When Beck splashed into the zeitgeist, I was in sixth grade. It was the early 1990s, and my identity fell somewhere between skate rat and wannabe punk — anything alternative, according to the culture dictated by MTV. My malleable mind, ripe for the plucking, was jolted by this white-boy whirling dervish who could rap, mix records and sing, all while dancing like James Brown. It was a moment defined by two towering anthems for the fringy set — Beck’s “Loser” and Radiohead’s “Creep” — with Nirvana and others helping popularize a new strain of angst and ennui.
As the faux costume of world-weariness — or what the Germans (and my father) call “weltschmerz” — eventually fell away, my musical tastes expanded as I debatably matured. Still, Beck and a select few from that era grew with me. His authenticity and refusal to calcify into a single sound or marketable lane has been the constant. Beck never resigned himself to mediocrity or nostalgia, and that restless curiosity has paid off across three decades.
That arc is on full display with “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime,” a newly announced collection of rarities, deep cuts and covers. The digital version is out now, with a physical release set for Feb. 13. The album takes its name from Beck’s 2004 cover of The Korgis’ “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime,” memorably featured on the soundtrack to “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” The song opens the collection and sets the tone for a reflective, wide-ranging listen.
The track list pulls from across Beck’s long orbit, including his versions of Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love,” The Flamingos’ “I Only Have Eyes for You,” John Lennon’s “Love” and Caetano Veloso’s “Michelangelo Antonioni.” Also included are “Ramona,” one of Beck’s contribution to the “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” soundtrack, along with reinterpretations of Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and Daniel Johnston’s “True Love Will Find You in the End.” Many of these songs have surfaced in Beck’s live sets over the years, particularly during his recent orchestral performances, where his catalog has taken on new shape and scale.
The collection arrives with Beck’s résumé already firmly cemented. Since breaking through with “Mellow Gold” in 1994, he has moved effortlessly between lo-fi folk (“One Foot in the Grave”), sample-heavy alt-pop (“Odelay”), melancholy singer-songwriter turns (“Sea Change”), glossy modern pop (“Colors”) and the sleek, synth-driven “Hyperspace.” Along the way, Beck has earned multiple Grammy Awards, including album of the year for “Morning Phase” in 2015, and has been nominated across rock, alternative and pop categories — a rare cross-genre feat.
“Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime” doesn’t rewrite that history so much as punctuate it. For an artist whose career has been defined by motion and reinvention, the collection functions as connective tissue — a reminder of how Beck has consistently followed his curiosity and why so many listeners have followed him right along.
