Beck recently celebrated his 42nd birthday. It’s hard to believe it has been almost two decades since “Loser” defined a generation of disaffected 20-somethings and catapulted Beck into the national spotlight. In 1994 he put out Mellow Gold and two other full-length albums, and since his breakout year he’s released seven additional LPs, all with their own unique flavor, but all unmistakably Beck.
Below we’ve compiled our list of his 20 best songs. With each song we’ve included a portion of the lyrics—lines which couldn’t have come from anywhere else but the mind of Beck.
20. “Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997”
Mellow Gold was recorded before Beck had found a national audience, and most of the album lacks the catchiness of Beck’s subsequent releases. But “Whiskeyclone, Hotel City 1997” is a haunting lament of a life lacking hope.
I was born in this hotel,
Washing dishes in the sink.
Magazines and free soda,
Trying hard not to think.
19. “E-Pro”
The leadoff track of 2005’s Guero features one of Beck’s heaviest riffs, which alternates with lilting verses of classic Beck-ian lyrics.
Heaven’s drunk from the poison you use.
Charm the wolves with the eyes of a gambler.
Now I see it’s a comfort to you.
Hammer my bones on the anvil of daylight.
18. “Bottle of Blues”
Off 1998’s Mutations, “Bottle of Blues” is a woozy, matter-of-fact take on never finding a way to escape misfortune.
Holding hands with an impotent dream.
In a brothel of fake energy.
Put a nickel in the graveyard machine.
I get higher and lower,
I get higher and lower
Like a tired soldier
With nothing to shoot
And nowhere to lose
This bottle of blues.
17. “Nausea”
Driven by a deliciously thick bassline, “Nausea” stands out as a relatively traditional song on Beck’s most digitally pixelated album, 2006’s The Information.
Now I’m a straight-line walker
In a black-out room,
I push a shopping cart over
In an Aztec ruin.
16. “Hotwax”
Featuring abrupt changes of pace, a dizzying array of effects and plenty of Beck’s freely associative rapping, “Hotwax” is a great example of the sonic diversity of Odelay condensed into a single song.