144-431: Mellow Gold is the third studio album by American musician Beck , released on March 1, 1994, by DGC Records as Beck's major label debut album. Critics noted the album's hybrid of various styles including rock , hip hop , folk , blues , psychedelia , and country , as well as ironic , witty lyrics. Its decidedly anti-commercial attitude led to it becoming an unexpected commercial success, peaking at number thirteen in
288-522: A Grammy Award for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance. For his next studio effort, his tenth, Beck tapped Danger Mouse to produce, and the two first met in December 2007 to record. The duo knocked out two tracks in two days, but the notion that the album would be finished in a timely fashion soon evaporated. Beck had known Danger Mouse casually before, as many of his former musicians ended up working with Danger Mouse's side project, Gnarls Barkley . Still,
432-512: A four-track . The robot on the cover of Mellow Gold was created by artist Eddie Lopez, who made a cameo in the music video for the hit song " Loser ". The sculpture was named "Survivor from the Nuclear Bomb". The shot was originally taken in Lopez's garage space by Beck's friend as well as early collaborator Ross Harris. The last image was reshot in a studio where Harris was able to control
576-479: A postmodern musician. He has also taken music from Los Angeles as a reference point in his songs. New York City New York , often called New York City or NYC , is the most populous city in the United States , located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors . The city comprises five boroughs , each coextensive with a respective county . The city
720-644: A transistor radio . It sounded too good, that was the problem." Initially due to be released in October 2004, Guero faced delays and did not come out until March 2005, though unmastered copies of the tracks surfaced online in January. Guero debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 , selling 162,000 copies, an all-time sales high. Lead single " E-Pro " peaked at number one at Modern Rock radio, making it his first chart-topper since "Loser". Beck, inspired by
864-496: A video store in the Silver Lake neighborhood, "doing things like alphabetizing the pornography section". He began performing in arthouse clubs and coffeehouses such as Al's Bar and Raji's . In order to keep indifferent audiences engaged in his music, Beck would play in a spontaneous, joking manner. "I'd be banging away on a Son House tune and the whole audience would be talking. So maybe out of desperation or boredom, or
1008-682: A backlash, with skeptics denouncing him as a self-indulgent fake and the latest marketing opportunity. In the summer of 1994, Beck was struggling and many of his fellow musicians thought he had lost his way. Combined with Loser's wildly popular music video and the world tour, Beck reacted believing the attention could not last, resulting in a status as a " one-hit wonder ". At other concerts, crowds were treated to twenty minutes of reggae or Miles Davis or jazz-punk iterations of "Loser". At one-day festivals in California, he surrounded himself with an artnoise combo. The drummer set fire to his cymbals;
1152-465: A book of sheet music. Born and raised in Los Angeles , Beck gravitated towards hip hop and folk in his teens and began to perform locally at coffeehouses and clubs. He moved to New York City in 1989 and became involved in the city's anti-folk movement. Returning to Los Angeles in the early 1990s, he saw his commercial breakthrough with his 1993 single " Loser ." After signing with DGC Records ,
1296-581: A bus to New York City with little more than $ 8.00 and a guitar. He spent the summer attempting to find a job and a place to live with little success. Beck eventually began to frequent Manhattan 's Lower East Side and stumbled upon the tail end of the East Village 's anti-folk scene's first wave. Beck became involved in a loose posse of acoustic musicians—including Cindy Lee Berryhill , Kirk Kelly , Paleface , and Lach headed by Roger Manning —whose raggedness and eccentricity placed them well outside
1440-511: A cover of Neil Young 's track " Old Man " to promote a Sunday Night Football game. The track was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance for the 65th Grammy Awards later in 2022. A music video for the track would be released on December 8, 2022. Following the commercial featuring the cover, Neil Young posted a still image from his 1988 music video for "This Note's For You", an anti-commercialization song in protest of
1584-631: A decade between Irish immigrants and Black people for work. Rioters burned the Colored Orphan Asylum to the ground. At least 120 people were killed. Eleven Black men were lynched over five days, and the riots forced hundreds of Blacks to flee. The Black population in Manhattan fell below 10,000 by 1865. The White working class had established dominance. It was one of the worst incidents of civil unrest in American history . In 1886,
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#17327732495711728-627: A diverse collection of artists—including Amon Tobin , Tyondai Braxton , Nosaj Thing , and Memory Tapes —whose work had also been influenced by Glass. In December 2012, an interactive iPhone app titled "Rework_" was released to complement the album. Beck has contributed three new songs—"Cities", "Touch the People" and "Spiral Staircase"—to the video game Sound Shapes for PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , and PlayStation Vita . Beck collaborated on two songs for Childish Gambino 's "Royalty" mixtape in 2012. In 2014, Beck collaborated with Sia for
1872-459: A half months." Modern Guilt (2008) was "full of off-kilter rhythms and left-field breakdowns, with an overall 1960s vibe." Modern Guilt was the final release in Beck's contract with Geffen Records. Beck, then 38, had held the contract since his early 20s. Released from his label contract and going independent, Beck began working more heavily on his own seven-year-old label, which went through
2016-854: A half). AllMusic critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine wrote, "although his inspired sense of humor occasionally plays like he's a smirking, irony-addled hipster, his music is never kitschy, and his wordplay is constantly inspired." He also wrote, "It's a dizzying demonstration of musical skills, yet it's all tied together by a simple yet clever sense of songcraft and a truly original lyrical viewpoint, one that's basic yet as colorful as free verse." Guitar World magazine included Mellow Gold in their "Superunknown: 50 Iconic Albums That Defined 1994" list. All tracks are written by Beck Hansen , except where noted Sales figures based on certification alone. Shipments figures based on certification alone. Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell ; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck ,
2160-489: A more self-contained acoustic disc in the vein of One Foot in the Grave and another described as a "proper follow-up" to Modern Guilt . Beck expected to release both albums independently, and released three standalone singles over the course of the year: the electro ballad " Defriended ", the chorus-heavy "I Won't Be Long", and finally "Gimme". In October 2013, Beck signed to Capitol Records . In January, Beck released
2304-473: A more serious Beck, and 2005's Guero returned to Odelay ' s sample -based production. The Information in 2006 was inspired by electro-funk, hip hop, and psychedelia; 2008's Modern Guilt was inspired by 1960s pop; and 2014's folk-infused Morning Phase won Album of the Year at the 57th Grammy Awards . His 2017 album, Colors , won awards for Best Alternative Album and Best Engineered Album at
2448-562: A neighborhood populated primarily by Koreans and Salvadorian refugees. He was sent for a time to live with his paternal grandparents in Kansas ; he later remarked that he thought "they were kind of concerned" about his "weird" home life. Because his paternal grandfather was a Presbyterian minister, Beck grew up influenced by church music and hymns. He also spent time in Europe with his maternal grandfather. After his parents separated when he
