Tuesday, December 17, 2013

"Sexx Laws" (Beck)

My high school friends and I made up a word to describe when someone was trying too hard to be sexy and/or was purposely being overtly kinky for comedic effect: snexxy (as in, "so not sexy.")
Our creation of that word actually pre-dated Beck's "Sexx Laws" and the tongue-in-cheek album Midnite Vultures (1999) by about 4 years.  But if there ever were an anthem for "snexxiness," this track is it.
As usual, Beck doesn't disappoint with his abstract, Magnetic Poetry-esque lyrics.  (I'm not exactly sure what a "hepatitis contact lens" is, but those words alone somehow conjure up images of obese American salesmen in cheap suits traveling on business in Southeast Asia, looking for weirdo nookie once the sun goes down--which I am pretty sure is what the song is about...)  But it's the backing track that really sells the whole affair.  It's one part 1960s hippy shake and one part Jerry Reed-style countrified swamp rock à la the Smokey and the Bandit soundtrack, tumbled vigorously in a neon pink cocktail shaker, and then poured into a "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" keepsake plastic tumbler.
No one but Beck could pull off a song that sounds like a coked-up Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass joining the cast of Hee Haw for a key party.  And make you want to listen to it, again and again.  
(Plus the video was absolute genius, too.)

No comments:

Post a Comment