eMusic Review 0
The first song on the first album of Beck's life as a famous musician is "Loser" and that was a fascinating decision. Not only did it immediately get it out of the way, allowing people arriving for "the hit" to not strain themselves, but it cast a curious light on an album that sounded almost nothing like what brought people to it in the first place. Working with hip-hop pastiche producer Carl Stephenson, Beck made "Loser" post-op slop rap — a shuffling drum loop, a wheedling sitar, and that implacable slide guitar riff that played like some siren song for Doritos-stained schlubs surfing their mother's couches. Thing was, though, the chorus — "Soy un perdidor/ I'm a loser baby/ so why don't you kill me" — was no reflection of Gen X malaise. It was just Beck self-referentially remarking on his own lousy rapping, apologizing to Chuck D for degrading his art form with gobbledygook couplets. That the song that followed "Loser," which hit No. 10 on Billboard's Hot 100, is the foot-dragging folk-blues lament, "Pay No Mind (Snoozer)" tells it all: Beck was no sloganeering icon, just a sad oddball trying to figure it all out. Remnants of his… read more »