2592-672: A one-off experiment that Beck set aside, going back to his folk songs, making his home tapes such as Golden Feelings , and releasing several independent singles. By 1993, Beck was living in a rat-infested shed near a Los Angeles alleyway with little money. Bong Load issued "Loser" as a single in March 1993 on 12" vinyl with only 500 copies pressed. Beck felt that "Loser" was mediocre, and only agreed to its release at Rothrock's insistence. "Loser" unexpectedly received radio airplay, starting in Los Angeles, where college radio station KXLU
2736-569: A pre-show for the Grammy Awards , Beck collaborated with the surviving members of the band Nirvana to play Nirvana's rendition of "The Man Who Sold the World" as a tribute to both David Bowie , who had died just 1 month earlier, and Kurt Cobain , the former lead singer of Nirvana. Beck and Nirvana teamed up once again in 2020 for a fundraiser event, alongside St. Vincent and Dave Grohl 's Daughter Violet Grohl. In 2017, Beck appeared in
2880-456: A red bed that descended from the ceiling for the song " Debra ", and the touring band was complemented by a brass section. Midnite Vultures was nominated for Best Album at the 43rd Annual Grammy Awards . In 2000, Beck and his fiancée, stylist Leigh Limon, ended their nine-year relationship. Beck lapsed into a period of melancholy and introspection, during which he wrote the bleak, acoustic-based tracks later found on Sea Change . Beck sat on
3024-531: A result of Sandy, and the economic losses in New York City were estimated to be roughly $ 19 billion. The disaster spawned long-term efforts towards infrastructural projects to counter climate change and rising seas, with $ 15 billion in federal funding received through 2022 towards those resiliency efforts. In March 2020, the first case of COVID-19 in the city was confirmed. With its population density and its extensive exposure to global travelers,
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#17327732495713168-541: A result, Beck took a break and wrote no original compositions in 2003. Feeling as though it might take him a while to "get back to that [songwriting] territory", he entered the studio with Dust Brothers to complete a project that dated back to Odelay . Nearly half of the songs had existed since the 1990s. Guero , Beck's ninth studio album, was recorded over the span of nine months during which several significant events occurred in his life: his girlfriend, Marissa Ribisi, became pregnant; they were married; their son, Cosimo,
3312-510: A second wind, leading to an expanded fan base and additional exposure Beck enjoyed but, like several executives at Geffen, was bewildered by the success of Odelay . He would often get recognized in public, which made him feel strange. "It's just weird. It doesn't feel right. It doesn't feel natural to me. I don't think I was made for that. I was never good at that," he later told Pitchfork . Odelay sold two million copies and put "one-hit wonder" criticisms to rest. During this time, he contributed
3456-485: A speech denying the request, which was paraphrased on the front page of the New York Daily News as "FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD." The Municipal Assistance Corporation was formed and granted oversight authority over the city's finances. While a resurgence in the financial industry greatly improved the city's economic health in the 1980s, New York's crime rate continued to increase through that decade and into
3600-553: A string of menial jobs, including loading trucks and operating a leaf blower . Beck began as a folk musician, switching between country blues , Delta blues , and more traditional rural folk music in his teenage years. He began performing on city buses, often covering Mississippi John Hurt alongside original, sometimes improvisational compositions. "I'd get on the bus and start playing Mississippi John Hurt with totally improvised lyrics. Some drunk would start yelling at me, calling me Axl Rose . So I'd start singing about Axl Rose and
3744-420: A track-by-track reconfiguration of the album. Also released in 2005 was A Brief Overview , a 12-track promotional-only "History of Beck" compilation CD sampler that featured a combination of older and newer Beck tracks. The Information , Beck's tenth studio album, began production around the same time as Guero , in 2003. Working again with Godrich, Beck built a studio in his garden, where they wrote many of
3888-502: A variety of names. He focused on smaller, more quixotic projects, and moonlighted as a producer, working with artists such as Charlotte Gainsbourg , Thurston Moore and Stephen Malkmus . Beck worked for five or six days a week at the small studio on his property in Malibu, and founded Record Club , a project whereby an entire classic album—by The Velvet Underground , Leonard Cohen , INXS , Yanni —would be covered by another singer in
4032-534: A weekly DJ set put together by Beck or guest DJs. Soon after, on July 7, Beck announced that his website would be featuring "extended informal conversations with musicians, artists, filmmakers, and other various persons" in a section called Irrelevant Topics. Then, on July 12, he added a section called Videotheque, which he said would contain "promotional videos from each album, as well as live clips, TV show appearances and other rarities". Also in 2009, Beck collaborated with Charlotte Gainsbourg on her album IRM , which
4176-437: Is 20 songs presented only as sheet music, in the hopes that enterprising musicians will record their own versions. The idea of Song Reader came about nearly fifteen years prior, shortly after the release of Odelay . When sent a book of transcribed sheet music for that album, Beck decided to play through it and grew interested in the world before recorded sound. He aimed to keep the arrangements as open as possible, to re-create
4320-465: Is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical collages of wide-ranging genres. He has musically encompassed folk , funk , soul , hip hop , electronica , alternative rock , country , and psychedelia . He has released 14 studio albums (three of which were released on indie labels), as well as several non-album singles and
4464-405: Is one of the world's most populous megacities . The city and its metropolitan area are the premier gateway for legal immigration to the United States . As many as 800 languages are spoken in New York City, making it the most linguistically diverse city in the world. In 2021, the city was home to nearly 3.1 million residents born outside the U.S., the largest foreign-born population of any city in
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4608-518: Is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area , the largest metropolitan area in the U.S. by both population and urban area . New York is a global center of finance and commerce , culture , technology , entertainment and media , academics and scientific output , the arts and fashion , and, as home to the headquarters of
4752-604: The Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and topping the Modern Rock Tracks chart. The song also charted in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and throughout Europe. Beck's newfound position of attention led to his characterization as the "King of Slackers", as the media dubbed him the center of the new so-called "slacker" movement. Critics, feeling it the essential follow-up to Radiohead 's " Creep ", found vacantness in
4896-453: The 61st Annual Grammy Awards . His fourteenth studio album, Hyperspace , was released on November 22, 2019. In 2022, Beck was nominated for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame . With a pop art collage of musical styles, oblique and ironic lyrics, and postmodern arrangements incorporating samples , drum machines , live instrumentation and sound effects, Beck has been hailed by critics and
5040-614: The American South . During construction in Foley Square in the 1990s, the African Burying Ground was discovered; the cemetery included 10,000 to 20,000 graves of colonial-era Africans, some enslaved and some free. The 1735 trial and acquittal in Manhattan of John Peter Zenger , who had been accused of seditious libel after criticizing colonial governor William Cosby , helped to establish freedom of
