The singer that Beck called “my only reference point”
By the time the 1990s reached its midpoint, the alternative scene started to look like the Wild West. For all of the phoniness that grunge washed away in 1991, it was now anyone’s guess as to what the next big thing would be, with fans gravitating to everything from grunge to pop-punk to Britpop throughout the rest of the decade. Although it was impossible to categorise Beck into any category, he claimed that one artist was essential to every one of his songs.
Based on singles like ‘Loser’, Beck seemed to be taking influences from folk to hip-hop to suit his sound. If grunge was heralded as Generation X’s punk rock, Beck served as the equivalent of Talking Heads for a new generation, taking all kinds of musical oddities and turning them into future sounds.
That eclectic style would also bleed through his album Odelay, spawning hits like ‘Where It’s At’ and ‘The New Pollution’ with their strange approach to crafting melodic hooks. Even though Beck may have had a hand in every single genre that turned him on at the time, the heart of his music lay with the sounds of folk music.
Before he had started to craft his studio albums, some of the obscure sounds of Stereopathic Soulmanure were full of acoustic-driven ditties having to do with the heartache and reality of what Beck was doing before he was famous. Even though there had been folk-adjacent alternative acts before him, like Violent Femmes, Beck’s love for rootsy music extended to the glory days of country music.
Outside of his favourite artists from hip-hop and alternative rock, Beck considered Hank Williams to be one of his greatest inspirations. Known primarily for being one of the founders of country music, Williams’s music had a lot in common with the rock and rollers of his time, having a checkered past and usually draping his songs with a hint of mystique whenever he strapped on his guitar.
When speaking to Rolling Stone, Beck considered Williams the touchstone of most of his music, saying, “I bought a 10-song Hank Williams collection on vinyl for $4.99. It was like I unlocked a box: His music spoke to me. His records are enormously important to country music, but I think I responded to them because they sounded so exotic… For a while, he was my only reference point; I’ve covered his songs for years”.
While it’s not always easy to spot Williams’ influence on Beck’s work, it usually comes down to the intricacies he puts into his work. When working on the heartbreaking ballads that would turn up on the album Sea Change, Beck made songs that matched the same bluntness as something like ‘Why Don’t You Love Me’ or ‘Your Cheatin’ Heart’, often with stunning results.
Beyond the style or the instrumentation, Williams helped remind Beck of what every songwriter should strive for when they sit down with their instrument of choice. For all the bells and whistles that can be put on later, the heart of any good song is taking a few pieces and moulding them into something that can tug on someone’s heartstrings.
