Produced by The Dust Brothers, who'd worked on The Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique, the sample-heavy Odelay was a hit both critically and commercially (double platinum), was nominated for Album of The Year at the Grammys (he lost to Celine Dion) and won Alternative Album of the Year.
Beck found unlikely fans and remixers in Oasis. "England was the one place I really just couldn't gig. There was no love there at all for me," Beck said. "So I got this call from my A&R, from Mark Kates, he said, 'I was just in London and I was hanging out with the Gallagher brothers and I gave them a copy of Odelay and they're obsessed with it. And they want to do a remix.' I said, 'Holy, shit.' What's the Story Morning Glory had just come out. And it was huge. It was blowing up. So they wanted to go into the studio and do a remix of 'Devil's Haircut.' And I thought, 'I didn't even know they did remixes.' I remember we were playing at a little theater, classic London, little theater. I come out on stage, completely jet lagged. I'm wearing a '60s suit, a suit jacket and a tie. Definitely not grunge. And right in front of me, in the front row was Liam and I couldn't believe they were even there. And he was singing all the words. He knew all the words to 'New Pollution' and 'Devil's Haircut.' So the first thing I thought of when you said, 'What was surprising when people heard this record?' It was seeing Oasis right there at that in '96, there in the front singing the words back. It was like, my mind was blown. They were so open, armed and embracing me and generous. And I've never received that from another musician. They were just kind of like, 'You're in the club. You're one of our guys.' And that kind of acceptance was what you dream about when you're first starting to make music."
Elsewhere in the interview, Beck talks about being beaten to the punch by Eminem of using a sample of Labi Siffre's "I Got The..." "I went in my first meeting with Jimmy Iovine and I had Midnite Vultures and I was going to play it for him. He said, 'Before we do anything, I just signed this kid. It's going to be massive. It's going to change everything. We just got the video. They just sent it to us today. Sit down and watch this.' Me and my manager sat down and we're looking at each other like, Ah.' So he puts on the record and the video comes on and it's like, "Hi, my name is." And it's this blonde kid rapping. And the song is funny. And then my jaw's on the floor, because the loop, the sample is a Wurlitzer keyboard, just like on 'Where It's At.' It's the sample that the Dust Brothers were saving for me to be the follow-up for 'Where It's At.' It's the exact sample. I Got The Blues. Which we were saving for the follow-up to Midnite Vultures. And then Dr. Dre got to it first and he used it for Eminem's first single."
You can listen to Beck's whole Apple Music interview, and listen to Odelay, below. You can also pick up Odelay in the BrooklynVegan shop.
