not crap

simply because i occasionally enjoy beck

no other real reason

I'll be honest...

Beck is the guy behind one of my favorite couplets of all time:

"acid casualty with a reposessed car, Vietnam Vet playin' air guitar"

This is from one of his earliest incarnations, the one where nobody but Calvin Johnson and a couple of rednecks knew who the kid was.

However, this weird postmodern musical nightmare known as "BECK" is very difficult to honestly enjoy, without constantly being aware of the "other people," as Dylan put it, that he is ripping off.

Yes, "Sea Change" is a pretty good album. But "Fives Leaves Left" is OH SO MUCH BETTER, folks.

BUT his grandpa was one cool arty motherfucker, so where does that leave us?

The thing I like the most about this game is the rule that states (I'm paraphrasing here), "It is not required that the opinion be explained."

That makes it even easier for me to say that Beck is CRAP.

-C

He's a scientologist.

becK ?

hmmm.

i like to hear the song "Debra" when I'm at a bar, otherwise his music does very little for me. seems to me to be an artist that college boys can consider "edgy" even though, well, he has no real edge.

CRAP.

Beck is a bullshit artist. Like Vince McMahon, he took the family business & made it huge.

I heard a funny Beck story in Atlanta. Beck & one Thurston Moore(his family lives there) went to a well known used record store, The Book Nook. The owner likes to make his right-wing pontifications while working behind the counter(actually his bark is much worse than his bite. Beck being a stranger and being obnoxious didn't know that you either ignore him or shake your head politely while paying $5 for the first 100 Flowers LP. Beck actually argued with him and got the owner so exacerbated that he said, "Son, you're gonna havta leave." Thurston was in the deep throes of record buying binge & didn't wanna leave. So Beck just stood outside the Book Nook while Mr. Moore completed his act. I wonder if any fans walked in & noticed him, probably rifling thru the $1 book bin outside.

I like his early stuff a good bit. Then it becomes bad. Then he releases this record that while being depressing does not remind me of Gin Blossoms at all. It does however remind me of the tv show Blossom.
mmmm... Six

n.c. wrote:Seriously, Ihe amis addictedan to amazing crack-cocaine fingerstyle guitar player

Bert Jansch is an amazing fingerstyle guitar player. Joseph Spence was an amazing fingerstyle guitar player.John Fahey (re)invented the genre. Bruce Cockburn holds his own. BECK? BECK? Remembered for his “amazing fingerstyleâ€

Burt Fucking Jansch is mouth pussy. Can't stand that shit.

One Foot In The Grave is fucking awesome. There's some pretty excellent fingerstyle guitar playing on that, super sloppy, I know, but so was John Hurt, or Skip James. I also saw something a long time ago on 20/20 or some shit news magazine show on folk music and they had Beck on and he did this great old country blues tune (can't remember what). Trust me, the kid can pick the shit out of a guitar, he's just not flashy like Keb Moe or whatever.

Just because Beck is popular doesn't mean it's shit. He's done tons of cool shit and he's kept it interesting the whole time. What have you done?

Yes, he's influenced by some other musicians, who isn't?

fuck

-n

Not Crap.

But not a genius. Not a fucking genius by a long piece of post-modern chalk.