Loser

Trust me #49 Loser by Beck

I remember adverts in the NME and Melody Maker with the line I'm a loser baby so why don't you kill me and a release date. The lyric intrigued me. This was a time where singles were promoted for a good couple of months before their release. 

And then I heard it. Loser by Beck was like nothing I had ever heard before. And the video was like nothing I had ever seen before.

Opening with a dirty slide guitar riff over funky hip hop beats, we're then introduced to Beck through the opening line.

In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey

Beck doesn't let up, letting loose with an incredible flow of stream of conciousness/oddball lyrics.

The chorus begins with soy un perdedor which literally translates (in Spanish and Portuguese if my googling skills are up  to scratch) to I'm a loser. The chorus is repeated twice with Beck throwing in ad libs in between -  double barrel buckshot / get crazy with the cheese whiz

Soy un perdedor

I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me?

I was very fortuantate to see Beck play King Tuts in Glasgow in November 1994 (I have ticket number 4) and I have vague (but fond) memories of being right down the front. Tuts was absolutely rammed. Health and safety wasn't a common phrase back in 1994! People seemed to be literally hanging from the ceiling.

Subsequent trips to Tuts would lead me to discover the bench along the far side that people would use to stand on for a better view. But the 18-year old me was right down in the mix.

Beck danced, breakdanced and generally just looked super cool. I'm not sure if I have experienced anything quite like it since. 

I went with my old friend Grant Mitchell who was deeply into American independent music. From memory he had some of Beck's pre Mellow Gold releases. I distinctly remember a mixtape he made me with a great song It's All In Your Mind which came out on his One Foot In The Grave album. It was completely acoustic and raw. Really beautiful. Beck had been around for a while on the anti-folk scene before breaking through. I'm not sure if this was before or after Tuts.

Loser was a complete breakthrough single for Beck. It was everywhere. He just didn't seem to give a flying f**k about things which made him even cooler. One of the b-sides was a song called MTV Makes Me Want To Smoke Crack, but he was on MTV all the time.

It's 30-years since the small label Bong Load had 500 copies of Loser pressed as a 12-inch single for released in Mach 1993. It blew up an major labels were soon chasing Beck's signature. 

Re-released in January 94 in the USA and February 94 in the UK and Europe, Loser blew up and things were never the same for Beck again. 

Loser official video

Loser on Top of the Pops 

Loser live at Reading Festival 1995

MTV Makes Me Want To Smoke Crack

A list of all previous songs I've blogged about in my Trust Me feature are listed below, along with links to each blog. Loser join them.

I've also collated them all into a playlist on Spotify that you can find by searching for Everything Flows - Trust Me , or you can CLICK HERE

