(THIS) POLL REVERE(S) — ILM Artist Poll #19 — Beastie Boys RESULTS

I bet all of License to Ill made the top 60.

ga-ron-teed

Just about the post the same thing re: every LTI track. Surprised to not see any Paul's Boutique yet.

"posse in effect" is so great

#2 on my ballot

your crew's all soft and I'm disgusted

Super sick track. That's my #1. Everything I love about the Beasties condensed to under three minutes. Hits every topic: girls, beer, records, New York, kicking your ass, and humor.

Glad "Bodhisattva Vow" made it. (More actually psychedelic than anything on PB, imo.)

I see "bodhisattva vow" as part of a song cycle of psychedelic MCA solo jams, with "year and a day" and "flowin prose"

"posse in effect" also great cause it's one of the licensed to ill tracks that never sounds dated, it will always be some electroshock future vision of teen hooliganism

xpost

Yup. But "Bodhisattava" has some kick to it, too. Not just floaty flowery.

I love that EZ Snappin's definition of "not obscure" is "it's on the internet"

― thommys got bendz (Whiney G. Weingarten)

If there are almost 18 million results for it and a youtube of it is the first google option then yes, it's not obscure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFP79Dlc928

41. "3 MINUTE RULE" (1989) [138 points, 6 votes]

(plz to pardon the stupid youtube...it's not the proper instrumental, just somehow has the vocals way buried in the mix.)

I'm so rope they call me mr roper

ddddoo wah diddy and bust em with the pre-roll

(only Johnny Ryall on youtube was a demo, and this thread already has enough embeds anyway)

40. "JOHNNY RYALL" (1989) [143 points, 9 votes]

If there are almost 18 million results for it and a youtube of it is the first google option then yes, it's not obscure.

that's silly. to search for it, you have to know of it. and the way most people are gonna get to know most beastie boys songs is through the albums. or by reading about their general history and discography somewhere. or in this day and age, via a youtube link, which, sure, might be "rock hard" as easily as anything else.

still, i doubt that most casual beastie boys fans even know that "rock hard" exists, whereas they all surely know of their albums. that's why i think the phrase "a bit more obscure" makes some sense, and that's where this all started.

here's johnny ryall

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=pKNmLMs7ugw#t=288s

Cool, I didn't realize that whole album thing had it broken down by track.

can we just say the word "relatively" is usually IMPLIED in front of the word "obscure" and that context is everything and move the fuck on?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XflfiylNNXY

39. "THREE MC'S AND ONE DJ" (1998) [145 points, 8 votes]

I cut this last. I thought I loved it but it turns out I don't.

Johnny Ryall, a real person who made records or not?

no.

I thought mike d said yes? and then there's this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuhGGth0_M4

Love the video for "Three MCs" as much as the song. Which is a fair amount in both cases.

I'm going by the 33 1/3 book on Paul's Boutique:

Johnny Ryall was a vagrant who frequently turned up on the stoop of Diamond's New York apartment building after the Licensed to Ill tour. No one recalls his real name, but he was rechristened by Diamond's roommate at the time, Sean Carasov, who also invented a history for the amiable beggar. "I had this brain fart that he used to be a rockabilly star. He had that look," says Carasov "Actually, he kinda looked like the fifty-miles-of-bad-road version of Chet Baker."

I do love the video.

this version has a shot of the 45, you can see the name johnny ryall under some sharpie scribbles, perhaps the fictional backstory became so detailed it began to intrude upon reality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBInorRr9p4

If there are almost 18 million results for it and a youtube of it is the first google option then yes, it's not obscure.

― EZ Snappin, Monday, May 14, 2012 2:43 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oooh, a whole 69,306 views on YouTube. I'm sorry, my glasses are a little fogged up there, dad, is that Justin Bieber?

huh, i always figured they were actually saying "johnny royale" and just called it "johnny ryall" as a joke

johnny ryall is great, huge nostalgia for this

those sharpie scribbles are apparently an inscription from johnny himself!

