Devils Haircut (song)
Encyclopedia
Music video
The music video for the song is directed by Mark RomanekMark Romanek
Mark Romanek is an American filmmaker, whose directing work includes feature films, music videos and commercials.He wrote and directed the critically acclaimed 2002 film One Hour Photo starring Robin Williams...
. It features Beck walking through various New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
locations, wearing cowboy attire and carrying a boombox
Boombox
Boombox is a colloquial expression for a portable cassette or CD player. Other terms known are ghetto blaster, jambox, or radio-cassette. It is a device capable of receiving radio stations and playing recorded music , usually at relatively high volume...
. At some points, the action freezes and the camera zooms in on Beck in tableau
Tableau vivant
Tableau vivant is French for "living picture." The term describes a striking group of suitably costumed actors or artist's models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit. Throughout the duration of the display, the people shown do not speak or move...
. Later the camera zooms in on spies that have been following Beck the whole time.
The video has references to the films Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. It was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, and stars Dustin Hoffman and newcomer Jon Voight in the title role. Notable smaller roles are filled by Sylvia Miles, John...
and The 400 Blows
The 400 Blows
The 400 Blows is a 1959 French film directed by François Truffaut. One of the defining films of the French New Wave, it displays many of the characteristic traits of the movement. The story revolves around Antoine Doinel, an ordinary adolescent in Paris, who is thought by his parents and teachers...
.
At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards
MTV Video Music Awards
An MTV Video Music Award , is an award presented by the cable channel MTV to honor the best in music videos...
Beck won a total of five "moonmen" awards. Two were for The New Pollution
The New Pollution
"The New Pollution" is a single by Beck, taken from his album Odelay.-Music video:The music video, directed by Beck himself, features 1960's-style dancing and background...
, and Devils Haircut won three: Best Editing
MTV Video Music Award for Best Editing
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Awards winners for Best Editing in a Video. Five artists are tied for the record of biggest winner in this category, each having won the award twice: Peter Gabriel, R.E.M., Madonna, The White Stripes, and Gnarls Barkley. The latter two, in fact, won...
, Best Direction
MTV Video Music Award for Best Direction
The following is a list of MTV Video Music Awards winners for Best Direction in a Video. In 2007, the award was briefly renamed Best Director, but it returned to its original name for the 2008 awards....
, and Best Male Video
MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video
The MTV Video Music Award for Best Male Video is one of the four original general awards that have been handed out every year since the very first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984. In 2007, though, the award was briefly renamed Male Artist of the Year, and it awarded the artist's whole body of work...
.
Lyrical and musical content
As is common with his Odelay-era songs, "Devils Haircut" is driven by a number of samples: the drums in the choruses and drum breaks come from Pretty PurdieBernard Purdie
Bernard Lee "Pretty" Purdie is an American session drummer, and is considered an influential and innovative exponent of funk...
's "Soul Drums"; the drumbeat during the verses comes from Them
Them (band)
Them were a Northern Irish band formed in Belfast in April 1964, most prominently known for the garage rock standard "Gloria" and launching singer Van Morrison's musical career...
's cover of James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
's "Out of Sight"; and the guitar riff was taken from another Them cover (this time of "I Can Only Give You Everything") but it was replayed by Beck, rather than sampled.
On top of this mix of instrumental borrowings, Beck sings about "stealing kisses from the leprous faces", "discount orgies", and "garbage man trees". The song's lyrics are full of poetry and mental shortcuts. The lyrics here emulate minimalistic phrases as may be used when not communicating outside of the inner mind. As such, the words are representative of a metaphorical concept of something observed in the world.
The song is dotted with references to the wandering disorientation that comes with touring, such as "coming to town with the briefcase blues".
Beck himself has talked about the meaning of "Devils Haircut" on a few occasions. In one interview, he claimed that it was "a really simplistic metaphor for the evil of vanity
Vanity
In conventional parlance, vanity is the excessive belief in one's own abilities or attractiveness to others. Prior to the 14th century it did not have such narcissistic undertones, and merely meant futility. The related term vainglory is now often seen as an archaic synonym for vanity, but...
". He said of the song:
Track listings
CD #1- "Devils Haircut" [LP Version]
- "Devils Haircut" [Remix by Noel GallagherNoel GallagherNoel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...
] - "Groovy Sunday" [Remix by Mike SimpsonMike SimpsonMichael Keith "Mike" Simpson, D.M.D. , is the member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing , serving since 1999. He is a member of the Republican Party. He previously served in the Idaho House of Representatives....
] - "Trouble All My Days"
CD #2
- "Devils Haircut" [LP Version]
- "Dark and Lovely" [Remix by Dust BrothersDust BrothersThe Dust Brothers are the Los Angeles, California based, Grammy Award winning producers, E.Z. Mike and King Gizmo , famous for their sample-based music in the 1980s and 1990s, and specifically for their work on the albums Paul's Boutique by the Beastie Boys, Odelay by Beck, and the soundtrack to...
] - "American Wasteland" [Remix by Mickey P.]
- ".000.000"
12"
- A1 "Devils Haircut" (LP Version) (3:13)
- A2 "Devils Haircut" (Dark And Lovely) (3:38)
- A3 "Devils Haircut" (American Wasteland) (2:43)
- B1 "Where It's At" (Lloyd Price Express) (4:57)
- B2 "Clock"(2:43)
7"
- "Devils Haircut"
- "Lloyd Price Express"
B-sides and remixes
"Devils Haircut" was released with a number of B-sides, which included many remixRemix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
es:
CD #1 includes two remixes. One by Noel Gallagher
Noel Gallagher
Noel Thomas David Gallagher is an English musician and singer-songwriter, formerly the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and principal songwriter of the English rock band Oasis. He is currently fronting his solo project, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds.Raised in Burnage, Manchester with his...
of Oasis
Oasis (band)
Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
, and the other by Mike Simpson of The Dust Brothers. The former adds a roaring guitar, emphasised over all other instruments on the track whilst the latter is a more jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
y take on the song, packed with added percussion and jazz horns.
