite Vultures, an orgy of sexual and culinary innuendo that was supported by a 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 including a red bed that descended from the ceiling for the song "Debra" and the touring band was supplemented by a brass section.

After Midnite Vultures came Sea Change in 2002, another airy and emotional album with producer Nigel Godrich, which became Beck's first U.S. Top 10 album, reaching # 8. Sea Change was conceptualized as an album with one unifying theme—the stages following the end of a relationship. The album also featured string arrangements by Beck's father David Campbell and a sonically dense mix recalling at times Mutations and elements of Midnite Vultures. Although some radio singles were released no commercial singles were made available to the public. The Sea Change tour featured The Flaming Lips as Beck's opening and backing band.

Beck has a number of b-sides and soundtrack-only songs as well, including "Midnite Vultures" (curiously, not on the album of the same name), a cover of The Korgis' "Everybody's Got to View At one time or another" which appeared in the 2004 movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and David Bowie's Diamond Dogs from Moulin Rouge

In late 2004, Beck returned to the studio to work on his sixth major-label album. 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. The album was released on March 29, 2005 and enjoyed critical acclaim, earning four stars from Playboy and Rolling Stone as well as a "Critic's Choice" recognition from The New York Times. 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. Since the release of Guero, the first single, E-Pro has been well received by the alternative rock community, and has seen a large amount of play time. The second single, titled simply "Girl", is a bright, upbeat song appearing at first to be about summer love. However a closer look at the lyrics reveals a darker side to the song. "Girl" is currently receiving heavy airplay on various college radio stations.

Beck married Marissa Ribisi in April 2004, shortly before the birth of their son, Cosimo Henri.

Trivia

Beck has done a guest voice on Matt Groening's animated show Futurama, playing himself. In keeping with Beck's sense of humour, there is much self-deprecation ("Odelay occurs as word! Upright look it higher in the Becktionary"). See the episode here.

Many among Beck's friends and family are members of the Church of Scientology, and it has long been rumored that he is a member as well. In an interview with the Irish Sunday Tribune newspaper's i Magazine in June 2005 , Beck confirmed this rumour, stating "Yeah, We'm the Scientologist. The father has been the Scientologist for astir 35 years, thus I personally grew higher as much as & around it." When questioned, he was vague on the religion's core beliefs, but expressed support for its charitable works. Beck commented a little further on his involvement in the Sunday New York Times Magazine around the time of the release of Guero. See the external links below for more information on his involvement as a Scientologist.

Samples

Discography

Official albums
|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" ! Title !! Release !! Label !! Chart Peaks |- | Mellow Gold || 1 March 1994 || DGC/Bong Load || 13 (US); 41 (UK) |- | Stereopathetic Soul Manure || April 1994 || Flipside || - |- | One Foot in the Grave || 14 June 1994 || K Records || - |- | Odelay|| 18 June 1996 || DGC/Bong Load || 16 (US); 17 (UK) |- | Mutations || 3 November 1998 || DGC/Bong Load || 13 (US); 24 (UK) |- | Midnite Vultures || 23 November 1999 || DGC || 34 (US); 19 (UK) |- | Sea Change || 24 September 2002 || DGC/Interscope || 8 (US); 20 (UK) |- | Guero || 29 March 2005 || Interscope || 2 (US); 15 (UK) |- | Guerolito || 6 December 2005 || Interscope || |}

Unofficial indie albums
|- bgcolor="#CCCCCC" ! Title !! Year !! Label |- | The Banjo Story|| 1988 || unknown |- | Golden Feelings || 1993 || Sonic Enemy Records |- | A Western Harvest Field by Moonlight || 1994||Fingerpaint Records |}

EPs
Beck (Beck.com B-Sides) - February 20, 2001
Gameboy Variations - February 1, 2005

Singles

|rowspan="Two"| Year |rowspan="Two"|

| US Hot 100 | US Modern Rock | US Mainstream Rock | US Dance | UK Singles Chart |- | 1994 | "Loser" | #10 | #1 | #39 | #14 | #15 | Mellow Gold |- | 1994 | "Pay There are no Mind" | - | - | - | - | - | Mellow Gold |- | 1994 | "Beercan" | - | - | - | - | - | Mellow Gold |- | 1996 | "Where It's At" | #61 | #5 | - | - | #35 | Odelay |- | 1996 | "Devil's Haircut" | #94 | #23 | - | - | #22 | Odelay |- | 1997 | "A Freshly Pollution" | #78 | #9 | - | - | #14 | Odelay |- | 1997 | "Sissyneck" | - | - | - | - | #30 | Odelay |- | 1997 | "Jack-Ass" | #73 | #15 | - | - | - | Odelay |- | 1997 | "Deadweight" | - | #16 | - | - | #23 | A Life Less Ordinary [Soundtrack] |- | 1998 | "Tropicalia" | - | #21 | - | - | #39 | Mutations |- | 1999 | "Cold Brains" | - | - | - | - | - | Mutations |- | 1999 | "Cypher's Fault However The Own" | - | - | - | - | - | Mutations |- | 1999 | "Sexx Laws" | - | #21 | - | - | #27 | Midnite Vultures |- | 2000 | "Mixed Bizness" | - | #36 | - | #14 | #34 | Midnite Vultures |- | 2000 | "Nicotine & Gravy" | - | - | - | - | - | Midnite Vultures |- | 2003 | "Misused Cause" | - | #36 | - | - | - | Sea Change |- | 2005 | "E-Pro" | #65 | #1 (1 week) | #36 | - | #38 | Guero |- | 2005 | "Girl" | #100 | #8 | - | - | #45 | Guero |}

Indie singles
MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack - Gusto Productions/Flipside - April 1993
Steve Threw Up - Bong Load Custom Records - 1994
It's All in Your Mind - K Records - 1995

Filmography
Southlander