The ’90s were a big era for Beck. He rose to stardom across the decade and released some of his most beloved songs, but there was one stereotype that the media spread about him that he took “real offense” to.
During an interview with the LA Times last year, Beck opened up about his career and shared that he wasn’t a big fan of how he was perceived in his early days, even running from the idea of being a “personality” over an artist.
“I think I retreated from it,” Beck said after being asked if he was “trying to fulfill” the personality part “of the pop-star equation in the ’90s. “When my first record came out, I saw a reflection in the media of what they understood I was doing,” he said, “and I was somewhat horrified because it wasn’t what I thought in my mind.”
Beck then went on to confess: “I took real offense at the slacker thing — I hated that characterization. Some people lean into whatever persona is constructed between themselves and the media. And maybe now I’d have given myself license to do that. But at the time, I was like, ‘No, no, no — I want to be a serious artist. I love Leonard Cohen and Anton Webern and Luis Buñuel. I don’t want to be a dumbed-down caricature.’ So I kind of fought it, or tried to subvert it at least.”
Offering some insight into how he would “subvert” those preconceived notions of himself, Beck said, “I’d show up in a three-piece suit onstage. I cut all my hair off when people had big, long, shaggy hair. I was trying to dress like a French movie star from the ’60s instead of wearing the thrift-store T-shirts and the baggy pants that were the uniform at the time.”
“I don’t know if it was actually provoking, but upsetting expectations was part of the ethos of the time,” Beck continued. “And it felt like a way to project some kind of artistic side of what you were trying to do. You have to understand: My first two records came out, and people considered it mainstream pop music. But you can listen to it now and you’re like, This is some weird shit.”
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