Beastie Boys: Classic or Dud?

They're swirling down the toilet at breakneck pace now, that last track was awful as was the last album. Tom, re your comment about the rapping -- I thought MCA was pretty good for a while there, as on "A Year And A Day" and "Professor Booty." But the other two suck, yeah, for sure. Great videos, though, which no one has men

They have been consistently 4-5 years ahead of their time with every album they put out. LICENSE TO ILL: White brat rap that pulled it off the street and into your house (via MTV). Weren't afraid to sample the most obvious beats. PAULS BOUTIQUE: Only the best rap album ever. The 70s beats and style predated the general populus' 70s revival by 4 years. CHECK YOUR HEAD: By the time everyone else was catching onto the 70s thing, the Boys come out with something COMPLETELY different. They combine punk, funk, soundtrack stuff, classic rap, play their own instruments, etc... Constantly pushing the boundaries.

Need I go on? Well, they might have faded *slightly* after that, but the rest of the albums are still really good and do still show growth. Also, look at their instrumental stuff. Quite good and varied. Impressive resume for 3 snotty kids from Brooklyn.

By far Hello Nasty is their most noble and mature album they have ever recorded and, too me, the one that represents them the most sincerely.

Anyway, the Beastie Boys ARE "palefaced pretenders", if by that you mean that they wear their influences on their sleeves. But, dismal and annoying "License to Ill" aside, they've chanelled that influence into innovation nearly unmatched in hip-hop. "Paul's Boutique", "Check Your Head" and "Ill Communication" are certified classics in my book, each great in its own unique way. So, despite wanted to slap their annoying faces with "License to Ill" and wanting to do it again with the try-to-hard old-schoolness of "Hello Nasty"...Classic.

Let it remain

These guys plainly know their shit and not only do they possess the musical skills, they are 'setters, they appear to be self-depreciating and they rip the fucking piss. These are good things, by the way. The cops vid - I know it's tired but it still reigns as the joint I'm afraid. And for all the ho-hum tracks, they write enough killers to be forgiven the toss.

I like em. I respect em. They played the game to their rules. And won. Sure they're a pain in the ass. But you need these boys: totally classic.

Are they marking their own albs down at the Record and Tape now?

I liked their schtick, LOVED their magazine, was happy to see their vids, enjoyed their pranks. I don't question their worth as an industry. I just think their achievements in irreverance on CD are pretty minor. "So Watcha Want" is their only transcendent hip hop single, and anyone who thinks Paul's Boutique is the greatest rap album of all time just isn't listening for the same things I look for in rap music, things that usually have something to do with, you know, rapping.

(btw, I don't think the Beatles were perfect so I ain't saying the Beasties are, dig?).

More people should voice their two cents on this group. They're more fun than any other ex-beerbrawlers-turned-new-age-buddhists. Allegedly MCA has an emo band. Their protest song has Zoolander quotes. They need an editor bad. They take an ungodly amount of time between albums. They're white rappers. Ad-Rock, who kicked the cutie in the patootie and needs girls to do his laundry, is dating Kathleen Hanna. They really look awkward when they play their own instruments. And when they're on, they make me happier than any other group ever.

nasty = nasty little man = public relations firm (dealing w/ beastie boys but more importantly ATP) = "hello nasty" = receptionist's phrase.

They're the San Francisco of hip-hop.

wtf? they are the west islip of hip-hop. not to mention they live in your town... just cuz they "pimp" harputs does not mean BB = SF... ew gross.

reminder: this is the beastie boys thread.

As an SF resident, I can't tell if I'm supposed to be offended or not...

btw when is your both show shakey mo?

I hope you haven't heard LL Cool J.

I'll defend the Beasties (on some levels), I just don't get where this weird regional insult is coming from, or what it has to do with anything...

HI! I have heard LL COOL J! OMG! HAHA! LOL! ^_^

sounds good shakey mo, let me know the details.

Beck's "Odelay" was a critical orgasm, but it was little more than Paul's Boutique Part 2 (and I'm guessing the upcoming Tenacious D record will be Part 3).

hahahaha. sigh.

roger adultery not to thread!

