Beastie Boys: Classic or Dud?

This may be one of those lines divided by age: if you're over a cerain age you may not have been open enough at the time to recognize just how brilliant and inventive their whole package was for the eighties, (IGNORING ALWAYS 'fight for your right', which is in no way representative of their output) and if you're younger than 25 you may take them for granted (like how Metallica appears stodgy today compared to all the heavier bands they influenced). But here is a fact: when 'Licensed' dropped it was a revelation to all.

Certain tracks from License to Ill were ubiquitous at that time, and they are rap *classics*: Slow & Low, Hold it now, hit It, Brass Monkey, and Paul Revere were coming out of every trunk in Oakland that whole year - and if you go back and listen to the NEXT year's best hip-hop offerings (Such as It Takes A Nation of Millions & Straight Outta Compton) you will hear *exactly* how many times those artists reference the Beastie Boys. And if it's good enough for NWA & PE (etc etc) than it's good enough for me.

God, check out these fuckin snobs at the top of the thread here!

Hello Nasty fucking banged (well the good tracks did)

Shit can be summed up as:

embarrassing early years
followed by

2 great albums
followed by

2 good albums
followed by

being irrelevant, spotty, and in need of charity

embarrassing early years are the best shit ever

That this question was even asked breaks my heart.

embarrassing early years are the best shit ever

― ○◙i shine cuz i genital grind◙○ (roxymuzak), Tuesday, October 28, 2008 5:23 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^hoos that^^^

Palefaced Pretenders should be the name of a tribute band

pretty excellent band though i sort of checked out before "5 boroughs" came out. i don't know what spencer's "sf of rap" thing is supposed to mean except i guess it's another southland zing. they always sounded nothing more than nyc to me and they got tons of play on the subway during my time there!

embarrassing early years are the best shit ever

I should clarify by early years, I mean as a hardcore band.

Although I've always been curious about their purported No Wave/World Music outfit that predated it.

And Cookie Puss is fantastic, still (which is what prompted interest from Russell Simmons anyway).

No Wave/World Music outfit that predated it.

I have never heard of this.

Wouldn't they have been about 12?

Young Aborigines

I can't find the lengthy timeline now that described in their own words what they wanted to do, but I remember them citing several things that were NYC du jour in 1981, including no wave and world music.

Anyway, since that timeline, Young Aborigines is cited all over, although downplaying it to "very very shortlived", which is fair, but non-descript of their original goals.

http://www.beastiemania.com/whois/the_young_aborigines/

By the summer of 1981 the Young Aborigines were performing at Jerry William’s 171 A.

http://www.exclaim.ca/articles/multiarticlesub.aspx?csid2=9&fid1=3028&csid1=59

Young Aborigines drummer Michael Diamond meets Adam Yauch at a Bad Brains show in New York and the two become close friends through their love of hardcore music. Yauch begins showing up at Aborigines practices; when founding bassist Jeremy Shatan goes home to do his homework, Adam takes over. When Yauch is on bass duty, the Aborigines (including percussionist Kate Schellenbach and guitarist John Berry) call themselves the Beastie Boys, a purposefully stupid name for their joke attempt at being one of New York’s first hardcore bands. The new line-up debuts at Yauch’s 17th birthday party. Record store owner Dave Parsons asks them if they’d be interested in releasing their first record on his new label, Rat Cage.

xpost

Yes, this sounds a little familiar. According to Mike D they broke up after only two shows so there probably wasn't much worth hearing.

I again would like to point to exhibit A -- which I failed to bring to the trial -- the timeline.

Seems they had been together for a fair amount of time rehearsing before their show(s), and had a clear direction.

Most people cite 1979 as the founding date, although it seems that's a stretch. Mike D would've been 13/14 at that time.

I wonder if it was like, "yeah, we want to be as cool as the Mudd Club scene, but you know, we're kids, and this hardcore thing appeals to us directly, so let's move on."

anyone heard the bootleg of them live in trenton nj 1992? it is large.

Where to find this? I'm not big on collecting bootlegs and the like but I remember that tour. It was great.

first two records are a couple of the greatest hip hop albums ever imho, but I never really bother with anything after that. although at the time I was really into Check Your Head and Ill Communication. Lost interest entirely after that.

Some Dumb Cop Gave Me Two Tickets Already = funniness

i'd like to give an early birthday shout-out to ad rock. i know halloween is his birthday cuz he said it was in a song once.

i always loved egg raid on mojo from the speed trials comp. as far as their pre-rap stuff goes. and cookie puss of course. which is still genius.

what the hell? I had never heard of this before

are you serious??????

they don't got no carvel where shakey lives.

He sometimes has arms and legs, but these are just icing decorations, not additional parts.

i'm like proust and his fuckin' cookie when i watch these ads...

if you live in NY and ever go out, you've probably run into Mojo. He's still around, still working the doors, putting on shows and playing records.

um, not sure what ilx3's policy on links to verboten materials are like, but if you search theultimatebootlegexperience blog its quite easy to find. [mods pls delete if this is a problem]

I've lived my whole life in CA guys. Been to NY twice.

yah but you could still know what a cookie puss was!

Thank you Stevie. :)

I never experienced a Cookie Puss while I lived in NYC but I did see the Beasties all the time. Perhaps I should have asked one of them to direct me to a Carvel's.

Carvel sucked, though I always really hated Ice Cream Cakes. Please also note Fudgie the Whale, who shared a mold with Santa, if I remember correctly.

Yeah Carvel is horrible, horrible ice cream.

i love carvel ice cream. i live for flying saucers.

yeah flying saucers are great, and the cakes, with the chocolate crunchies in between the layers. i totally miss carvel. a coworker and i recently tried to get a carvel cake sent to CO, but no dice. wickie the witch for a happy halloween.

so the beasties are obviously megaproud about being from brooklyn in 99% of their lyrics, so why in "shake yr rump" do they say "from downtown, manhattan, the village"

Only MCA is from Brooklyn. Mike D and AdRock are from Manhatten.

that makes sense. mca is the one saying "from downtown".

youre right, i forgot "you're from secausus, im from manhattan" - adrock

So there's a 20th anniversary remaster of Paul's Boutique out; is it any good? Does it just mash the levels up? B-Boy Bouillabaisse is split into 9 tracks at the mastering...

1. It is louder, as you would expect, but not mashed; Audacity shows no plateaus.

2. The bass has definitely been enhanced, but not overly so; much closer to the original vinyl.

3. If you like the album, it has never, ever sounded this good. Still one of the best headphone albums ever.

4. B-Boy Bouillabaisse is split but you don't notice it.

Just been and bought it, following that post, EZ.

Aren't you supposed to be convalescing?

I am, yes, but HMV's not far way and frankly I needed some fresh air. I also got a haircut.

Ah. Carry on - fine movies, neat trim hair, Paul's Boutique through the Grados - good day.

This is fucking awesome.

Told ya!

Really glad you like, to be honest. I always have a hard time repurchasing stuff, but sometimes it's worth it.

Bump, in light of the Check Your Head reissue.

I think CYH is my 2nd favourite Beasties record, definitely. I also think it seems pretty disingenuous to think of them as hip hop. They're just a band who happen to have done a lot of different things including a lot of rapping.

Looks like somebody just posted this on line after 22 years, so what the hell...

http://beatpatrol.wordpress.com/2009/04/03/chuck-eddy-lay-it-down-clowns-the-beastie-boys-take-over-1987/

...and Eloise, an overweight go-go dancer who’s supposed to look “sexy” when she strips down to her black lace, I guess, but mostly just comes off as gruesome.

reads like the 2009 internet xhuxk - consistent style!