5184-866: The Atlantic port to the agricultural markets and commodities of the North American interior via the Hudson River and the Great Lakes . Local politics became dominated by Tammany Hall , a political machine supported by Irish and German immigrants . In 1831, New York University was founded. Several prominent American literary figures lived in New York during the 1830s and 1840s, including William Cullen Bryant , Washington Irving , Herman Melville , Rufus Wilmot Griswold , John Keese , Nathaniel Parker Willis , and Edgar Allan Poe . Members of
5328-668: The Bill of Rights there. The Supreme Court held its first organizational sessions in New York in 1790. In 1790, for the first time, New York City surpassed Philadelphia as the nation's largest city. At the end of 1790, the national capital was moved to Philadelphia . During the 19th century, New York City's population grew from 60,000 to 3.43 million. Under New York State's gradual emancipation act of 1799, children of slave mothers were to be eventually liberated but to be held in indentured servitude until their mid-to-late twenties. Together with slaves freed by their masters after
5472-726: The Caribbean . The attempt at a peaceful solution to the war took place at the Conference House on Staten Island between American delegates, including Benjamin Franklin , and British general Lord Howe on September 11, 1776. Shortly after the British occupation began, the Great Fire of New York destroyed nearly 500 buildings, about a quarter of the structures in the city, including Trinity Church . In January 1785,
5616-905: The Hudson River , which he named Río de San Antonio ('Saint Anthony's River'). In 1609, the English explorer Henry Hudson rediscovered New York Harbor while searching for the Northwest Passage to the Orient for the Dutch East India Company . He sailed up what the Dutch called North River (now the Hudson River), named first by Hudson as the Mauritius after Maurice, Prince of Orange . Hudson claimed
5760-666: The Lower Hudson Valley . The first documented visit into New York Harbor by a European was in 1524 by explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano . He claimed the area for France and named it Nouvelle Angoulême (New Angoulême ). A Spanish expedition, led by the Portuguese captain Estêvão Gomes sailing for Emperor Charles V , arrived in New York Harbor in January 1525 and charted the mouth of
5904-742: The New York City Fire Department and 71 law enforcement officers. The area was rebuilt with a new World Trade Center , the National September 11 Memorial and Museum , and other new buildings and infrastructure, including the World Trade Center Transportation Hub , the city's third-largest hub. The new One World Trade Center is the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere and the seventh-tallest building in
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6048-743: The Nintendocore remix scene and feeling a connection with its lo-fi, home-recording method, collaborated with artists 8-Bit and Paza on Hell Yes , an EP issued in February 2005. In December 2005, Geffen also issued Guerolito , a fully reworked version of Guero featuring remixes by the Beastie Boys ' Ad-Rock , the Dust Brothers' John King and Scottish electronic duo Boards of Canada . Guerolito combines remixes previously heard as B-sides and new versions of album tracks to make
6192-511: The Statue of Liberty , a gift from France , was dedicated in New York Harbor. The statue welcomed 14 million immigrants as they came to the U.S. via Ellis Island by ship in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and is a symbol of the United States and American ideals of liberty and peace. In 1898, the City of New York was formed with the consolidation of Brooklyn (until then a separate city),
6336-709: The Stonewall riots were a series of violent protests by members of the gay community against a police raid that took place in the early morning of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village . They are widely considered to be the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement and the modern fight for LGBT rights . Wayne R. Dynes , author of the Encyclopedia of Homosexuality , wrote that drag queens were
6480-612: The steamship General Slocum caught fire in the East River , killing 1,021 people. In 1911, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire , the city's worst industrial disaster, killed 146 garment workers and spurred the growth of the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and major improvements in factory safety standards. New York's non-White population was 36,620 in 1890. New York City
6624-538: The 19th century, the city was transformed by both commercial and residential development relating to its status as a national and international trading center , as well as by European immigration, respectively. The city adopted the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 , which expanded the city street grid to encompass almost all of Manhattan. The 1825 completion of the Erie Canal through central New York connected
6768-456: The CD with sheets of stickers so buyers could customize the cover, and leaked tracks and videos on his website months ahead of the album's release. Digital download releases automatically downloaded the song's additional video for each single sale, and physical copies came bundled with an additional DVD featuring fifteen videos. In 2007, Beck released the single " Timebomb ", which was nominated for
6912-705: The Continental Army at the Battle of Fort Washington in November 1776 eliminated the last American stronghold in Manhattan, causing George Washington and his forces to retreat across the Hudson River to New Jersey , pursued by British forces. After the battle, in which the Americans were defeated, the British made the city their military and political base of operations in North America. The city
7056-575: The County of New York (which then included parts of the Bronx), the County of Richmond, and the western portion of the County of Queens. The opening of the New York City Subway in 1904, first built as separate private systems, helped bind the new city together. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the city became a world center for industry, commerce, and communication. In 1904,
7200-640: The Duke of York (the future King James II and VII). The duke gave part of the colony to proprietors George Carteret and John Berkeley . On August 24, 1673, during the Third Anglo-Dutch War , Anthony Colve of the Dutch navy seized New York at the behest of Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest and rechristened it "New Orange" after William III , the Prince of Orange . The Dutch soon returned
7344-717: The Dutch West India Company had operated as a monopoly in New Netherland, on authority granted by the Dutch States General . In 1639–1640, in an effort to bolster economic growth, the Dutch West India Company relinquished its monopoly over the fur trade, leading to growth in the production and trade of food, timber, tobacco, and slaves (particularly with the Dutch West Indies ). In 1647, Peter Stuyvesant began his tenure as
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#17327732495717488-586: The Echoes , providing lead vocals and also credited in writing for the track "Wide Open", released in July. In 2016, Beck collaborated with French electronic music band M83 , providing vocals for the song "Time Wind" from their album Junk . He was also featured on "Tiny Cities" by Flume . He also collaborated with Lady Gaga on the song "Dancin' in Circles", from her 2016 album Joanne . Also in 2016, during
7632-608: The Los Angeles club Cafe Troy to a packed audience and talent scouts from major labels. The song then spread to Seattle through KNDD The End, and KROQ-FM began playing the song on an almost hourly basis. As Bong Load struggled to press more copies of "Loser", Beck was beset with offers to sign with major labels. During the bidding war in November, Beck spent several days in Olympia, Washington , recording material with Calvin Johnson of Beat Happening , which would later see release