Need I go on? Well, they might have faded *slightly* after that, but the rest of the albums are still really good and do still show growth. Also, look at their instrumental stuff. Quite good and varied. Impressive resume for 3 snotty kids from Brooklyn.

Look at all the damn rap records coming out around Pauls Boutique. Listen to them. They were nowhere near the musical genius that Pauls Boutique represents. The beats were all one dimensional. And they were so far ahead of their time they still hold up today. I dont hear too many people listening to run dmc anymore and they were supposed to be the gods yet pauls boutique can still conquer and rap in todays society. C'mon, doesnt that tell you something?

http://www.creemmagazine.com/BeatGoesOn/BeastieBoys/LayItDownClowns.html

they have had their share of classics, and their share of crap. for better or worse, their classics are front-loaded. unfortunately, we're now living in the back-end and there's less (or NO) great music to detract from the smarm.

which i feel was the conventional critical take back in the 90s

"Intergalactic" was for me THE Beasties single: I was 23, going out a lot, and this retronuevo rap track at the height of summer 1998 seemed to gather all related threads: lounge pop, post-Beck ramshackle, etc.

otm, this is the peak of the "recombinant pop" era, Hello Nasty is definitely on that train

Huh it's the opposite for me, IC has some indelible hits but the funk & instrumentals on CYH are much sharper and more distinct.

xp

IC was the first album where it felt like they weren't putting out something totally new and innovative. It's a strong album, but it's similarities to CYH was a sign that the creativity was starting to wane.

CYH > IC for the longest time until maybe 5 years ago when my opinion flipped. similar feeling of getting bored more at the halfway mark of CYH whereas IC ends on a real high note.

i would rank them PB>CYH>HN>IC>L2I

Licensed to Ill was such a massive album and nowadays PB is so ingrained in the cultural consciousness that it's sometimes easy to forget it was enough of a commercial disappointment that the B Boys felt like maybe they were an '80s thing, and the world of 1992 was vastly different. so for them to come back with something like CYH that sounded so fresh and cool was an eye-opener for many who slept on PB. i hadn't really paid attention to them after 1986 tbh, too busy listening to metal and hard rock, but at a time when everyone was listening to everything (maybe 1991-1993 was the peak era for this), they fit right in so well and suddenly everyone loved them again. they were so loose and funky and it was a sick sound. i think the first five are classics overall, i think IC only losing points for being a little less inspired than the top 3 and the funk instrumentals feeling like vv solid outtakes from CYH (though the peaks rank with their best), and L2I for being a little dated.

CYH has more edge and is just a great messy splattergun collage of ideas hitting you in the face whereas I agree that IC still has a bit of that feel but seems slightly more considered and fully-formed. They're both great

Also, did I ever tell you guys my annoying pet theory:

LTI : S+E
PB : CRCR
CYH : WZ
IC : BTC
HN : TT

This checks out for me in so many ways

otm, this is the peak of the "recombinant pop" era, Hello Nasty is definitely on that train

― intheblanks, Wednesday, February 28, 2024 11:06 AM (forty-three minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

what made that song so cool is that everyone seemed to have a different favorite part, just so much going on at once. I had one friend who wasn't really into the Beasties or hip-hop at all but still loved this song because of all the crazy noises on it. and yeah all of Hello Nasty is kind of like that, so many wild sounds and insane production effects, even the minor tracks like "Dedication" are a trip

IC feels like an expansion of CYH to me, it feels more "out" for lack of a better term...guys who are listening to "on the corner" a lot v. guys who are listening to the meters a lot

Obviously the meters are geniuses, i'm not saying that the meters are in any way worse than "on the corner"--just that the vibe of IC feels different enough to me that I've never viewed it as a slightly inferior version of their previous album

like some have said upthread, stuff that seemed like filler to me on HN when it came out sounds pretty damn awesome to me when i put the record on nowadays--it's a front-to-back great record imo

also wanna shout out this B-side which I'm guessing was jettisoned in favor of "And Me" - gotta be one of the weirdest songs a hip-hop group ever came up with

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IA60LH0Phko

that is cool, never heard it! thanks

You know what's an odd little tune? "I Don't Know." It's almost a bad song. Their goofiness redeems it.

