"MTV Makes Me Want to Smoke Crack" is the first official release by Beck. Released on Flipside Records, it is the first of four tracks on a 7-inch single that Beck shared with Bean, fronted by his friend, Steve Moramarco. Beck contributed "MTV..." and another song, "To See That Woman of Mine", to the single.
According to an article in The Independent, Beck wrote the song in late 1992, at a time of great frustration in his life. To support his music, he took a job at a video store, and Beck felt no affinity with his fellow colleagues, who he believed were "imitating a sitcom." Beck uses the public image of MTV, where "everything's perfect and everything's bright", to contrast with the mundane lives of those who are sucked into believing what MTV sells, and with his own threadbare existence.
"MTV..." was released again as track two on the "Loser" single. This version (commonly known as the "lounge" version) is considerably different in style and direction: unlike the original, the "lounge" version breaks down into a piano solo, over which Beck exclaims, "Fake it till you make it."