7776-405: The New York metropolitan area is the largest metropolitan economy in the world , with a gross metropolitan product of over US$ 2.16 trillion. If the New York metropolitan area were its own country , it would have the tenth-largest economy in the world . Despite having a 24/7 rapid transit system , New York also leads the world in urban automobile traffic congestion . The city is home to
7920-578: The Revolutionary War and escaped slaves, a significant free-Black population gradually developed in Manhattan. The New York Manumission Society worked for abolition and established the African Free School to educate Black children. It was not until 1827 that slavery was completely abolished in the state . Free Blacks struggled with discrimination and interracial abolitionist activism continued. New York City's population jumped from 123,706 in 1820 (10,886 of whom were Black and of which 518 were enslaved) to 312,710 by 1840 (16,358 of whom were Black). Also in
8064-497: The United Nations , international diplomacy . With an estimated population in 2023 of 8,258,035 distributed over 300.46 square miles (778.2 km ), the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles , the nation's second-most populous city. With more than 20.1 million people in its metropolitan statistical area and 23.5 million in its combined statistical area as of 2020, New York City
8208-516: The United States and eventually being certified platinum . As of July 2008, Mellow Gold has sold over 1.2 million copies in the United States. In a 1994 interview with Rolling Stone , Beck said of the album: The whole concept of Mellow Gold is that it's like a satanic K-tel record that's been found in a trash dumpster, quite matter-of-factly. A few people have molested it and slept with it and half-swallowed it before spitting it out. Someone played poker with it, someone tried to smoke it. Then
8352-553: The West Coast's director of talent acquisitions for BMG Music Publishing , and the partners behind independent record label Bong Load Custom Records : Tom Rothrock , Rob Schnapf , and Brad Lambert. Schnapf saw Beck perform at Jabberjaw and felt he would suit their small venture. Beck expressed a loose interest in hip hop and Rothrock introduced him to Carl Stephenson, a record producer for Rap-A-Lot Records . In 1992, Beck visited Stephenson's home to collaborate with him. The result—the slide - sampling hip hop track " Loser "—was
8496-476: The acoustic mainstream. "The whole mission was to destroy all the clichés and make up some new ones," said Beck of his New York years. "Everybody knew each other. You could go up onstage and say anything, and you wouldn't feel weird or feel any pressure." Inspired by that freedom and by the local spoken-word performers, Beck began to write free-associative, surrealistic songs about pizza, MTV , and working at McDonald's , turning mundane thoughts into songs. Beck
8640-414: The album, "NYC: 73–78", as "a fantasia ... the most startling and original piece of music with Beck's name on it in a while, and the first new work to bear his own spirit in even longer." Reflecting on Beck's contribution to the album, Glass remarked that he was "impressed by the novelty and freshness of a lot of the ideas". Beyond his work as a performer, Beck acted as the album's curator, bringing together
8784-446: The album, Beck sent the vocal parts to him, and that they had never actually met. In March 2010, Beck revealed that he had produced songs for the new Jamie Lidell album, Compass . In the summer of 2010, Beck contributed songs to both The Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack, with "Let's Get Lost" (a duet with Bat for Lashes ), and True Blood (HBO Original Series Soundtrack, Vol. 2) , with "Bad Blood". He also contributed songs to
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#17327732495718928-460: The artwork for Mellow Gold . On June 20, 2009, Beck announced that he was starting an experiment called Record Club , in which he and other musicians would record cover versions of entire albums in one day. The first album covered by Beck's Record Club was The Velvet Underground & Nico . Starting on June 18, the club began posting covers of songs from the album on Thursday evenings, each with its own video. On September 4, 2009, Beck announced
9072-426: The assembly of the Congress of the Confederation made New York City the national capital. New York was the last capital of the U.S. under the Articles of Confederation and the first capital under the Constitution of the United States . As the U.S. capital, New York City hosted the inauguration of the first President, George Washington , and the first Congress , at Federal Hall on Wall Street . Congress drafted
9216-580: The audience's boredom, I'd make up these ridiculous songs just to see if people were listening," he later remarked. Virtually an unknown to the public and an enigma to those who met him, Beck would hop onstage between acts in local clubs and play "strange folk songs", accompanied by "what could best be described as performance art " while sometimes wearing a Star Wars stormtrooper mask. Beck met someone who offered to help record demos in his living room, and he began to pass cassette tapes around. Eventually, Beck gained key boosters in Margaret Mittleman,
9360-493: The beginning of the 1990s. By the mid-1990s, crime rates started to drop dramatically due to revised police strategies, improving economic opportunities, gentrification , and new residents, both American transplants and new immigrants from Asia and Latin America. New York City's population exceeded 8 million for the first time in the 2000 United States census ; further records were set in 2010 , and 2020 U.S. censuses. Important new sectors, such as Silicon Alley , emerged in
9504-534: The business elite lobbied for the establishment of Central Park , which in 1857 became the first landscaped park in an American city. The Great Irish Famine brought a large influx of Irish immigrants, of whom more than 200,000 were living in New York by 1860, representing over a quarter of the city's population. Extensive immigration from the German provinces meant that Germans comprised another 25% of New York's population by 1860. Democratic Party candidates were consistently elected to local office, increasing
9648-510: The city from New Jersey. The East River—a tidal strait —flows from Long Island Sound and separates the Bronx and Manhattan from Long Island. The Harlem River , another tidal strait between the East and Hudson rivers, separates most of Manhattan from the Bronx. The Bronx River , which flows through the Bronx and Westchester County , is the only entirely freshwater river in the city. The city's land has been altered substantially by human intervention, with considerable land reclamation along
9792-439: The city rapidly replaced Wuhan , China as the global epicenter of the pandemic during the early phase, straining the city's healthcare infrastructure. Through March 2023, New York City recorded more than 80,000 deaths from COVID-19-related complications. New York City is situated in the northeastern United States , in southeastern New York State, approximately halfway between Washington, D.C. and Boston . Its location at
9936-447: The city's economy. The advent of Y2K was celebrated with fanfare in Times Square . New York City suffered the bulk of the economic damage and largest loss of human life in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks . Two of the four airliners hijacked that day were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, resulting in the collapse of both buildings and the deaths of 2,753 people, including 343 first responders from
10080-615: The city's ties to the South and its dominant party. In 1861, Mayor Fernando Wood called on the aldermen to declare independence from Albany and the United States after the South seceded, but his proposal was not acted on. Anger at new military conscription laws during the American Civil War (1861–1865), which spared wealthier men who could afford to hire a substitute, led to the Draft Riots of 1863 , whose most visible participants were ethnic Irish working class. The draft riots deteriorated into attacks on New York's elite, followed by attacks on Black New Yorkers after fierce competition for