I truly love that one

Me, too. The lyrics are pretty on the nose, but if you ever wondered how Buddhist thought - such as it could be said to exist - played into MCA's process on a conscious level, it's there. (I like hearing Miho Hatori, too.)

yeah great tune. "Twenty Questions" (which didn't make the cut but was vying for that spot) is even odder

can't be remotely rational about this because really I think pb is the 'best', but I spent a week at butlins holiday park when I was 12 and lic. 2 ill was the only tape I had for my walkman so i listened to it for maybe 10 hrs a day every day that whole week. thus it will always be my favourite. many years later I queued overnight to get u2 tickets and for some stupid reason the only tape I had with me was check yr head, it was too cold to sleep so I spent about 15 hrs straight with that one so I think of it fondly as well.

Ill Communication > Hello Nasty > Paul's Boutique > License to Ill > Check Your Head is my personal rrank

Honestly I even enjoy the last three records but they are so comically below the opening run that it feels silly to include them

the only interesting thing about the post-HN records is how Mike D becomes by far the best rapper in the group in their old man phase

though now that i typed it, that's actually not that interesting

blows my mind that To the 5 Boroughs is 20 this year

"License" might be the one I play the most these days, followed by bits and pieces of "Paul's" and "Check," though I never make it through the entirety of each in one sitting. I have noticed, anecdotally, that young people (under 20? under 30?) don't seem to get this group. See also: Beck. Even me, I was in the car the other day, and "Where It's At" came on, and I thought to myself, huh, this song is a little bit like being yelled at by a crazy person on the train for three minutes.

Anyway, Beasties, gotta love 'em, but sometimes their more ... adenoidal qualities are not what the moment calls for. When I do put them on, I never listen to anything past "Check," but maybe I will play "Ill Communication" at dinner.

out of all the groups from the last several decades i've played for my kid, the ones he's connected with most enthusiastically are Gorillaz, Beastie Boys, and Orbital (specifically Snivilisation for some reason.)

why does every beasties revive devolve into ranking their albums within 4 or 5 posts, frogbs was doing good work here

My kids like the Beasties but only know what comes on the radio in the car, which is the Licensed to Ill singles plus "Intergalactic." But I think their general sense of them is that they're cool. Their favorite is "Brass Monkey."

They also LOVE Gorillaz, one of just a few artists where their tastes overlap. I took them to see the last tour, it was a great family outing.

The incredible thing to me about hello nasty is that they pulled it off at all, really speaks to their talents as a group. Waiting more than four years between albums, over the great alt-rock kill-off of the mid-90s----then doing a record where they're doing cheesy early-80s rhyme routine pastiche for most of it....and it was actually awesome and a big hit! truly incredible

"I have all three of your albums!"

"pffft that was 1000 years ago. Now we have seven!"

maybe Fry said "four", I forget

He said four, because Futurama was post-Hello Nasty.

ah thx, wouldn't that be five?

Oops, yeah five

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhvv0WubJSs

xps The under-20 crowd seem to love that Olivia Rodrigo song that sounds just like Beck!

"I Don't Know" is the 'eye of the duck' of Hello Nasty. Take it out and the whole thing doesn't loom quite the same. I love it

Look

the only interesting thing about the post-HN records is how Mike D becomes by far the best rapper in the group in their old man phase

possibly in delivery! the thing I learned from interviews (or maybe the book) is that they always wrote collaboratively. so Adrock would show up to a session with some lines, and propose "I think Mike could do this part" and they generally had a consensus on any split

never any quibble about who wrote what or rapped what

anyone have the "original" version of Intergalactic stashed? the one that has lyrics about Spock and Uhuru and includes a line like "the spice is the worm and the worm is the spice"

seems apropos this week

never mind. of course it’s on youtube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDKST8N3gSo

whoa, I remember hearing about an early version of the track but had no clue how different it was. I think it's mentioned in the Sounds of Science book somewhere, they were working on the album and didn't really have a single and one of the guys (maybe not even one of the Boys) was like "you still got that intergalactic, planetary thing? maybe do something with that"

hadn't heard that, seems p cool. so the orig uranus rhyme was 'i'm from uranus that shit is heinous.' *hunt3r ducks hides and chortles*

yeah, it was on the web in the 90s but I can't remember if it was on their official site or "leaked"