Previous Trust Me blogs

1. Something On Your Mind by Karen Dalton

1A. Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells

2. I Am, I Said  by Neil Diamond

3. Where's The Playground Susie?   by Glen Campbell

4. If You Could Read My Mind by Gordon Lighfoot

5. Gimme Some Truth by John Lennon

6. Gone With The Wind Is My Love by Rita and the Tiaras

7. In The Year 2525 by Zager and Evans

8. The Music Box by Ruth Copeland

9. The Ship Song by Nick Cave

10. Sometimes by James

11. I Walk The Earth by King Biscuit Time

12. Didn't Know What I Was In For by Better Oblivion Community Centre

13. When My Boy Walks Down The Street by The Magnetic Fields

14. The Man Don't Give A F**k by Super Furry Animals

15. All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun by Jeff Buckley and Liz Fraser

16. Are You Lookin' by The Tymes

17. A Real Hero by College & Electric Youth

18. Feelings Gone by Callum Easter

19. Sunday Morning by The Velvet Underground

20. Did I Say by Teenage Fanclub

21. Don't Look Back by Teenage Fanclub

22. Your Love Is The Place Where I Come From by Teenage Fanclub

23. Belfast by Orbital

24. Clouds by The Jayhawks

25. Dreaming Of You by The Coral

26. Everlasting Love by Love Affair

27. Walk Away Renee by The Left Banke

28. Teenage Kicks by The Undertones

29. Shaky Ground by Sneeze

29. Rill Rill by Sleigh Bells

30. I Can Feel Your Love by Felice Taylor

31. The State We're In by The Chemical Brothers w/ Beth Orton

32. Sunshine After The Rain by Ellie Greenwich

33. Losing My Edge by LCD Soundsystem

34. Mondo 77 by Looper

35. Les Fleurs by Minnie Riperton

36. Rat Trap by The Boomtown Rats

37. How High by The Charlatans

38. I Can't Let Go by Evie Sands

39. Pop Song 89 by R.E.M.

40. Summertime Clothes by Animal Collective

41. There She Goes by The Las

42. We're Going To Be Friends by White Stripes

43. Autumn Sweater by Yo La Tengo

44. Sister Rena by Lomond Campbell

45. Revolution by The Beatles

46. Lazarus by The Boo Radleys

47. Wrote For Luck by Happy Mondays

48. American Trilogy by The Delgados

Nirvana play The Vaselines

Cover(s) of the month #3
Nirvana cover The Vaselines

The Vaselines were (originally) an small but influential alternative rock band from Glasgow that had released a couple of EP's and an album in their (initial) short career, before promptly breaking up.

Fanzine culture carried their songs across the ocean to a young fan in Seattle who promptly fell in love with them, leading to him corresponding with The Vaselines Eugene Kelly by mail. There was no instant communication online in those days.

That young fan happened to be Kurt Cobain who always remained true to his roots; Nirvana covered The Vaselines not once, not twice, but three times. Nirvana and Cobain also helped to promote Eugene's later bands; Captain America and Eugenius - through support slots, mentions in interviews, t-shirts and a guest appearance by Eugene at the Reading Festival.

I've been listening to Nirvana quite a bit over the last few months; marvelling at their unique urgency, Cobain's exceptional vocals and ferocious guitar playing, the brilliant rhythm section of Novoselic and Grohl, the sense of togetherness - a real band/gang.

Nirvana and Cobain were always quick to display their influences, churning out a load of covers for sessions, EP's, b-sides and at live shows. To cover 3 songs by The Vaselines alongside songs by the likes of The Velvet Underground, Bowie, Devo and Kiss is real evidence of Kurt's love for the Glasgow bands sense of fun and knack for melody.

Two of the covers are on the Incesticide album of b-sides, session tracks and demos.

The Vaselines Dying For It EP contained 2-tracks covered by Nirvana

Molly's Lips is so simple, Cobain fuzzes and scuzzies the guitar riff and remains true to the melody but just speeds and punks it up.

Son Of A Gun is sensational, the band tear through it and Cobain hammers home the chorus again and again with unbridled pop punk joy.

The sun shines in the bedroom

When we play

And the rain it always starts

When you go away

Cobain and Nirvana played some incredible covers on their MTV Unplugged show, 6 in total; Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World, 3 songs from The Meat Puppets who joined Nirvana on stage, Where Did You Sleep Last Night by Leadbelly and The Vaselines Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam.

It is a beautiful version, very true to the original, Cobain's voice is beautifully raw and soulful. You wonder what the next Nirvana album would have sounded like; would it have taken a more mellow and acoustic route?

Cobain's take on Bowie, his astonishing transformation of the Meat Puppets songs and his spine tingling version of Leadbelly's old song are truly incredible - an artist on top of his game, happy to display his love of music through covers.

Nirvana covering 3 songs by The Vaselines eventually led to the band reforming and having a worldwide audience. Would this have happened without Cobain and Nirvana? Almost certainly not. That The Vaselines have now recorded 2 albums in the last few years is something to be thankful for, their ear for pop and sense of fun and humour is still evident and it has been great to see them at the Barrowland Ballroom and the Wickerman Festival in the last 2-months; new songs mixing well with the early classics.

Cobain's take on The Vaselines is joyful, he injects real punk pop into Molly's Lips and Son Of A Gun and extra tenderness on Jesus Don't Want Me For A Sunbeam.