10224-482: The cover and commercial. Later on February 10, 2023, he released the song "Thinking About You", his first original solo-track since 2019's Hyperspace . A music video for the track would be released on February 20, 2023. It is currently unknown if this means a 15th studio album will be released in the upcoming future or not. Many music critics have noted that it sounds like a return to the folk of Morning Phase and Sea Change . On June 21, 2023, Beck released
10368-417: The development of large housing tracts in eastern Queens and Nassau County , with Wall Street leading America's place as the world's dominant economic power. The United Nations headquarters was completed in 1952, solidifying New York's global geopolitical influence, and the rise of abstract expressionism in the city precipitated New York's displacement of Paris as the center of the art world. In 1969,
10512-418: The early 18th century, New York grew in importance as a trading port while as a part of the colony of New York . It became a center of slavery , with 42% of households enslaving Africans by 1730. Most were domestic slaves ; others were hired out as labor. Slavery became integrally tied to New York's economy through the labor of slaves throughout the port, and the banking and shipping industries trading with
10656-466: The environment and also add visual effects to make the cover look more apocalyptic. The album was originally going to be titled Cold Ass Fashion , sharing its name with an earlier song of Beck's. The final title used, Mellow Gold , was named after a potent strain of California marijuana . Mellow Gold received general acclaim from music critics. AllMusic and Rolling Stone gave it five out of five stars (the latter originally giving it only three and
10800-556: The first single for his next album. The next June, he released the next single, " Wow ". On September 8, 2017, Beck released the single "Dear Life", which was followed up with the official release of "Up All Night" on September 18. The album, Colors , was released on October 13, 2017. It was recorded at co-executive producer Greg Kurstin 's Los Angeles studio, with Beck and Kurstin playing nearly every instrument themselves. The experimental pop-fused record received generally positive reviews from critics. On July 18, 2018, Beck performed
10944-452: The following year on Johnson's K Records as One Foot in the Grave . A fierce bidding war ensued, with Geffen Records A&R director Mark Kates signing Beck in December 1993 amid intense competition from Warner Bros. and Capitol . Beck's non-exclusive contract with Geffen allowed him an unusual amount of creative freedom, with Beck remaining free to release material through such small, independent labels as Flipside , which issued
11088-619: The former territory of New Netherland , including the city of New Amsterdam , when the Kingdom of England seized it from Dutch control. In the pre-Columbian era , the area of present-day New York City was inhabited by Algonquians , including the Lenape . Their homeland, known as Lenapehoking , included the present-day areas of Staten Island , Manhattan , the Bronx , the western portion of Long Island (including Brooklyn and Queens ), and
11232-473: The ice (and its subsequent retreat) contributed to the separation of what is now Long Island and Staten Island. That action left bedrock at a relatively shallow depth, providing a solid foundation for most of Manhattan's skyscrapers. The Hudson River flows through the Hudson Valley into New York Bay . Between New York City and Troy, New York , the river is an estuary . The Hudson River separates
11376-677: The island to England under the Treaty of Westminster of November 1674. Several intertribal wars among the Native Americans and epidemics brought on by contact with the Europeans caused sizeable population losses for the Lenape between 1660 and 1670. By 1700, the Lenape population had diminished to 200. New York experienced several yellow fever epidemics in the 18th century, losing ten percent of its population in 1702 alone. In
11520-671: The last Director-General of New Netherland. During his tenure, the population of New Netherland grew from 2,000 to 8,000. Stuyvesant has been credited with improving law and order; however, he earned a reputation as a despotic leader. He instituted regulations on liquor sales, attempted to assert control over the Dutch Reformed Church , and blocked other religious groups from establishing houses of worship. In 1664, unable to summon any significant resistance, Stuyvesant surrendered New Amsterdam to English troops, led by Colonel Richard Nicolls , without bloodshed. The terms of
11664-401: The lead guitarist "played" his guitar with the strings faced towards his body; and Beck changed the words to "Loser" so that nobody could sing along. "I can't tell you how many times I was looking at faces that were looking back at me with complete bewilderment—or just pointing and shaking their heads and laughing—while performing during that period," he later recalled. Despite this, Beck gained
11808-420: The lead single " Blue Moon " from his twelfth studio album, Morning Phase . A second single " Waking Light " was also released a week prior to the official release of Morning Phase on February 21, 2014. For the recording of the album, Beck reunited with many of the same musicians with whom he had worked on the critically acclaimed 2002 album Sea Change , and likely because of this, it has been noted that
11952-426: The levee and bus passes and strychnine, mixing the whole thing up", he later recalled. He was also in a band called Youthless that hosted Dadaist -inspired freeform events at city coffee shops. "We had Radio Shack mics and this homemade speaker and we'd draft people in the audience to recite comic books or do a beatbox thing, or we'd tie the whole audience up in masking tape," Beck recalled. In 1989, Beck caught
12096-545: The local population as a representative of the Dutch colonists. A permanent European presence near New York Harbor was established in 1624, making New York the 12th-oldest continuously occupied European-established settlement in the continental United States , with the founding of a Dutch fur trading settlement on Governors Island . In 1625, construction was started on a citadel and Fort Amsterdam , later called Nieuw Amsterdam (New Amsterdam), on present-day Manhattan Island. The colony of New Amsterdam extended from
12240-428: The lyrics of "Loser" strongly associated with Generation X , although Beck himself strongly contested his position as the face of the "slacker" generation: "Slacker my ass . I mean, I never had any slack. I was working a $ 4-an-hour job trying to stay alive. That slacker stuff is for people who have the time to be depressed about everything." Feeling as though he was "constantly trying to prove myself", Beck suffered
12384-445: The magazine as one of the best records of the decade and of all time, and it also placed second on the year's Pazz & Jop Critics Poll. Sea Change yielded a low-key, theater-based acoustic tour, as well as a larger tour with The Flaming Lips as Beck's opening and backing band. Beck was playful and energetic, sometimes throwing in covers of The Rolling Stones , Big Star , The Zombies and The Velvet Underground . Following
12528-419: The most populous urbanized area in the world in the early 1920s, overtaking London . The metropolitan area surpassed 10 million in the early 1930s, becoming the first megacity . The Great Depression saw the election of reformer Fiorello La Guardia as mayor and the fall of Tammany Hall after eighty years of political dominance. Returning World War II veterans created a post-war economic boom and
12672-556: The mouth of the Hudson River , which feeds into a naturally sheltered harbor and then into the Atlantic Ocean , has helped the city grow in significance as a trading port. Most of the city is built on the three islands of Long Island, Manhattan, and Staten Island. During the Wisconsin glaciation , 75,000 to 11,000 years ago, the New York City area was situated at the edge of a large ice sheet . The erosive forward movement of
12816-423: The multiple award-winning film The American Epic Sessions , directed by Bernard MacMahon . He recorded "14 Rivers, 14 Floods" backed by a full gospel choir, live onto the first electrical sound recording system from the 1920s. In 2021, Beck collaborated with Paul McCartney to make his hit single "Find My Way" on the album McCartney III Imagined . In 2023, Beck collaborated with The Chemical Brothers for
