Happiness
I guess what I’m saying is you can find pleasures right within your grasp that are just as satisfying [as stardom]. You don’t have to be a pop sensation or anything, you know? It’s just that whole mentality–people think they won’t be happy until they get this or that, but once they get it, it doesn’t make them any happier.
The only way they’ll be happy is to find it in themselves. People work all their lives to make a certain amount of money, they sort of put their real life on hold until they get to this certain place, and when they get there, life’s over [laughs]. You’ve got to live in the moment, ’cause that’s all we have.
O’Neill, Sean, ‘Q&A: Beck’, E! Online
Life
I think life is somewhat mundane, you know? Especially these days–we don’t live these big dramatic lives. There’s no linear story, just a collection of moments and mundane pleasures–reading a newspaper, looking at a tree.
Was it ever any different?
No, but the way life is represented to us on TV and in movies, we’re given this impression that it’s supposed to be bigger than it actually is. I think that frustrates people, and the emptiness comes out of this longing for the big events.
O’Neill, Sean, ‘Q&A: Beck’, E! Online
Crying
I don’t need to cry so much. I think whatever you let loose with crying, I let loose with singing. I tend to be the one who wants…I’m trying to say this without sounding too touchy-feely. I’m usually the one who’s better at comforting the person who’s crying, you know?
Johnson, Jeff, ‘Beck Q&A’, Jane magazine, April 2000
Dating
I’m not good at the protocols of dating. [Laughs] I’m not really experienced in that. My girlfriend is my second of third girlfriend. I think in the past none of use really knew when we were “dating”-we were just hanging out and doing things. I didn’t go to high school so I missed the prom.
Johnson, Jeff, ‘Beck Q&A’, Jane magazine, April 2000