Hey Whiney that song was like a million posts ago, how about you pick a new fight about a new song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99v9-4uk9ZQ

38. "SKILLS TO PAY THE BILLS" (1992) [152 points, 8 votes]

How and why did that track get left off Check Your Head?

forgot to vote for this! So damn good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teQqelBTw7g

37. "SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE" (1992) [157 points, 7 points]

I always visualize that song with the MTV promo that played it over shots of the Los Lobos "Kiko" video

THIS ONE IS CALLED RECTIFY

is there a good beasties comp of like non-album tracks from like "Rock Hard" --> "Alive"

i might have to cobble it myself in a spare weekend sometime

last one for today...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZdMuIq3NLY

36. "REMOTE CONTROL" (1998) [169 points, 9 votes]

"Three MC's" made my top ten, I think.

50. "GIRLS" (1986) [83 points, 5 votes]
49. "SHE'S ON IT" (1985) [93 points, 4 votes]
TIE 47. "TIME FOR LIVIN'" (1992) [95 points, 5 votes]
TIE 47. "FINGER LICKIN' GOOD" (1992) [95 points, 5 votes]
46. "FLUTE LOOP" (1994) [104 points, 5 votes]
45. "ROCK HARD" (1985) [115 points, 5 votes]
44. "SONG FOR THE MAN" (1998) [126 points, 8 votes]
43. "BODHISATTVA VOW" (1994) [128 points, 6 votes]
42. "POSSE IN EFFECT" (1986) [136 points, 4 votes, 1 first place vote]
41. "3 MINUTE RULE" (1989) [138 points, 6 votes]
40. "JOHNNY RYALL" (1989) [143 points, 9 votes]
39. "THREE MC'S AND ONE DJ" (1998) [145 points, 8 votes]
38. "SKILLS TO PAY THE BILLS" (1992) [152 points, 8 votes]
37. "SOMETHING'S GOT TO GIVE" (1992) [157 points, 7 points]
36. "REMOTE CONTROL" (1998) [169 points, 9 votes]

is there a good beasties comp of like non-album tracks from like "Rock Hard" --> "Alive"

nope. gotta do that shit yrself

That Sounds of Science 2-disc thing from 1999 (whence "Alive" originally came) has some, but it's hardly comprehensive. The individual Capitol/Grand Royal cd reissues are pretty stacked, but you'll still have to dig around in dark corners for the Def Jam stuff.

Bad Brains had appx zero hip-hop influence afaik

I think about this alot though. I think the lineage is
• "Cookie Puss"
• The last 10 seconds of "Change the Style" by Son of Bazerk
• The first Body Count album
• The hxc tracks on Check Your Head and Ill Communication
• The Roots' "!!!!!!" [this is track three off Phrenology and YouTube is no help]

― thommys got bendz (Whiney G. Weingarten), Sunday, May 13, 2012 9:34 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Rock N Roll by Mos Def

ha, yeah!

i wasn't making the point that "She's On It" is obscure because it's not on Spotify or anything, to be clear (although i was surprised that it's not even collected on any of their compilations).

Out of their whopping two multi-territory, wide-release, non-instrumental compilations, half of them were compiled by the band and not Capitol, and that one does include She's On It (although as the sleeve notes point out, only because Malcolm Young still declined a personal request to allow Rock Hard on.)

The Rock Hard 12" got re-released about five years ago on the Def Jam Classics imprint btw.

How and why did that track get left off Check Your Head?

The Beasties have always been firm believers in singles having b-sides

i'd rank the obscurity of beatie boys tracks this way...

0: hit singles
1: fan-favorite album cuts and non-hit singles
2: other album cuts from their first five albums
3: other album cuts from their last three albums
4: non-album tracks and outtakes etc that have appeared on major compilations or as album-reissue bonus tracks
5: non-album tracks etc that were officially issued, but remain uncompiled (or rarely compiled)
6: outtakes and ephemera that were never officially issued and remain uncompiled, but which leaked somehow (boots, w/e)
7: stuff that has never even leaked and that basically no one outside the band has ever heard

all the shit we're talking about is at least moderately obscure, relatively obscure. seems a dumb word to get hung up on.