Hell Yes Lyrics - Beck

Song Facts:

• Genre: Alternative Rock, Electronica


• Lyricist: Beck


• Composers: Beck


• Soundtrack: Featured in the soundtrack for "How to Date Billy Walsh"

Artist Info:

Beck Hansen, mononymously known as Beck, is an American musician critically acclaimed for his unmatched, colossal, and diversified craftsmanship. It was in this time of the early '90s when Beck emerged into the music scenes with his lo-fi genre-swapping style that merged rock, folk, hip-hop, electronic, and alternative musics. His gift for pushing against musical lines while still keeping a defined sound has won him critical plaudits and a mixed fanbase. His lyrics often include a mixture of irony, surrealism, and melancholy, reflecting an experimental musical style. He has received many awards during his career and still remains an influence for many diverse musical genres and musicians.

Annotations and Meaning:

Beck injects his brilliant pastiche of electronic sounds and hip-hop sensibility into his "Hell Yes," a buoyant and mocking take on today's consumer and corporate culture. The song lyrics itself mix sardonic observations and the surreal image of "assembly lines," "fake prizes," and "bank notes burning like broken equipment," signifying a society much preoccupied with production and consumption.
The consistently and repeatedly chanted "hell yes" could be an ironic affirmation—taking a jibe at the hyper word "yes" often seen in consumer behavior or the business culture. The repeating line accentuates the theme of hesitance and sarcastic affirmation towards the existing state.
This is best exemplified in lyrics such as "Skeleton boys hyped up on purple / Smoke rings blow from across the disco," a few of a quite careless hedonism that would create an almost opposite to the far more dystopian imagery of surveillance and control like "rent-a-cops are watching" and "thought control ghost written confessions." Such juxtapositions point out the superficiality and artificiality that are characteristics of these social and economic relations.

The call to "Look for the common not superficial" is almost a quest for the heart and real human connection among all the chaos and superficiality of the modern world. The fragmented and disjunctive language of Beck perfectly renders the incoherent and often contradictory impulses served up by today's media and culture.