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Song · Beck

“Deadweight” by Beck

Released 1997

“Deadweight” by Beck appears on 25 radio countdowns from 10 stations between 1997 and 2021. It was first released in 1997. Its best result is #32 on the WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1997. In the combined RockLists rankings it is the #83 alternative song of 1997 and #1,121 alternative song of all time.

25countdowns
10stations
#32best position
0#1 finishes
0top 10 finishes
1997–2021years charted

Watch

Beck - Deadweight (Official Music Video)

Video from YouTube (BeckVEVO). Pressing play loads YouTube's player. Watch on YouTube

"Deadweight" was Beck's 1997 contribution to the soundtrack of A Life Less Ordinary, a romantic black comedy, and he cut it with the Dust Brothers in the gap between Odelay and Mutations. It's a sly bit of misdirection: the groove bounces along bright and easy, while the words are pure Gram Parsons-style hard luck, a tale of gambling, Las Vegas and loneliness.

Beck counted it as one piece of a "Brazilian trilogy" with "Tropicalia" and "Missing", but where "Tropicalia" goes straight for bossa nova, this one folds its Brazilian flavor into a thicker, funkier stew, just the kind of seamless genre mash he said he was chasing. Geffen put it out, and it picked up a nomination for Best Song from a Movie at the 1998 MTV Movie Awards, losing out to Will Smith's "Men in Black".

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.

RockLists rankings

Alternative & Modern Rock

Indie & Adult Alternative

All Rock Formats

Year-end countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1997 70 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1997 107
1997 64 91X San Diego, CA / Tijuana 91X Top 91 Songs of 1997 91
1997 90 Q101 Chicago, IL Q101 Top 101 Songs of 1997 101
1997 32 WHFS Washington, DC / Baltimore, MD WHFS Top 99.1 Songs of 1997 100
1997 87 107.7 The End Seattle, WA The End Top 107 Songs of 1997 107
1997 86 KNRK Portland, OR KNRK Top 94 Songs of 1997 94
1997 41 Triple J Australia (national) Triple J Hottest 100 of 1997 100
1998 49 KROQ Los Angeles, CA KROQ Top 106.7 Songs of 1998 107

All-time and decade countdowns

Year#StationCountdownof
1999 394 WHFS WHFS Top 500 Songs of the '90s (December 1999) 500
1999 474 CD101 CD101 Top 2000 Songs of All-Time (December 1999) 2000
2000 475 CD101 CD101 Top 2001 Songs of All-Time (December 2000) 2001
2001 463 CD101 CD101 Top 2002 Songs of All-Time (December 2001) 2002
2002 463 CD101 CD101 Top 2003 Songs of All-Time (December 2002) 2003
2002 49 The Buzz The Buzz Top Songs of All-Time (Labor Day 2002, partial) 144
2003 463 CD101 CD101 Top 2004 Songs of All-Time (December 2003) 2004
2004 463 CD101 CD101 Top 2005 Songs of All-Time (December 2004) 2005
2005 468 CD101 CD101 Top 2006 Songs of All-Time (December 2005) 1994
2007 994 CD101 CD101 Top 2008 Songs of All-Time (December 2007) 2008
2008 1073 CD101 CD101 Top 2009 Songs of All-Time (December 2008) 2009
2009 1095 CD101 CD101 Top 2010 Songs of All-Time (December 2009) 2010
2010 1136 CD101 CD101 Top 2011 Songs of All-Time (December 2010) 2011
2011 1173 CD101 CD101 Top 2012 Songs of All-Time (December 2011) 2011
2013 1206 CD101 CD101 Top 2013 Songs of All-Time (December 2013) 2012
2014 1224 CD101 CD101 Top 2014 Songs of All-Time (2014) 2013
2021 526 90.9 The Bridge 90.9 The Bridge Top 909 Songs of the '90s 908

Also listed as: Dead Weight.

Charting alongside it in 1997

Best songs of 1997 →
  1. 1Song 2Blur
  2. 2Walkin' On The SunSmash Mouth
  3. 3TubthumpingChumbawamba
  4. 4FlySugar Ray
  5. 5The Impression That I GetThe Mighty Mighty Bosstones
  6. 6Semi-Charmed LifeThird Eye Blind

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