The son of an experimental artist and a Scientologist composer, Beck Hansen cut his teeth in the New York anti-folk scene before returning to L.A. in the late 80s as an alternative freakfolker in a sea of hairspray and spandex. He broke into the mainstream just after Kurt Cobain’s death with his hit single Loser - a genre-melding combo of hip-hop, honky tonk and grunge that rode the zeitgeist like it was a seaside pony. Odelay proved that Loser wasn’t a fluke. It was named the album of the year in 1996 Village Voice Pazz & Jop list, as well as by Spin magazine, NME and Rolling Stone.