2005-07-02 - Essay: Why Beck Rocks so Damn Hard:

I've recently gotten back into listening to Beck. For a long time, Beck was pretty much my most favorite ever, but for some reason or another, I moved on to other musicians/bands, and eventually I pawned my Beck albums when I was real broke a few years back. But anyway, I am back into Beck again.

I've been watching his music videos today, and I just realized something: Beck pretty much had the whole hipster/indie rock look down pat about ten years before anyone else, but it never really took off back then as huge as it is now. I'm not sure when exactly it became popular, but I coincide the movement with the dual explosion of the White Stripes and The Strokes on the music scene a few years ago.

Anyway, I re-discovered something else about Beck that I initially thought in the 90s: Beck is a lot like David Bowie in that they both do things about 5-10 years before anyone else does. It is somewhat popular, but phases out, and then people do it again down the road, and the pioneers become retro-actively popular by association. At least, that it seems that way, based on my experiences.

I mean, Odelay came out in 1996, and Beck was all cowboy hats and giant belt buckles, back when that was a bit dorky. But he was cool, the same way that people think Napoleon Dynamite is cool: it was so dorky it is rad. In one of his videos, Beck is singing at a country bar and people are line dancing to Two Turn Tables and a Microphone. Come on people, that is totally awesome! And look at how he dressed in parts of the Loser video (made in 1994, for gawd's sake!):

(For more rad pics check out beckbeckbeck.net)

Anyway, that is just my opinion, but still, the point is clear: Beck rawks damn hard, and was ahead of his time.

The end!
<3NES