Robbed hit 5/25/20 - Beck's "Where It's At"...
from the album Odelay (1996)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #61 (two weeks)
This weeks "robbed hit" comes from alternative rock darling Beck, who came on strong out of the gate with his breakthrough hit single "Loser", which made the top ten on the pop chart in the spring of 1994. However the perception of the artist as the epitome of "slacker" culture took a toll, with Beck taking two years to record his next studio album Odelay, which would by many be seen as his landmark release. The lead single, "Where It's At", still had a little bit of that laid-back "slacker" attitude as well as his spoken-sung delivery, but musically was miles ahead in evolution, and foretold an even biggest shift on the album itself. Written and produced by Beck with the Dust Brothers team (John King and Michael Simpson), the single was welcomed by rock radio if not as warmly at pop stations...
While "Where It's At" climbed to #5 on Billboard magazine's Alternative Rock chart, the song stalled in the lower half of the pop Hot 100 in August of 1996. Internationally, the single peaked at #4 in Iceland, and made the top-40 in New Zealand (#34) and the UK (#35). In Canada, "Where It's At" also missed the top-40 at #47. The Odelay album would come in at #16 on the American sales chart (a little under his Mellow Gold's peak at #12), but ended up being his biggest record, selling over two million copies. At the 1997 Grammy Awards, "Where It's At" won the trophy or Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, while Odelay won for Best Alternative Rock Performance and was also up for Album of the Year (which went to Celine Dion's Falling Into You).
The second single from the record, "Devil's Haircut", climbed to #23 at Alternative Rock radio, but only nicked the pop Hot 100 at #94 (it did make the British top-40 at #22). That was followed by "The New Pollution", which rose to #9 at Alternative Rock and #78 on the Hot 100, and was Beck's biggest hit in the UK to date at #14. In the States, "Jack-Ass" was the fourth and final single, going to #15 at Alternative Rock and #73 on the Hot 100. Meanwhile in the UK, the track "Sissyneck" became the fourth top-40 hit from the album at #30.
After a one-off single for the movie A Life Less Ordinary, "Deadweight", which hit #16 at Alternative Rock and #23 on the British singles chart, Beck rushed out a new studio album, Mutations, after two weeks of recording in 1998. Lead single "Tropicalia" stopped at #21 on the Alternative rock list, and notched another British Top-40 hit at #39. The album also won Beck his second Alternative Rock Performance Grammy Award. A year later, the more ambitious Midnite Vultures album arrived, with first release "Sexx Laws" also stalling at that #21 mark, but making the British Top-40 at #27. The album sold a bit less but was critically revered, with another Album Of The Year Grammy nom (it went to Steely Dan's Two Against Nature in 2001), and also one for Alternative Rock Performance (which Radiohead took for Kid A).
Beck next record, the subdued Sea Change in 2002, told of his recent romantic breakup, and while the subject matter was bleak, the music was just as warmly received, scoring Beck his first top ten album at #8, and another Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Performance (this time going to Coldplay's A Rush Of Blood To The Head). By the time of the release of his next set, Guero, in 2005, the artist had rebounded quite nicely, married and with a child, and the release spun off his second #1 Alternative Rock hit "E-Pro", which hit the pop Hot 100 at #65, and is his most recent British top-40 hit at #38. Second single "Girl" got to #8 at Alternative Rock and nicked the Hot 100 at #100 (his most recent appearance on that list). The Guero album is his highest-charting, peaking at #2, and was nominated for that Best Alternative Rock Album again, losing this time to the White Stripes for Get Behind Me Satan. His next two albums, The Information and Modern Guilt, also reached the top ten on the sales chart and each sported Grammy noms as well.
After a five year extended break that saw Beck go more behind the scenes after leaving label Geffen/Interscope, Beck returned in 2014 with Morning Phase, the album that infamously beat out both Beyonce's self-titled album and Ed Sheeran's breakthough x album for the Grammy for Album of the Year in 2015. Lead single "Blue Moon" went to #1 on Billboard's Triple-A (Adult Album Alternative) rock radio format chart. His next record, Colors, was an even bigger success at rock radio, with four singles reaching the top ten on the Alternative Rock chart, and "Up All Night" going to #1 there and at Triple-A. The album won Beck his most recent Grammy for Best Alternative Performance in 2019. His most recent record, Hyperspace, came out at the end of 2019. Lead single "Saw Lightning" peaked at #3 at Triple-A Rock, followed by "Uneventful Days", which topped that format.
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Here's Beck live in New York in 1997...
And live at the Grammy Awards...
Next up at Austin City Limits in 2014...
And finally live on a radio appearance at the close of 2019...
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