TS: Check Your Head vs. Ill Communication

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For the few of you who still care about the Beastie Boys, which of these two middle-period albums do you like better?

― Christian, Tuesday, 28 June 2005 03:30 (twenty years ago)

Aren't they the same album? Which one has "So Whatcha Want"? I vote that.

― Burr (Burr), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 03:33 (twenty years ago)

Edge goes to 'Check Your Head.'

― bkjj40a (bkjj40a), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 03:35 (twenty years ago)

Ill Communication is a much better album, but Check Your Head has the better mise en scene

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 03:37 (twenty years ago)

Check Your Head.

― latebloomer: now with 20% less cetacean content (latebloomer), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 03:37 (twenty years ago)

Check Your Head, and I'm a big fan of both albums. Check Your Head has the RAWK.

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 04:11 (twenty years ago)

Check Your Head, easily, for the song that was recorded on the L.A. city bus

― On a Strict El Cholo Diet (Bent Over at the Arclight), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 04:31 (twenty years ago)

CYH definately, but MAD LOVE to Ill Communication. Much Respect!

― Michael Costello (MichaelCostello1), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 05:39 (twenty years ago)

Check Your Head, of course. If it had never existed, Ill Communication would be regarded higher, but in this universe IC was basically a more clench-arsed copy of the former, and thus its merits pale.

― kit brash (kit brash), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 06:20 (twenty years ago)

Check Your Head, this isn't even particularly close.

― Taste the Blood of Scrovula (noodle vague), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 06:44 (twenty years ago)

I stupidly bought "The In SOund From Way Out" before I heard "Check Your Head" so the album always felt checkered and hotch-potch to me.. "Ill Communication" will always be my fave I think.

― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 07:18 (twenty years ago)

check your head brought in the whole mario c. / money mark era. ill communication is a repeat of that whole vibe. check your head (album&tour) is just way fresher on every level.

― Bobby Peru (Bobby Peru), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 07:35 (twenty years ago)

Another Check Your Head vote. Much looser album, more fun, druggier too.

― Omar (Omar), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 08:01 (twenty years ago)

Check Your Head! i agree with noodle that this isn't even that close.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 11:44 (twenty years ago)

Check Your Head has the better songs and instrumentals, while Ill Communication only has better dancers.

― Negativa, True Believer (Sheryl Crow in a Britney costume) (Barima), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 11:55 (twenty years ago)

Ooh. Check Your Head, which meant a lot to me in the summer of '92. I burned "Sabotage" and "Get It Together" on my newest copy.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:02 (twenty years ago)

Ill Communication was the album with which i met Beastie Boys as a band, Sabotage, Get It Together (probably my fave B. Boys track ever), Root Down, Sure Shot, Sabrosa, Flute Loop, Shambala, Bodhisattva Vow. Excellent album, my memories wouldn't ever be the same without this album, even though I found it at least a year or more later.

― elgolfo (elgolfo), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:15 (twenty years ago)

Check Your Head by a big margin. Ill Comm is "Check Your Head 2" but I know some peoeple like the sequel more.

― Mark (MarkR), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:22 (twenty years ago)

Check Your Head by an incalculable number of light years. Ill Communication was a big let-down from where I'm sitting (though not as big a let-down as their last one).

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:34 (twenty years ago)

PLease --Check Your Head----

ill communication was the start of the fall for me
don't even get me going on their new album...

― jj, Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:42 (twenty years ago)

CLEARLY Ill Communication. I don't think there's a Beasties song more played out than "So Watcha Want"; I would be a happier man if I could guarantee that I would never, ever, ever, ever hear that song again.

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:45 (twenty years ago)

I don't think there's a Beasties song more played out than "So Watcha Want";

Yeah, but the arguable notion that the song is "played out" isn't the song's fault.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:48 (twenty years ago)

I'll go with IC, but simply b/c of "Phone is ringin'...oh mah God."

Don't ask these tough questions this early. Damn.

