Beck - Mellow Gold (A Poll)

It's occurred to me lately that this and Exile in Guyville (and, I dunno, maybe one or two others that don't spring immediately to mind) form a rarified grouping of albums from my high school years that have lost exactly 0% of their luster, with songs that I never skip when they come up on shuffle and that I never get tired of at all and which even seem to reveal hidden depths to me so many years (or, y'know, decades...christ) later.

Throw Live Through This in there too.

"Loser" and "Pay No Mind" are two of my favourite songs of the past quarter-century. I voted for "Pay No Mind" in Pazz & Jop, but nothing thrills me more right now than hearing "Loser" strike up on the radio or in a public setting. And I know there are people who are probably sick of it--I can see that, and I was like that a bit too after it had been around for a few months. Not anymore. It's pretty much my idea of what a strange, daring, sui generis novelty hit should be.

I was sick of it for a while, not anymore. And "Pay No Mind" will get no vote if "Beercan" doesn't.

either whiskeyclone, sunshine or steal

when this album gets spooky it gets fucking beyond-terrifying spooky, it's one of the spookiest albums ever

Steal My Body Home, so great

Come on, motherfucker! Put your clothes on, come on!

There would probably be a full five minutes of social media panty wetting if that song came out today.

Beck was pretty problematic throughout the 90s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoE0L8aKvyQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL_9zWmDcjs

i quit my job blowing leaves

This is maybe a top 10 album for me and it's hard for me to pick anything but "Loser"

Alcohol in my hands I got plans to ditch myself and get outside

Voting Mountain Dew

I got this via BMG, when Beck was pretty much just dismissed as a novelty 1 hit wonder. I loved it and remember trying to convince people that the weird guy from MTV with the goofy lyrics actually made a really good album.

voted Mountain Dew even though my heart said Beercan

I was in the boat with your friends, Granny. When I first heard 'Loser' I totally dismissed it as just one of the many dumb slacker anthems that proliferated in those days. And then I got into a friend's car as he was playing the album and was all 'what is THIS?!?' And it was all over from there.

I think the only song I'd toss out of the running is 'Nitemare Hippy Girl' but it's still fine.

I have no idea what to vote for, though. My favorite track seems to change every time I hear the album. 'Blackhole' was killing me yesterday.

Also think "Nitemare Hippy Girl" is not as great as the rest. Voted "Sweet Sunshine," but
I could have picked from 6 or 7 others.

BECK must have released 25-30 songs I love in 1994.

BEERCAN

I think I’ll vote for Pay No Mind although I still remember being disappointed by the album version after watching on repeat his solo/acoustic debut of the song on 120 Minutes

voted Beercan, but it's going to be no injustice when Loser gets 9x as many votes as anything else

120 Minutes version of 'Pay No Mind' is all-time.

Perhaps the natural follow-up to this poll is all of the b-sides and rando alternate tv performances from the same era (the classic and hilarious performance of 'Heartland Feeling' on Larry Sanders, for example).

Choking like a one man dust ball
Freedom rock slimeball talking in code went down
Lit up the shack
Grabbed me a beer out of the sack

I had the Beercan Cd single with the “Bjeck” insert and a smashing pumpkins sounding alt version of pay no mind, plus “azzkiss payback” and some noise masquerading as a song

WHY DONT YOU CALL YOUR MOMMY

EVERYONE WANTS TO GET YOU MUTHAFUKA

the guy who stalked me my first year of college left this album on my windshield
i don't think i ever listened to the whole thing!

chokin' like a one-man Dust Bowl

The alt “pay no mind” is called “got no mind” and isn’t on Spotify, which is cool, but is on YT:
https://youtu.be/Ez3UrTTbGo8

Here’s asskiss payback
https://youtu.be/7-vvMAOkx6w
Sounds like he was smoking almost as much weed while recording as I was while listening

the bmg "clean version" i initially got by accident sounded like "EVERYONE'S OUT TO GET YOU WINNEBAGO" so i still sing it like that

listening now, the answer is quite obviously 'steal my body home', what a staggering achievement. whiskeyclone a close second

Just noticed the clean version is on Spotify. Gave "Mutherfucker" a whirl (here called "&*$^?#%*@!#"). Worth it. Andrew M OTM, and when he goes high on the "Winnebago" line it's a real treat.

"Pay No Mind." i actually saw Beck in 2018, it was an interesting show.

fuck this is hard

"There's a fume .. in this truck..."

Did they ever compile a disk of "Extras" ?

BEERCAN

― princess of hell (BradNelson), Friday, November 16, 2018 6:39 PM (five days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

xpost I checked after Alfred revealed to me the heretofore unknown existence of an expanded One Foot in the Grave and the answer, surprisingly, is no! I guess there were only two singles with unreleased tracks on them, though (all the 'Pay No Mind' b-sides were Golden Feelings tracks). And, to be fair, he did put out three entire albums that year.

fuck this is hard

― billstevejim, Wednesday, November 21, 2018 12:30 AM (five hours ago)

DRINK MY COFFEE WITH A HUBCAP

Yes! See that’s the passion and desperation that I’m missing in modern beck

i mean, he hasn't had that since Odelay, has he? i wouldn't hold my breath for it to come back.

or maybe Sea Change, i guess. i didn't like Mutations or Midnite Vultures.

