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

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

musician

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970), known mononymously as Beck, 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 mus ...

, released in May 1996 by DGC and Bong Load 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 num ...

'' (1996). Beck wrote the song in 1995 with its co-producers John King and Michael Simpson, and premiered it at

Lollapalooza Lollapalooza () is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991, with Chicago becoming its permanent location beginning in 2005. Music genres i ...

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. Its music video was directed by Steve Hanft.

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 ...

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 human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, safe sex, birth ...

album titled ''Sex for Teens: (Where It's At)'', a subtitle Beck borrowed. 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) (also known as disco-rap) is the earliest commercially recorded hip hop music and the original style of the genre. It typically refers to the music created around 1979 to 1983, as well as any hip hop t ...

group

Mantronix Mantronix was an influential 1980s hip hop and electro (music), electro funk music group from New York City. The band was formed by Disc jockey#Hip Hop DJs, DJ Kurtis Mantronik (Kurtis el Khaleel) and rapper MC Tee (Touré Embden). The group is ...

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

The Frogs ''The Frogs'' (; , 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 Athens, in 405 BC and received first place. The pla ...

("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 band E.U.'s song "Knock Him Out Sugar Ray". Beck earned the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

for

Best Male Rock Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award presented to male recording artists for works (songs or albums) containing quality vocal performances in the rock music genre. Originally called the Grammy Award for Best Ro ...

for the song. In October 2011, ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' 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 advertis ...

'' 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'', is 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 ...

'' named it Pick of the Week, noting that fans of " Loser" "should be equally happy with this". She wrote, "Jazzy, loopy keyboards,

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

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 and commercial rock radio stations. Some radio stations use this term to distinguish themselves from classic rock, which is based in 1960s–1980s rock music. ...

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 Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

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

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Where It's At" was directed by Steve Hanft. 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 1966 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 music video 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, through PMN’s MTV Entertainment Group Subdivision. The channel launched initially as an all-music ...

on August 1, 1996. 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 known by the stage name Captain Beefheart. Conducting a rotating ensemble known as the M ...

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 arrange ...

'' album photo sessions at 1:27 in the video. The video was awarded a MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video. 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, drum samples * 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)