― Big Loud Mountain Ape (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:54 (twenty years ago)

It is true that it is more the fault of every corny vaguely-or-genuinely alternarat I've known since high school that the mere idea of this song makes my teeth hurt and causes my hackles to rise like a battle souffle. This does not change the fact that I now cannot stand even the thought of the song and I wish it had never existed (besides "Check The Mic" is and always will be a better song).

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 12:56 (twenty years ago)

Fuck either, just get The Sounds Of Science

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 13:10 (twenty years ago)

It could be argued that "Fight For Your Right To Party" is more "played out."

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 13:10 (twenty years ago)

causes my hackles to rise like a battle souffle

I'm so sorry, Dan, but I'm afraid I read this as "testicles to rise".

― Negativa, True Believer (Sheryl Crow in a Britney costume) (Barima), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 13:14 (twenty years ago)

is there any band ever for whom Miccio won't jock a singles comp above any studio album?

― kit brash (kit brash), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 13:24 (twenty years ago)

but it's true that both albums are tremendously uneven. I love "Check Your Head," but it don't flow like "Paul's Boutique" or "License To Ill."

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 13:25 (twenty years ago)

is there any band ever for whom Miccio won't jock a singles comp above any studio album?

Sugar Ray >> 14:59 > The Best Of Sugar Ray

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 13:27 (twenty years ago)

and I'll take Licensed To Ill over Sounds Of Science

― miccio (miccio), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 13:28 (twenty years ago)

It could be argued that "Fight For Your Right To Party" is more "played out."

It could be but that would be WRONG. Every other Beastie song is more played out, including non-singles like "Paul Revere".

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 13:59 (twenty years ago)

(Blatant hyperbole there.)

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 14:02 (twenty years ago)

Ill Communication, cuz if it's gonna be that kinda party, I'm a stick my dick in the mashed potatoes.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 14:09 (twenty years ago)

Also for the sick ass flute loops, "Eugene's Lament", the Tibetan dudes, and all that enlightenment shit.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 14:11 (twenty years ago)

Erase Pass the Mic.

Wait.

Expose them with Pass the Mic.

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 14:13 (twenty years ago)

Check Your Head, in lots of places, might as well be a MONEY MARK album.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 14:15 (twenty years ago)

Check Your Head is certainly fresher, and is often charming, even exciting in that respect. But it's also not very good.

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 14:45 (twenty years ago)

the singles might be better, but not the album

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

GABBNEB COMPLETELY AND UTTERLY OTMFM

― The Ghost of Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 14:48 (twenty years ago)

Gabbneb's right. I'll take "Hello Nasty" over either.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 15:03 (twenty years ago)

WELL, I AM - THE MAESTRO!!

― Negativa, True Believer (Sheryl Crow in a Britney costume) (Barima), Tuesday, 28 June 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

six years pass...

here's another question - would anyone vote Ill Communication if "Get it Together" was removed?

― frogbs, Tuesday, 1 November 2011 18:41 (fourteen years ago)

one year passes...

a full record of "punk" rock songs like Time for Livin' could've been a Beastie Boys masterpiece:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYqtw4GxMW0

― nostormo, Tuesday, 25 December 2012 22:17 (thirteen years ago)

I would vote Ill Comm tbh. I did hear it first mind you, and for some reason had The In Sound From Way Out before CYH so it never really worked for me in the same way as it might for others.
But to me Ill Comm is just a brighter, poppier and less messy record. The entire first half is smash after smash, style after style - here's a party rocker BAM! Okay here's a hardcore song! BASH! Now let's do a crazy boss's nova BOSH! It pulls no punches whereas COY sounds sloppier to me, like a disorganised mixtape, which is maybe why a lot of people prefer it.