CD #2 includes "Dark and Lovely", another sample-laden Dust Brothers remix, and "American Wasteland", by Mickey P, which transforms the song into a fast, hardcore punk
Hardcore punk
Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...
style song.
Both CDs had one original B-side in addition to the remixes. CD #1 had "Trouble All My Days", an early song from 1993 which is characterized by deep, distorted vocals and Beck's thrashing his loosely-tuned strings. "Trouble All My Days" had been featured on "Pay No Mind (Snoozer)
Pay No Mind (Snoozer)
"Pay No Mind " is a song by Beck, taken from his first major label album Mellow Gold and released as its second single.-Conception and recording:...
", Golden Feelings
Golden Feelings
Golden Feelings was the debut studio album by American musical artist Beck, released in 1993 by Sonic Enemy. The album showcases his roots in the anti-folk scene....
and two other releases prior to its inclusion on "Devils Haircut" CD #1.
CD #2 features ".000.000," a previously unreleased song with a strange, minimalistic instrumental background and difficult to discern lyrics. ".000.000" was also released on "The New Pollution
The New Pollution
"The New Pollution" is a single by Beck, taken from his album Odelay.-Music video:The music video, directed by Beck himself, features 1960's-style dancing and background...
".
Another remix, "Richard's Hairpiece", was done courtesy of Aphex Twin
Aphex Twin
Richard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
, in which the riff is removed, and Beck's vocals are sped up to the extent that his voice is extremely high-pitched. This remix was not included on either CD version of "Devils Haircut", because of Aphex Twin's delay in making it, but it was included on the subsequent CD for "The New Pollution
The New Pollution
"The New Pollution" is a single by Beck, taken from his album Odelay.-Music video:The music video, directed by Beck himself, features 1960's-style dancing and background...
".
Charts
| Chart (1996) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canadian RPM Alternative 30 | 19 |
| UK Singles Chart | 22 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 94 |
| U.S. Billboard Modern Rock Tracks | 23 |
Popular culture
- Beck guest-starred on the episode of sci-fi American cartoon sitcom FuturamaFuturamaFuturama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
entitled "Bendin' in the WindBendin' in the Wind"Bendin' in the Wind" is the thirteenth episode in season three of Futurama. It originally aired April 22, 2001. The title comes from the Bob Dylan song "Blowin' in the Wind". In South America, this episode was #1 in "Bender's Best" top ten Bender-related Futurama episodes.- Plot :Fry gets a free...
" in 2001. He says to Bender, "When I'm upset I write a song about it. Like when I wrote 'Devils Haircut', I was feeling really...really...what's that song about?" as an allusion to the song's oblique lyrics. - Bob DylanBob DylanBob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
made reference to the song and its lyrical complexity on his weekly XFMXfmXfm is a brand of two commercial radio stations focused on alternative music, primarily indie pop, and owned by Global Radio.-History:Xfm was created in London in 1992 by Sammy Jacob, who later co-founded NME Radio in 2008. Xfm subsequently expanded to a network of four stations; there are...
show: "We're talkin' about the Devil here on Theme Time Radio Hour. And the Devil always looks sharp. One of the reasons he looks sharp is that he had a good haircut. Here's Beck to tell you all about it. This is from his hit album Odelay, produced by the Dust Brothers. Beck says 'This song is a really simplistic metaphor for the evil of vanity.' I just thought you could dance to it." - Scottish band TravisTravis (band)Travis are a post-Britpop band from Glasgow, Scotland, comprising Fran Healy , Dougie Payne , Andy Dunlop and Neil Primrose...
mention "Devils Haircut" (alongside with OasisOasis (band)Oasis were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1991. Originally known as The Rain, the group was formed by Liam Gallagher , Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs , Paul "Guigsy" McGuigan and Tony McCarroll , who were soon joined by Liam's older brother Noel Gallagher...
' WonderwallWonderwallWonderwall may refer to:*Wonderwall , a 1968 film by Joe Massot*Wonderwall Music, George Harrison's soundtrack to the Wonderwall film...
, and the Manic Street PreachersManic Street PreachersManic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in 1986. They are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Richey Edwards and Sean Moore. The band are part of the Cardiff music scene, and were at their most prominent during the 1990s...
' A Design for LifeA Design for Life"A Design for Life" was released by Manic Street Preachers in 1996 and was the first single release from the Everything Must Go album of May that same year.The title was inspired by the Joy Division EP record "An Ideal for Living"...
) on "Slide Show", a song from their 1999 "The Man WhoThe Man WhoThe Man Who is the second studio album from the Scottish indie pop band Travis. The album was released on 24 May 1999, becoming the album that gave the band international recognition. The album peaked at #1 in the UK and #8 in Australia. It was later released in the United States in Early 2000...
" album. "'Cause there is no design for life, There's no devil's haircut in my mind, There is not a wonderwall to climb to climb or step around" - "Devils Haircut" plays at the beginning of the first episode of the CWThe CW Television NetworkThe CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
television series ReaperReaper (TV series)Reaper is an American television series that focuses on Sam Oliver, a "reaper" who works for the Devil by retrieving souls that have escaped from Hell.The series originally ran on the CW from September 25, 2007 to May 26, 2009....
.