"Beercan" is a single by Beck

Beck

Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...

, taken from his first major record label release, Mellow Gold

Mellow Gold

Mellow Gold is the third studio album by American alternative rock musician Beck, as well as his major label debut. Mellow Gold was released on March 1, 1994 on the strength of the surprise hit "Loser"...

. It peaked at number 27 on the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks

Modern Rock Tracks

Alternative Songs is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in Billboard magazine since September 10, 1988. It lists the 40 most-played songs on modern rock radio stations, most of which are alternative rock songs...

 charts.

Conception and recording

"Beercan" was produced by Karl Stephenson and featured his characteristic layers of sound and bizarre samples: this song in particular prominently features samples from a Care Bears

Care Bears

The Care Bears are characters created by American Greetings in 1981 for use on greeting cards. The original artwork for the cards was painted by artist Elena Kucharik. In 1983, Kenner turned the Care Bears into plush teddy bears...

 album. In addition the song also samples a small part of the Melvins song "Hog Leg". Lyrically, Beercan talks about going to a party and being surrounded by 'freedom rock slimeballs talking in code' and 'game show suckers.' The protagonist, who has just quit his job as a leafblower, is getting drunk to ditch himself and escape his worries.

As mentioned in the song, Beck once had a job blowing leaves. Beck once reminisced, "There's a leaf-blower contingent. There's no union that I know of so far, but there's certainly a spiritual brotherhood. They are the originators of noise music. It's like a cross between a Kramer guitar and a jet pack."

Music video

Much like Beck's earlier single "Loser", the experimental video for "Beercan" was directed by friend and director Steve Hanft

Steve Hanft

Steven P. Hanft , more commonly known as Steve Hanft, is an American independent film director.-Early life:Hanft was born in Ventura, California. He started making films at the age of 11 growing up in California. His first works consisted of surf films and nature films followed later by...

. The video features a group of homeless people destroying a house. A recurring theme among the video is the presence of a rainbow, possibly a reference to the Care Bears album sampled in the song. Melvins frontman Buzz Osborne

Buzz Osborne

Roger "Buzz" Osborne , also known as King Buzzo, is the guitarist/vocalist/songwriter and technically the only remaining founding member of the Melvins...

 also makes an appearance.

Track listing

1. "Beercan" (LP Version) - 4:01
2. "Got No Mind" - 4:22
3. "Asskiss Powergrudge (Payback '94)" - 3:06
4. "Totally Confused" - 3:28
5. "Spanking Room" - 5:20.
6. "Loser (Pseudo-Muzak Version)" - 3:26 (Hidden Track beginning at 5:41)

Chart positions

Chart (1994)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis... Hot Modern Rock Tracks	27