"Where It's At" is a song by American

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from Popular culture, mainstre ...

musician

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 ...

. It was released as the first single from his fifth album, ''

Odelay ''Odelay'' is the fifth studio album by American musician Beck, released on June 18, 1996, by DGC Records. The album featured several successful singles, including " Where It's At", "Devils Haircut", and "The New Pollution", and peaked at number s ...

'' (1996). Beck wrote the song in 1995 and premiered it at

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...

the same year, in a version very similar to its incarnation on ''Odelay''. He has performed the song often since 1995, frequently experimenting with the music and lyrics.

Production

"Where It's At" has a number of spoken samples that Beck and the

Dust Brothers The Dust Brothers are a pair of songwriters and producers consisting of E.Z. Mike ( Michael Simpson) and King Gizmo ( John King). They are famous for the sample-based music they produced in the 1980s and 1990s, and specifically for their work on ...

incorporated into it. Many of these come from an obscure

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including emotional relations and responsibilities, human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual acti ...

album titled ''Sex for Teens: (Where It's At)'', a subtitle Beck borrowed (see link below). Other vocal samples incorporated into "Where It's At" come from "Needle to the Groove" by

old-school hip hop Old-school hip hop (also spelled old skool) is the earliest commercially recorded hip hop music and original style of the genre. It typically refers to the music created around 1979 to 1983, as well as any hip hop that does not adhere to contem ...

group

Mantronix Mantronix was an influential 1980s hip hop and electro funk music group from New York City. The band was formed by DJ Kurtis Mantronik (Kurtis el Khaleel) and rapper MC Tee (Touré Embden). The group is primarily remembered for its pioneering ...

("we've got two turntables and a microphone..."), as well as

The Frogs ''The Frogs'' ( grc-gre, Βάτραχοι, Bátrakhoi, Frogs; la, Ranae, often abbreviated ''Ran.'' or ''Ra.'') is a comedy written by the Ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes. It was performed at the Lenaia, one of the Festivals of Dionysus in ...

("that was a good drum break"). The song also references Gary Wilson, one of Beck's influences. In addition, just before the Frogs sample begins, the song incorporates a musical sample from the intro of noted

go-go Go-go is a music subgenre, subgenre of funk music with an emphasis on specific rhythmic patterns, and live audience Call and response (music), call and response. Go-go was originated by African-American musicians in the Washington, D.C. area du ...

band

E.U. The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

's song "Knock Him Out Sugar Ray". Beck also pays homage to

Captain Beefheart Don Van Vliet (; born Don Glen Vliet; January 15, 1941 – December 17, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and visual artist best known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as Th ...

by dressing as Captain Beefheart was dressed in the ''

Trout Mask Replica ''Trout Mask Replica'' is the third studio album by the American band Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, released as a double album on June 16, 1969, by Straight Records. The music was composed by Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) and arran ...

'' album photo sessions at 1:27 in the video. Beck earned the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

for

Best Male Rock Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to male recording artists for works (songs or albums) containin ...

for the song. In October 2011, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' placed it at number 76 on its list of 150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years.

Critical reception

Justin Chadwick from Albumism said "Where It's At" is "the most memorable" song among the singles of the ''Odelay'' album. He added, "Propelled by a cacophony of distorted melodies, oddball vocal snippets, and the unforgettable chorus chant of “Where it’s at! I’ve got two turntables and a microphone”, with a robotic echo lifted from

’s 1985 single “Needle to the Groove”, Beck gives you little choice but to wholeheartedly accept his invitation to the “destination a little up the road”." Paul Verna from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' noted that "he takes a more straightforward tack, floating stream-of-consciousness raps over sampled beats." Daina Darzin from ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' picked it as Pick of the Week, noting that fans of " Loser" "should be equally happy with this". She wrote, "Jazzy, loopy keyboards, hip hop rhythms, psychedelic swirls of sixties-ish sound, and a happy, party-hearty groove make this a possible add for urban as well as

modern rock Modern rock is an umbrella term used to describe rock music that is found on college rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. Radio format Mod ...

stations." In 2012, '' Paste'' ranked the song number two on their list of the 20 greatest Beck songs, and in 2020, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' ranked the song number seven on their list of the 30 greatest Beck songs.

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for "Where It's At" was directed by

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 ...

. It features Beck doing a variety of things, such as cleaning up a highway for community service as a convict, singing at a car dealership, dressed as the Candyman, and line dancing. In one moment, Beck pays homage to

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

's performance of " Rocket Man" at the 1977 Saturn Awards ceremony. "Where It's At" was the first

to be broadcast on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to sh ...

on August 1, 1996. The video was awarded a

MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video The MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video was one of four original general awards that have been handed out every year since the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. In 2007, though, the award was briefly renamed Male Artist of the Year, and ...

. The shorter version was used for this video instead of the album version.

Track listings

* US 12-inch # "Where It's At" (edit) # "Make Out City" # "Where It's At" (remix by Mario C and Mickey P) # "Where It's At" (remix by John King) # "Bonus Beats" * UK CD1 # "Where It's At" (edit) # "Where It's At" (remix by Mario C and Mickey P) # "Bonus Beats" # "Where It's At" (remix by U.N.K.L.E.) * UK CD2 and Australian CD # "Where It's At" (edit) # "Where It's At" (remix by Mario C and Mickey P) # "Bonus Beats" * Japan # "Where It's At" (edit) # "Where It's At" (remix by John King) # "Lloyd Price Express" (remix by John King) # "Dark and Lovely" (remix by the Dust Brothers) # "American Wasteland" # "Clock"

Personnel

* Beck Hansen – vocals, electric piano, guitar, bass, organ * The

– turntables * Mike Boito – trumpet, organ *

Money Mark Mark Ramos Nishita (born February 10, 1960), known professionally as Money Mark, is an American producer and musician, best known for his collaborations with the Beastie Boys from 1992 until 2011. Early life Born in Detroit to a Japanese-Hawai ...

– organ * David Brown – saxophone * Eddie Lopez – outro talking

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video 1996 songs 1996 singles Beck songs DGC Records singles Geffen Records singles Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video Song recordings produced by Dust Brothers Songs written by Beck Songs written by John King (record producer) Songs written by Michael Simpson (producer)