― besides Sunny Real Estate (dog latin), Wednesday, 26 December 2012 01:10 (thirteen years ago)

Now let's do a crazy boss's nova

― ( ͡° ͜ʖ͡°) (sic), Wednesday, 26 December 2012 01:24 (thirteen years ago)

Haha, iPhone Lola

― besides Sunny Real Estate (dog latin), Wednesday, 26 December 2012 01:28 (thirteen years ago)

*Lols

― besides Sunny Real Estate (dog latin), Wednesday, 26 December 2012 01:28 (thirteen years ago)

um, nostormo

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0a/Beastie_Boys_-_Aglio_e_Olio.jpg

― t_s (how's life), Wednesday, 26 December 2012 09:12 (thirteen years ago)

it's ok, but it doesn't have the fat-dirty sound of Time for Livin', and there are no melodies, only straight hardcore punk, so...

― nostormo, Wednesday, 26 December 2012 15:33 (thirteen years ago)

one year passes...

So Wikipedia says the "single" version of Get It Together doesn't feature Q-Tip, which seems ridiculous because he's the most essential part of that track, but I'm curious about it now. Anyone know what iteration of the single it was released that way? Has anyone heard it?

― Johnny Fever, Friday, 7 November 2014 00:16 (eleven years ago)

I have the 12", and that's nonsense

― the incredible string gland (sic), Friday, 7 November 2014 01:20 (eleven years ago)

How bizarre

― Thackeray Zax (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 7 November 2014 01:30 (eleven years ago)

it's just quiet during those bits.

― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 7 November 2014 09:45 (eleven years ago)

on what?

― the incredible string gland (sic), Friday, 7 November 2014 13:16 (eleven years ago)

ON WHAT!

― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 7 November 2014 13:48 (eleven years ago)

oh sorry, I thought we were joining in

― joni mitchell jarre (dog latin), Friday, 7 November 2014 13:49 (eleven years ago)

one year passes...

would be more predisposed to Ill Communication if they didn't overdo it w the distorted vocals so much. dunno why they were so enamored of that sound at the time.

― Οὖτις, Thursday, 14 July 2016 19:07 (nine years ago)

because 90s

― jim in vancouver, Thursday, 14 July 2016 19:08 (nine years ago)

B-b-but which one did Miles prefer?

― Gabba Gabba Hey in the Hayloft (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 14 July 2016 19:21 (nine years ago)

one year passes...

shine like the sun

― reggie (qualmsley), Saturday, 9 September 2017 01:25 (eight years ago)

phone is ringing
ohmygod

― sleepingbag, Saturday, 9 September 2017 01:44 (eight years ago)

there's something coming to the surface

― earlnash, Saturday, 9 September 2017 03:15 (eight years ago)

one year passes...

Love “pass the mic”, the first two minutes crush

― calstars, Saturday, 29 September 2018 04:03 (seven years ago)

two years pass...

finally copped the Ill Communication record and I just realized I've never actually heard the uncensored version, I bought the Walmart version which backmasked all the swears. it was actually kind of hilarious on "Get It Together" which had a couple lines that were just completely garbled. even the line "hey, I ain't got no dust (??)" was fucked with

anyway I thought this was clearly CYH but this record is awesome too. I loved how far out the instrumentals got. "Futterman's Rule" felt like the most badass thing on the planet when I was 14. and "Shambala" was like something out of The Lion King

― frogbs, Thursday, 29 July 2021 02:36 (four years ago)

two years pass...

I’ve seen two geezers wearing check your head t shirts today who should really know better

― calstars, Wednesday, 10 July 2024 23:48 (one year ago)

I listen to check your head these days and I just hear garbage. Baffled that I once loved this record

― calstars, Wednesday, 10 July 2024 23:55 (one year ago)

great posts

― bae (sic), Thursday, 11 July 2024 02:22 (one year ago)

I should buy a check your head t shirt.

― BringTheAuBonPain, Thursday, 11 July 2024 03:10 (one year ago)

five months pass...

I don’t know what I was on about in July. Just put this on and it’s making me funky dance

― calstars, Saturday, 21 December 2024 16:34 (one year ago)

did they get any sleep while Brooklyn was gentrifying? can't remember - just remember the music was garbage!

― vodkaitamin effrtvescent (calzino), Saturday, 21 December 2024 17:02 (one year ago)

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