Devils Haircut

For other uses, seeDevil's Haircut (disambiguation).

"Devils Haircut"is a song by the American musicianBeck,released in December 1996 byDGC Recordsas the second single from his fifth album,Odelay(1996). Both co-written and co-produced by Beck, the song peaked at number 94 on the USBillboardHot 100,number 23 on theBillboardModern Rock Trackschart and number 22 on theUK Singles Chart.Its music video was directed byMark Romanekand filmed inNew York City.Melody Makerranked "Devils Haircut" number six in their list of "Singles of the Year" in 1996,whileQ Magazineincluded it in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever" in 2003.

"Devils Haircut"
SinglebyBeck
from the albumOdelay
B-side	"Lloyd Price Express" "Clock"
Released	December 11, 1996
Genre	Alternative rock pop
Length	3:14
Label	DGC
Songwriter(s)	Beck Hansen John King Michael Simpson
Producer(s)	Beck The Dust Brothers
Becksingles chronology
"Where It's At" (1996) "Devils Haircut" (1996) "The New Pollution" (1997)
Music video
"Devils Haircut"onYouTube

Critical reception

Justin Chadwick from Albumism named "Devils Haircut" one of the "unequivocal standouts" of theOdelayalbum, describing it as "rollicking, breaks-driven" and "exhilarating, pop-friendly fare".Victoria Segal fromMelody Makerwrote, "The original" Devil's Haircut "is theBeckwe all know, love and hope doesn't move in next door with his weird pets and garden sculptures. It starts like a Sixties stripper bar band [...] and goes on to pureehip hop,bluesand lunacy into one springy pop tune while Mr Hansen rambles space-cake poetry about mouthwash and briefcases over the top. "After the song was ranked number six on the magazine's "Singles of the Year" list in December 1996, they added, "Rickety hip hop propping up a twistedR&Btune, stabs ofcountryandelectro,ridiculously abstract lyrics which somehow made sense. Novelty item? Inventive delight. "Music Weekgave it four out of five, viewing it as "double bass-heavy eccentricity with a definite commercial edge from the talented US singer/songwriter." The reviewer added, "This one sticks in the mind."David Sinclair fromThe Timesdeclared it as "a typically aberrant mixture of beatbox pop andpunkpoetry from the giftedCalifornianoddball. "

Music video

The accompanying music video for the song is directed by American filmmaker and photographerMark Romanek.It features Beck walking through variousNew York Citylocations, wearing cowboy attire and carrying aboombox.At some points, the action freezes and the camera zooms in on Beck intableau.Later the camera zooms in on spies that have been following Beck the whole time. The video has references to the filmsMidnight CowboyandThe 400 Blows.

At the 1997MTV Video Music Awards,Beck won a total of five awards. Three were for "The New Pollution"and" Devils Haircut "won two:Best EditingandBest Male Video.

The video for "Devils Haircut" was later made available onYouTubein 2009 and had generated more than 10.5 million views as of September 2021.

Samples

As is common with hisOdelay-era songs, "Devils Haircut" is driven by a number of samples: the drums in the choruses and drum breaks come fromPretty Purdie's "Soul Drums";the drumbeat during the verses comes fromThem's cover ofJames Brown's "Out of Sight";and the guitar riff was taken from another Them track," I Can Only Give You Everything "(written byScottandCoulter),replayedby Beck rather than sampled.

Track listings

• 7 "

1. "Devils Haircut"
2. "Lloyd Price Express"

• 12 "

1. A1 "Devils Haircut" (LP Version) (3:13)
2. A2 "Devils Haircut" (Dark And Lovely) (3:38)
3. A3 "Devils Haircut" (American Wasteland) (2:43)
4. B1 "Where It's At" (Lloyd Price Express) (4:57)
5. B2 "Clock" (2:43)

• CD #1

1. "Devils Haircut" [LP Version]
2. "Devils Haircut" [Remix byNoel Gallagher]
3. "Groovy Sunday" [Remix byMike Simpson]
4. "Trouble All My Days"

• CD #2

1. "Devils Haircut" [LP Version]
2. "Dark and Lovely" [Remix byDust Brothers]
3. "American Wasteland" [Remix by Mickey P.]
4. ".000.000"

Personnel

• Beck:lead and backing vocals, electric guitar, bass,harmonica,organ,drum samples
• The Dust Brothers:turntables,drum samples
• Written by Beck/The Dust Brothers
• Programmed by Beck/The Dust Brothers

B-sides and remixes

"Devils Haircut" was released with a number of B-sides, which included manyremixes:

CD #1includes two remixes. One byNoel GallagherofOasis,and the other by Mike Simpson ofThe Dust Brothers.The former adds a roaring guitar, emphasized over all other instruments on the track while the latter is a morejazzytake on the song, packed with added percussion and jazz horns.

CD #2includes "Dark and Lovely", another sample-laden Dust Brothers remix, and "American Wasteland", by Mickey P, which transforms the song into a fast,hardcore punkstyle song.

Both CDs had one original B-side in addition to the remixes.CD #1had "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)",Golden Feelingsand two other releases prior to its inclusion on "Devils Haircut" CD #1.

CD #2features "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".

Another remix, "Richard's Hairpiece", was done courtesy ofAphex Twin,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".

Charts

Chart (1996–97)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)	84
Canada Alternative 30 (RPM)	19
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)	58
Scotland (OCC)	19
UK Singles(OCC)	22
USBillboardHot 100	94
USModern Rock Tracks(Billboard)	23
USCash BoxTop 100	88

External links

• Whiskeyclone discussion of Devils Haircut