12960-455: The music of Sonic Youth , Pussy Galore , and X , but remained uninterested in most music outside the folk genre until many years into his career. The first contemporary music that made a direct connection with Beck was hip hop, which he first heard on Grandmaster Flash records in the early 1980s. Growing up in a predominantly Latin district, he found himself the only white child at his school, and quickly learned how to breakdance . When he
13104-441: The musicians were surprised at how well they got along. Following the grueling recording schedule, Beck was exhausted, calling it "the most intense work I've ever done on anything", relating that he "did at least 10 weeks with no days off, until four or five in the morning every night." Beck's original vision was a short 10-track burst with two-minute songs, but the songs gradually grew as he fit 'two years of songwriting into two and
13248-496: The only " transgender folks around" during the June 1969 Stonewall riots. The transgender community in New York City played a significant role in fighting for LGBT equality. In the 1970s, job losses due to industrial restructuring caused New York City to suffer from economic problems and rising crime rates. Growing fiscal deficits in 1975 led the city to appeal to the federal government for financial aid; President Gerald Ford gave
13392-489: The other room." In November 1999, Geffen released the much-anticipated Midnite Vultures , which attracted confusion: "fans and critics misguidedly worried whether it was serious or a goof," and as a result, The New York Times wrote that the album "never won the audience it deserved". The record was supported by an extensive 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 included
13536-528: The possibility of multiple Grammy nominations, might offset Sea Change ' s noncommercial sound. Sea Change , issued by Geffen in September 2002, was regardless a commercial hit and critical darling, with Rolling Stone revering it as "the best album Beck has ever made, [...] an impeccable album of truth and light from the end of love. This is his Blood on the Tracks ." The album was later listed by
13680-673: The press in North America . In 1754, Columbia University was founded. The Stamp Act Congress met in New York in October 1765, as the Sons of Liberty organization emerged in the city and skirmished over the next ten years with British troops stationed there. The Battle of Long Island , the largest battle of the American Revolutionary War , was fought in August 1776 within modern-day Brooklyn. A British rout of
13824-477: The public throughout his musical career as being among the most idiosyncratically creative musicians of 1990s and 2000s alternative rock . Two of Beck's most popular and acclaimed recordings are Odelay and Sea Change , both of which were ranked on Rolling Stone 's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time . Beck is a four-time platinum artist; he has collaborated with several artists and has made several contributions to soundtracks. Bek David Campbell
13968-426: The record against Beck's wishes. The artist then sought to void his contracts with both record labels, and in turn the labels sued him for breach of contract. The litigation went on for years and it remains unclear to this day if it has ever been completely resolved. Beck was later awarded Best Alternative Music Performance for Mutations at the 42nd Grammy Awards . Midnite Vultures , Beck's next studio effort,
14112-476: The record was taken to Morocco and covered with hummus and tabouli. Then it was flown back to a convention of water-skiers, who skied on it and played Frisbee with it. Then the record was put on the turntable, and the original K-Tel album had reached a whole new level. I was just taking that whole Freedom Rock feeling, you understand. According to the album's liner notes, Mellow Gold was recorded at Carl Stephenson and Rob Schnapf 's houses, predominantly utilizing
14256-539: The region for the Dutch East India Company. In 1614, the area between Cape Cod and Delaware Bay was claimed by the Netherlands and called Nieuw-Nederland (' New Netherland '). The first non–Native American inhabitant of what became New York City was Juan Rodriguez , a merchant from Santo Domingo who arrived in Manhattan during the winter of 1613–14, trapping for pelts and trading with
14400-535: The release of Sea Change , Beck felt newer compositions were sketches for something more evolved in the same direction, and wrote nearly 35 more songs in the coming months, keeping demos of them on tapes in a suitcase. During his solo tour, the tapes were left backstage during a stop in Washington, D.C., and Beck was never able to recover them. It was disheartening to the musician, who felt the two years of songwriting represented something more technically complex. As
14544-486: The respect of his peers, such as Tom Petty and Johnny Cash , and created an entire wave of bands determined to recapture the Mellow Gold sound. Feeling his previous releases were just collections of demos recorded over the course of several years, Beck desired to enter the studio and record an album in a continuous linear fashion, which became Odelay . Beck blends country, blues, rap, jazz and rock on Odelay ,
14688-440: The result of a year and half of feverish "cutting, pasting, layering, dubbing, and, of course, sampling". Each day, the musicians started from scratch, often working on songs for 16 hours straight. Odelay ' s conception lies in an unfinished studio album Beck first embarked on following the success of "Loser", chronicling the difficult time he experienced: "There was a cycle of everyone dying around me," he recalled later. He
14832-513: The second Record Club album, Songs of Leonard Cohen . Contributors included MGMT , Devendra Banhart , Andrew Stockdale of Wolfmother and Binki Shapiro of Little Joy . In the third Record Club venture, Wilco , Feist , Jamie Lidell and James Gadson joined Beck to cover Skip Spence 's Oar . The first song, "Little Hands", was posted on Beck's website on November 12, 2009. The Record Club has since covered albums by INXS and Yanni . On June 19, 2009, Beck announced Planned Obsolescence,
14976-481: The second time on the song "Skipping like a Stone". This was the fourth single to be released from their album For That Beautiful Feeling . In 2024, Beck appeared on the song, "Boom Boom Back" by the band, Hinds . The song is from the band's 2024 album, Viva Hinds . Later in July that year Beck also featured on the Orville Peck song "Death Valley High" off the latter's album Stampede . A music video for
15120-520: The simplicity of the standards, and became preoccupied with creating only pieces that could fit within the Great American Songbook . In 2013 Beck began playing special Song Reader concerts with a variety of guests and announced he was working on a record of Song Reader material with other musicians as well as possibly a compilation of fan versions. In the summer of 2013, Beck was reported to be working on two new studio albums: one
15264-488: The song " Deadweight " to the soundtrack of the film A Life Less Ordinary (1997). Having not been in a proper studio since "Deadweight", Beck felt anxious to "go in and just do some stuff real quick", and compiled several songs he had had for years. Beck and his bandmates wrote songs in fourteen days, although just twelve made it onto the album, 1998's Mutations . Beck hired the producer Nigel Godrich , who had produced Radiohead 's 1997 album OK Computer . Godrich
15408-509: The song "Moonquake Lake", which is featured in the soundtrack for the 2014 Annie film. In 2015, Beck collaborated with former Fun. frontman Nate Ruess on the single "What This World Is Coming To", which was one of the Grammy-winning artist's many works featured on his debut solo album Grand Romantic released in June 2015. He also collaborated with electronic dance music duo The Chemical Brothers on their album Born in
15552-399: The song peaked at number ten on the Billboard Hot 100 and served as lead single for his third album and major label debut, Mellow Gold (1994). Its follow-up, Odelay (1996), topped critic polls and won several awards. He released the country-influenced, twangy Mutations in 1998, and the funk-infused Midnite Vultures in 1999. The soft-acoustic Sea Change in 2002 showcased
