Beck

An influential figure in the alternative rock movement of the late 1990s and beyond, Grammy winner Beck brought together elements from numerous musical genres, from hip-hop and electronica to soul, punk and folk, in a densely layered but nevertheless playful bouillabaisse of sound that reflected the information overload that both plagued and entertained modern music listeners while paying sly tribute to artists and styles gone by. Initially labeled as a novelty act due to the overwhelming response to his loose, goofy hip-hop spoof/celebration "Loser," he proved naysayers wrong with a string of sonically adventurous albums, including 1996's Odelay and 1999's Midnite Vultures, which posited Beck as a visionary musical deconstructionist with a wry sense of absurdist humor. He soon settled into a regular routine of alternating between upbeat records like Guero (2005) and Colors (2017) and quieter acoustic folk affairs like Sea Change (2002) and the Grammy-winning Morning Phase (2014). Beck's restless desire to explore the furthest boundaries of popular music went unchecked for decades, minting him as one of the industry's most consistently inventive figures.