The Steve Reynolds Program - Beercan
Hello!
Another 500 worder. I found a kindred spirit/guiding light for this project and that's Subgenius artist/prankster tENTATIVELY a cONVENIENCE's Goodreads page. The man has churned out over a thousand extensive reviews of books there. Why? He says it helps him remember what he's read. And this, I hope, helps my memories in my doddering days (read: in a year or two).
In wretched timing, a Tweep last night hated on Beck and called him "clown shit" -- a pretty good burn to be fair. Oh well, crankypants. Go listen to Bruce Cockburn and frown out the window if you want. Me, I'll take a break from the agony with a little lightness some times.
Song #5
Beercan
by Beck
Summer of 1993, riding somewhere in Los Angeles County in my pal’s Chevy van with the radio tuned to the indiest college station there be, KXLU (the highest use of the word “um” by deejays in radio history) and a pleasant enough song came on.
Immediately, Gordon from the back seat yells, “Turn that off! Beck sucks!” I, in shotgun, reach for the radio but driver Jason stops me.
“Oh, you’re just mad Beck asked who your girlfriend was at the street fair.” We laugh while Gordon protests "nuh-uh! That’s not true!" I hear the chorus of this new song, “I’m a loser so why don’t you kill me” and it seems too contrived or something for me. Radiohead already had "Creep" and Sub Pop sold shirts that said Loser. This seemed like a cash-in.
Spring of 1994, I’m in Mexico for school. Another American from Illinois who knew I liked indie shit said her weird friend asked if I knew Loser by Beck. It took me aback to know the weirdo interested in my pal’s girlfriend was known somehow nationwide. I passed on Gordon’s word to her, “Beck sucks.”
I was wrong. Beck’s body of work amazes me when I take it all in. He’s not one I gravitate to because he’s a bit opaque and, [KXLU dj]um[/KXLU dj], Scientology-adjacent. Still, he’s put out both the lowest-fi and lushest records I’ll crank up any ding dang day.
“Beercan” (spelled as one word for weirdness sakes) was the third single from Mellow Gold after “Loser” and “Pay No Mind,” both titles that could be slogans for Gen X at the time. The single didn’t grab much attention then. It only began to be a fave of mine a couple of years later and part of it was hearing my new gal singing along to the chorus-- put her on the track and it would've done better.
Its lyrics lazy-rapped relate to “Loser” for sure: slightly nonsensical or surreal but you can detect the feeling behind the rhymes (the lines “I quit my job blowing leaves/Telephone bills up my sleeves/Choking like a one man dust bowl/Freedom rock slime ball/Talking in code” ring true when you know Beck worked a leafblower for a job when he moved to LA). The chorus “Don’t be kind/don’t be rude” comes from that same whatevs attitude that Camper Van Beethoven had in “Good Guys and Bad Guys” and “The Ambiguity Song.”
That quote from Slacker that I lovehate, “withdrawal in disgust is not the same as apathy,” lingers around all that smart white boy stuff of that time. The earnestness of music before felt either patronizing or ineffectual. Punk had some bad dudes (see: Orange County shit) coming in. Why not confuse ‘em with samples of both The Melvins and The Care Bears in the same song?
Anyways, the bass is great and it captures the feel of a certain kind of party. The one where at the time you’re going nowhere and you’re there to be around laughter. You can be a vampire and sap the energy of people who have it more together than you. The party usually in a backyard with lots of beer. Hey! The word “can” is a slang term for prison. Beercan could mean the metaphorical prison of a beer party. In the falsetto words of Beck, “oh my goodness.”