"Beercan" is a single by

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his Experimental music, experimental and Lo-fi music, lo-fi style, and became ...

, taken from his first major record label release, ''

Mellow Gold ''Mellow Gold'' is the third studio album by American musician Beck, released on March 1, 1994 by DGC Records. Critics noted the album's hybrid of various styles including rock, hip hop, folk, blues, psychedelia, and country, as well as iron ...

''. It peaked at number 27 on the U.S.

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

charts.

Conception and recording

"Beercan" was produced by Carl Stephenson and featured his characteristic layers of sound and bizarre samples: this song in particular prominently features samples from a

Care Bears Care Bears are multi-colored bears, originally painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. In 1983, the characters were turned into plush teddy bears. The characters headlined their own televisi ...

album. The song also samples a small part of the

Melvins Melvins (sometimes The Melvins) are an American rock band formed in 1983 in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. Initially, they performed as a trio but later also sometimes appeare ...

song "Hog Leg" As mentioned in the song, Beck once had a job blowing leaves. Beck once reminisced, "There's a leaf-blower contingent. There's no union that I know of so far, but there's certainly a spiritual brotherhood. They are the originators of noise music. It's like a cross between a Kramer guitar and a jet pack."

Music video

Like Beck's earlier single " Loser", the experimental video for "Beercan" was directed by friend and director

Steve Hanft Steve Hanft is a writer, director, musician, and artist. Early life Steven Paul Hanft was born in Ventura, California where he started making films at the age of nine. He has an MFA in Experimental Narrative Film from California Institute of the ...

. The video features a group of homeless people destroying a house. A recurring theme throughout the video is the presence of a rainbow, possibly a reference to the Care Bears album sampled in the song.

frontman

Buzz Osborne Roger "Buzz" Osborne (born March 25, 1964), also known as King Buzzo, is an American guitarist, vocalist and songwriter. He is a founding member of the rock band Melvins, as well as Fantômas and Venomous Concept. Biography Born in Morton, Was ...

also makes an appearance.

Track listing

# "Beercan" - 4:01 # "Got No Mind" - 4:22 # "Asskiss Powergrudge (Payback! '94)" - 3:06 # "Totally Confused" - 3:28 # "Spanking Room" - 9:07 #* Contains "Loser" (Pseudo-Muzak Version) as a hidden track at 5:41.

Chart positions

References

External links

* {{authority control Beck songs 1994 singles Songs written by Beck 1994 songs DGC Records singles