15696-670: The song was also filmed and feature appearances from the two musicians as well as drag queen Gigi Goode and actress Sharon Stone . Beck's musical style has been considered alternative and indie . He has played many of the instruments in his music himself. Beck has also done some remixes for fellow artists, notably David Bowie and Björk . He has been known to synthesize several musical elements together in his music, including folk , psychedelia , electronic , country , Latin music , hip hop , funk , soul , blues , noise music , jazz , art pop and many types of rock. Because of this unconventional approach, Beck has been described as
15840-530: The songs, not wanting to talk about his personal life; he later said that he wanted to focus on music and "not really strew my baggage across the public lobby". Eventually, however, he decided the songs spoke to a common experience, and that it would not seem self-indulgent to record them. In 2001, Beck drifted back to the songs and called Godrich. Retailers initially predicted that the album would not receive much radio support, but they also believed that Beck's maverick reputation and critical acclaim, in addition to
15984-540: The soundtrack of Edgar Wright 's film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World , which was released in August 2010. In 2011, he collaborated with Seu Jorge on a track titled "Tropicália (Mario C. 2011 Remix)" for the Red Hot Organization 's charitable album Red Hot+Rio 2 , a follow-up to the 1996 album Red Hot + Rio . Proceeds from the sales will be donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues. In October 2011, it
16128-611: The southern tip of Manhattan to modern-day Wall Street , where a 12-foot (3.7 m) wooden stockade was built in 1653 to protect against Native American and English raids. In 1626, the Dutch colonial Director-General Peter Minuit , as charged by the Dutch West India Company , purchased the island of Manhattan from the Canarsie , a small Lenape band, for "the value of 60 guilders " (about $ 900 in 2018). A frequently told but disproved legend claims that Manhattan
16272-414: The span of a single day. Beck provided four songs for the film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), each attributed to the title character's fictional band, Sex Bob-Omb. Beck also collaborated with Philip Glass , Jack White , Tobacco of Black Moth Super Rainbow , Jamie Lidell, Seu Jorge , Childish Gambino , and The Lonely Island . Song Reader , a project Beck released in December 2012,
16416-449: The sprawling, 25-track collection of pre-"Loser" recordings titled Stereopathetic Soulmanure on February 22 the following year. By the time Beck released his first album for Geffen, the low-budget, genre-blending Mellow Gold on March 1, "Loser" was already in the top 40 and its video in MTV's Buzz Bin . "Loser" quickly ascended the charts in the U.S., reaching a peak of number ten on
16560-443: The strings. The musicians held communal meals and mountain-bike rides on dusty trails nearby, but remained focused on Beck's instructions: to make an up-tempo album that would be fun to play on tour night after night. "I had so many things going on", said Beck of the recording process. "I had a couple of rooms of computers hooked up, I was doing B sides for Japan, I was programming beats in one room and someone would be cooking dinner in
16704-507: The surrender permitted Dutch residents to remain in the colony and allowed for religious freedom. In 1667, during negotiations leading to the Treaty of Breda after the Second Anglo-Dutch War , the victorious Dutch decided to keep the nascent plantation colony of what is now Suriname , which they had gained from the English, and in return the English kept New Amsterdam. The settlement was promptly renamed "New York" after
16848-399: The title track Colors , and the first single "Wow" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert . On April 15, 2019, Beck released a single co-produced with Pharrell Williams titled " Saw Lightning " from his fourteenth studio album, titled Hyperspace . The song " Dark Places " was released on November 6, with the album being released on November 22. On September 25, 2022, Beck released
16992-432: The track " Odyssey " with French pop-rock band Phoenix , who did a co-headlining summer tour with Beck, which started in August and ended in September. In 1999, Beck contributed to a tribute album for Bruce Haack and Esther Nelson and their label Dimension 5 Records. The album, Dimension Mix , released in 2005, was a benefit for Cure Autism Now that was produced by Ross Harris , an early collaborator who designed
17136-506: The tracks. "The idea was to get people in a room together recording live, hitting bad notes and screaming," said Beck, adding that the album is best described as "introspective hip hop". Beck described the recording process as "painful", noting that he edited down songs constantly and he perhaps recorded the album three times. For the release, Beck was allowed for the first time to fulfill a long-running wish for an unconventional rollout: he made low-budget videos to accompany each song, packaged
17280-564: The two albums share a similar mood and genre. On February 8, 2015, at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards, Morning Phase won three Grammys: Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical ; Best Rock Album ; and Album of the Year . Upon receiving the Album of the Year award, the album beat out Pharrell Williams's G I R L , Beyoncé's self-titled album , Sam Smith's In the Lonely Hour , and Ed Sheeran's x . In June 2015, Beck released " Dreams ",
17424-597: The world by pinnacle height, with its spire reaching a symbolic 1,776 feet (541.3 m), a reference to the year of U.S. independence . The Occupy Wall Street protests in Zuccotti Park in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan began on September 17, 2011, receiving global attention and popularizing the Occupy movement against social and economic inequality worldwide. New York City
17568-493: The world's two largest stock exchanges by market capitalization of their listed companies: the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq . New York City is an established safe haven for global investors. As of 2023 , New York City is the most expensive city in the world for expatriates and has by a wide margin the highest U.S. city residential rents; and Fifth Avenue is the most expensive shopping street in
17712-525: The world. New York City traces its origins to Fort Amsterdam and a trading post founded on Manhattan Island by Dutch colonists around 1624. The settlement was named New Amsterdam in 1626 and was chartered as a city in 1653. The city came under English control in 1664 and was temporarily renamed New York after King Charles II granted the lands to his brother, the Duke of York , before being permanently renamed New York in November 1674. New York City
17856-402: The world. New York City is home by a significant margin to the highest number of billionaires , individuals of ultra-high net worth (greater than US$ 30 million), and millionaires of any city in the world. In 1664, New York was named in honor of the Duke of York (later King James II of England ). James's elder brother, King Charles II , appointed the Duke as proprietor of
18000-566: Was heavily affected by Hurricane Sandy in late October 2012. Sandy's impacts included flooding that led to the days-long shutdown of the subway system and flooding of all East River subway tunnels and of all road tunnels entering Manhattan except the Lincoln Tunnel . The New York Stock Exchange closed for two days due to weather for the first time since the Great Blizzard of 1888 . At least 43 people died in New York City as
18144-412: Was 10, Beck stayed with his mother and brother Channing in Los Angeles, where he was influenced by the city's diverse musical offerings—everything from hip hop to Latin music and his mother's art scene—all of which would later reappear in his work. Beck obtained his first guitar at 16 and became a street musician, often playing Lead Belly covers at Lafayette Park . During his teens, Beck discovered
