Beck Reveals Which of His Songs He's Surprised Became Popular

He also expected "Devil's Haircut" to become a bigger hit than it was

BY Alex HudsonPublished Jun 28, 2023

Beck has one of the most eclectic discographies in modern music, full of weirdo rap and plaintive folk and everything in between. Now, the songwriter has reflected back on his catalogue, discussing some of the songs he's surprised were popular — and the song he's surprised wasn't.

Beck appeared on NTS Radio last week (June 21) and was interviewed by Rahill. When Beck mentioned that it was sometimes surprising which songs became popular, Rahill pressed him for examples. "'Loser,'" he said. "I didn't think anyone would like that."

He continued, "'Where It's At' — I thought that was a weirder album track. I thought people would like 'Devil's Haircut' way more."

Beck cited another surprising success from his catalogue: "Go It Alone," which has become a sleeper hit among fans. "One of my Top 10 listened to songs that I've ever done is called 'Go It Alone.' It was never a single; nobody promoted it," he says. As of this writing, "Go It Alone" has 34 million streams on Spotify — more than any other song on 2005's Guero, aside from the opening track and lead single "E-Pro."

Beck is touring with Phoenix this summer, and he recently released a collaborative single with the French group.

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