"Beercan" is a single by

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 ...

, 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 as Beck's major label debut album. Critics noted the album's hybrid of various styles including rock, hip hop, folk, blues, psyche ...

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

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks between 1988 and 2009, and Alternative Songs between 2009 and 2020) is a music chart published in the American magazine ''Billboard'' since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-playe ...

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, painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. They were turned into plush teddy bears and featured in ''The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings'' (1983) and ...

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. Primarily a trio, they have also performed as a quartet, with eith ...

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 music video and film director. Early life Steven Hanft was born in Ventura, California. He has an MFA in Experimental Narrative Film from CalArts. Music videos Steve Hanft has directed music videos for recording artists such as ...

. 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, songwriter and golfer. He is a founding member of the rock band Melvins, as well as Fantômas (band), Fantômas and Venomous Concept. Biog ...

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

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