18288-424: Was 17, Beck grew fascinated after hearing a Mississippi John Hurt record at a friend's house, and spent hours in his room trying to emulate Hurt's finger-picking techniques. Shortly thereafter Beck explored blues and folk music further, discovering Woody Guthrie and Blind Willie Johnson . Feeling like "a total outcast", Beck dropped out of school after junior high. He later said that although he felt school
18432-535: Was a haven for Loyalist refugees and escaped slaves who joined the British lines for freedom promised by the Crown , with as many as 10,000 escaped slaves crowded into the city during the British occupation, the largest such community on the continent. When the British forces evacuated New York at the close of the war in 1783, they transported thousands of freedmen for resettlement in Nova Scotia , England, and
18576-554: Was a pioneer in the avant-garde Fluxus movement. Beck's maternal grandmother was Jewish ; he has said that he considers himself Jewish because he was "raised celebrating Jewish holidays." Beck was born in a rooming house near downtown Los Angeles. As a child he lived in a declining neighborhood near Hollywood Boulevard . He remembers "By the time we left there, they were ripping out miles of houses en masse and building low-rent, giant apartment blocks." The working-class family struggled financially, moving to Hoover and Ninth Street,
18720-539: Was a prime destination in the early 20th century for Blacks during the Great Migration from the American South, and by 1916, New York City had the largest urban African diaspora in North America. The Harlem Renaissance of literary and cultural life flourished during the era of Prohibition . The larger economic boom generated construction of skyscrapers competing in height. New York City became
18864-487: Was born in Los Angeles on July 8, 1970, the son of American visual artist Bibbe Hansen and Canadian arranger, composer, and conductor David Campbell . Bibbe Hansen grew up amid Andy Warhol 's The Factory art scene of the 1960s in New York City and was a Warhol superstar . She moved to California at 17 and met David Campbell. Beck's maternal grandfather, artist Al Hansen , was of Norwegian descent and
19008-494: Was born; and they moved out of Silver Lake. The collaboration with the Dust Brothers, his second, was notable for their use of high-tech measures to achieve a lo-fi sound. For example, after recording a "sonically perfect" version of a song at one of the nicest recording studios in Hollywood, the Dust Brothers processed it in an Echoplex to create a gritty, reverb-heavy sound: "We did this high-tech recording and ran it through
19152-489: Was constantly recording, and eventually put together an album of somber, orchestrated folk tunes; one that, perhaps, "could have been a commercial blockbuster along with similarly themed work by Smashing Pumpkins , Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana ". Instead, Beck plucked one song from it—the Odelay album closer "Ramshackle"—and shelved the rest ("Brother" and "Feather In Your Cap" were, however, later released as B-sides). Beck
19296-503: Was important, he felt unsafe there. When he applied to the new performing arts high school downtown, he was rejected. His brother took him to post- Beat jazz places in Echo Park and Silver Lake . He hung out at Los Angeles City College perusing records, books, and old sheet music in the college's library. He used a fake ID to sit in on classes there, and he also befriended a literature instructor and his poet wife. He worked at
19440-664: Was introduced to the Dust Brothers , producers of the Beastie Boys' album Paul's Boutique , whose cut-and-paste, sample-heavy production suited Beck's vision of a more fun, accessible album. After a record executive explained that Odelay would be a "huge mistake", he spent many months thinking "that I'd blown it forever". Odelay was released on June 18, 1996, to commercial success and critical acclaim. The record produced several hit singles including " Where It's At ", " Devils Haircut ", and " The New Pollution ", and
19584-413: Was leaving the United States for England in a short time, which led to the album's quick production schedule—"No looking back, no doctoring anything." The whole point of the record was to capture the performance of the musicians live, an uncharacteristic far-cry from the cut-and-paste aesthetic of Odelay . Though the album was originally slated for release by Bong Load Records, Geffen intervened and issued
19728-436: Was nominated for the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1997, winning a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album as well as a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for "Where It's At". During one busy week in January 1997, he landed his Grammy nominations, appeared on Saturday Night Live and Howard Stern , and did a last-minute trot on The Rosie O'Donnell Show . The combined buzz gave Odelay
19872-717: Was originally recorded as a double album, and more than 25 nearly completed songs were left behind. In the studio, Beck and producers studied contemporary hip hop and R&B, specifically R. Kelly , in order to embrace and incorporate those influences in the way Al Green and Stax records had done in previous decades. In July 1998, a core group began to assemble at Beck's Pasadena home: bassist Justin Meldal-Johnsen , keyboardist Roger Joseph Manning Jr. , and producer-engineers Mickey Petralia and Tony Hoffer . Dozens of session players passed through including Beck's father, David Campbell, who played viola and arranged some of
20016-415: Was purchased for $ 24 worth of glass beads. Following the purchase, New Amsterdam grew slowly. To attract settlers, the Dutch instituted the patroon system in 1628, whereby wealthy Dutchmen ( patroons , or patrons) who brought 50 colonists to New Netherland would be awarded land, local political autonomy, and rights to participate in the lucrative fur trade. This program had little success. Since 1621,
20160-429: Was released in January 2010. Beck wrote the music, co-wrote the lyrics, and produced and mixed the album. The lead single, " Heaven Can Wait ", is a duet by Beck and Gainsbourg. In late February 2010, it was announced that electronic artist Tobacco of Black Moth Super Rainbow had collaborated with Beck on two songs, "Fresh Hex" and "Grape Aerosmith", on his upcoming album Maniac Meat . Tobacco revealed that in making
20304-469: Was roommates with Paleface , sleeping on his couch and attending open mic nights together. Daunted by the prospect of another homeless New York winter, Beck returned to his home of Los Angeles in early 1991. "I was tired of being cold, tired of getting beat up," he later remarked. "It was hard to be in New York with no money, no place ... I kinda used up all the friends I had. Everyone on the scene got sick of me." Back in Los Angeles, Beck began to work at
20448-417: Was the U.S. capital from 1785 until 1790. The modern city was formed by the 1898 consolidation of its five boroughs : Manhattan , Brooklyn , Queens , the Bronx , and Staten Island . Anchored by Wall Street in the Financial District, Manhattan , New York City has been called both the world's premier financial and fintech center and the most economically powerful city in the world. As of 2022 ,
20592-443: Was the first to play it, and later on Santa Monica College radio station KCRW , where radio host Chris Douridas played the song on Morning Becomes Eclectic , the station's flagship music program. "I called the record label that day and asked to have Beck play live on the air", Douridas said. "He came in that Friday, rapped to a tape of 'Loser' and did his song 'MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack. ' " That night, Beck performed at
20736-419: Was widely reported that Beck and producer Hector Castillo were collaborating with American composer Philip Glass to produce a remix album of the composer's works in honor of his 75th birthday. The album, Rework Philip Glass Remixed , was released on October 23, 2012, to critical acclaim, and featured Beck as both a curator and a performer. In particular, Pitchfork described Beck's 22-minute contribution to
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