I'm sad
And unhappy
*shlorp*

It's occurred to me lately that this and Exile in Guyville (and, I dunno, maybe one or two others that don't spring immediately to mind) form a rarified grouping of albums from my high school years that have lost exactly 0% of their luster, with songs that I never skip when they come up on shuffle and that I never get tired of at all and which even seem to reveal hidden depths to me so many years (or, y'know, decades...christ) later.

― My mother set great store by that microwave oven! (Old Lunch), Thursday, November 15, 2018 3:53 PM (six days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Throw Live Through This in there too.

― I like queer. You like queer, senator? (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, November 15, 2018 4:16 PM (six days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is extremely otm!

Hey Babe just occurred to me this morning as another of that elite group but YMMV.

(I always thought she was great but the last couple of years have been a real Julianaissance for me.)

"Loser" is the sound of this album and it had to be track 1. Era defining single for sure. But even so it seems like a cop out to choose "Loser" since Mellow Gold is very much a "Best of early Beck" showcase.

I'll have to go with "Sweet Sunshine" because it's the most recent song to become my favorite, and that was probably 6-7 years ago at this point.

It's been on my vinyl wishlist for a while. I wish it was less expensive and easier to find.

I've spent the day listening to the material recorded before MG and, while the perspective and lyrical conceits were already fairly well-formed and hints of depth and complexity were certainly to be found in that earlier work, I'm only just now realizing how much of a leap MG was in comparison. Like, there was very little to suggest he'd eventually be releasing an album that sounded like this.

Was One Foot In The Grave recorded before?

Recorded before but released after, iirc.

One Foot was a kind of “back to basics” move after he scored big time with MG and felt a little self-conscious around his indie peers. It’s a good record though

xpost And a very good album which I love, but the two are operating on wildly different levels imo.

an album this good I can usually only vote for the last track

I think it's equally solid with highlights that are just as good as on MG ("Asshole," "Outcome," "He's a might good leader"). It's tough to say which one I like better.

difference betweeen One Foot/Grave and Mellow Gold is the difference between a great record and an all-time classic

the guy who stalked me my first year of college left this album on my windshield
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, November 16, 2018 1:07 PM

Joke's on you, that was actually Beck.

pay no mind. such great chord changes. never could get into Beck though aside from a few songs here and there

Give the finger to the rock 'n' roll singer
As he's dancing upon your paycheck
The sales climb high through the garbage-pail sky
Like a giant dildo crushing the sun

This is a really good lyric!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

this is song 2 on the album

this is the album right here

BURN THE ALBUM

this fuckin record is all time, for real

the guy who stalked me my first year of college left this album on my windshield
― weird woman in a bar (La Lechera), Friday, November 16, 2018 1:07 PM

Joke's on you, that was actually Beck.

― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Wednesday, 21 November 2018 20:41 (one week ago) Permalink

joke's on you, you suck.

listened to this last night while we were making dinner, just a total tour de force, had forgotten how great "Sweet Sunshine", "Nightmare Hippie Girl" and "Blackhole" were.

she's cooking salad for breakfast

she's got tofu the size of Texas

wow, i didn't see that upthread but yeah -- it was not Beck unfortunately. At the time, I had genuinely hoped against hope that the person leaving music and notes on my car wouldn't be a disgusting creep but I was wrong (shocking, I know).

beercan

I kind of wish I had voted for Beercan now, love that organ solo at the end

Pay No Mind is the "best" song on this record, but Truckdrivin' Neighbors Downstairs is the best song on this record.

Give the finger to the rock 'n' roll singer
As he's dancing upon your paycheck
The sales climb high through the garbage-pail sky
Like a giant dildo crushing the sun

This is a really good lyric!

― fgti is for (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, November 21, 2018 5:11 PM (one week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol, I love this lyric so much that I sent it to my favorite college english professor (a contrairian type who hated consumerism and pop culture, fwiw). He responded something like "Sounds like Beck is my kind of guy."

I almost died laughing the first time I heard those lines - they're even better with Beck's inflections and timing

Does he ever play any of these songs (besides Loser I guess)?

For all you "Mutherfuker" fans, here's a great era B-side in the same vein

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAXQgxsXIZM

What band sounds the most like "Mutherfuker"/"Spanking Room"? Brainbombs? Deluxx Folk Implosion?

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

xxxpost last time i saw him (2012) he played Mutherfuker as part of the encore and it was very very great.

other than that, i've seen him 3 times since 2006 and the only other Mellow Gold track he played was Loser (all 3 times).

I hate whole-album shows but might make an exception for a Mellow Gold tour, although I think a. It will never happen and b. Maybe it won’t make much sense to see older Beck doing these songs.

i hear you on point b

“ Steal My Body Home” is such a cool song

Good "Mellow Gold"-era rarity in the Loser/Beercan style

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tac6EEpP0kU

In a Cold Ass Fashion, from the comp "Jabberjaw: Good to the Last Drop"

thanks, never heard this one