Where It's At

The first single from Odelay, built on a Casio riff and turntable scratches, and the song Beck has played most.
Beck, from Odelay (1996)

Written by
Beck, John King, Michael Simpson
Released
28 May 1996
Length
5:30
Album
Odelay

Beck wrote it with the Dust Brothers, John King and Michael Simpson, who produced it with him. It was released in the United States on 28 May 1996, in the United Kingdom on 17 June and in Japan on 23 October. It is built on a Casio riff and turntable scratches, and samples spoken lines from the 1969 sex education LP Sex for Teens (Where It's At), along with Mantronix's Needle to the Groove, the Frogs, and the intro of E.U.'s Knock Him Out Sugar Ray. Money Mark played organ on it. David Brown plays saxophone and Mike Boito trumpet. Pitchfork also pointed to the sex-ed dialogue as one of the album's lifts.

It reached number 5 on the Modern Rock chart, 61 on the Hot 100 and 35 in the United Kingdom. Steve Hanft directed the video, which first aired on MTV2 on 1 August 1996 and won Best Male Video at the MTV Video Music Awards. The song won the Grammy for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance.

Live

At 880 plays on setlist.fm it is the song Beck has performed most. The Guardian ranked it seventh among Beck's songs.

More songs by Beck

Loser, Devils Haircut, The Golden Age, Lost Cause, E-Pro, The New Pollution, Sissyneck, Paper Tiger, Debra

Sources

  1. Where It's At (Beck song), Wikipedia
  2. Landmark Productions: Beck, Odelay, MusicTech
  3. Beck statistics, setlist.fm
  4. Beck, Odelay (master release), Discogs
  5. Odelay: Deluxe Edition, Pitchfork (2008-01-29)
  6. Beck's greatest songs, ranked, The Guardian (2020-07-02)