Beastie Boys: Classic or Dud?

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.

For the generation weaned on Danny Bonaduce, awakened by Haldeman, Erlichman and Dean, and enlightened by punk and its progeny, this disillusionment casts doubt and cynicism on not only our leaders, but on the mass media that stimulate our national mood.

I thought that was a really great article, until I reached this part, which just totally went over my head. Who are these people?

old school!!! (almost 20 years ago, natch, but yow!!!)

They all went to jail.

GHAGARRRAGH

I'll stop there. Sure the last few have been largely recycled material, and yeh, I've got mixed feelings about the whole "P.C. Boys" vibe. But are they Classic????? They are one of the utmost classic artists of our time, and if ya don't know, now ya know.

How about an instrumental "Paul's Boutique" release? Now that I'd buy...

Particularly for the way they divide people here. Cleverer and more innovative in retrospect than they seem at the time. Equally stupid and annoying and repetitive. I hated License to Ill as a teenager in the late 80s. (Kind of teenager I was.) The first album I got into was Ill Communication, which blew me away.

Yeah the rapping is horrible. (Except it sounds *amazing* on those Kleptones bootlegs that put Intergalactic and Body Movin over Queen's Radio Gah Gah and I Want to Break Free.)

Hello Nasty : Apart from Intergalactic some of the party tracks are kind of dull. But I love the song that sounds like Broadcast. (I'm forever putting it on mix-tapes with a kind of "guess who this is" subtext.) and some of the other non-rap tracks are more than filler.

What's the later stuff like?

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"