Loser

Beck (1970–); Carl Stephenson (1967–)

Here we have the first of our 100 composers born in the ‘70s. Beck didn’t think much of this song. The repeated refrain referred to his feelings about the rap job he was doing. “When (producer and co-writer Stephenson) played it back, I thought, ‘Man, I’m the worst rapper in the world. I’m just a loser.’ So I started singing ‘I’m a loser, baby, so why don’t you kill me.” I humbly submit that my “rapping” herein is at least ten times worse than Becks, probably even a contender for worst White-boy rap of all time. But I did my best.

Originally released in vinyl as a single in only 500 units on the Bong Load label, the song got immediate play on LA college station KXLU. That was quickly followed by modern rock station KROQ-FM, who was soon playing “Loser” on an hourly basis, then, on the Seattle’s KNDD, and soon there was a bidding war, won by Geffen Records. About a year later it peaked nationally at #10, and was soon charting all over the world. It was widely seen as a slacker anthem, which pissed Beck off. He said, “Slacker my ass. I never had any slack. I was working a $4 an hour job trying to stay alive. That slacker stuff is for people who have the time to be depressed about everything.” Indeed, Beck works on his music as hard and consistently as any musician alive. I highly recommend the most excellent article Amanda Petrusich wrote about him in The New Yorker. Anyway. “Loser”. #1 single in the 1994 Village Voice Pazz & Jop critic’s poll; Rolling Stone #203 Greatest Song Of All Time; Pitchfork Media’s #9 of the Top 200 Tracks of the ‘90s. So why don’t you kill him.