At the piano bar, we used to always do Fight for Your Right to Party and most people would sing along with it. The most requested Beastie Boys song would be Girls. Every now and then I'll do Paul Revere and everyone goes crazy for it. That's my favorite. Always has been.
I have a Daft Punk remix of Intergalctic that I listen to pretty regularly, that would have to be my favorite. Hey Ladies ranks up there as well. The In Sound From Way Out is the album of theirs I listen to the most.
Have to add Shake Your Rump to my list. "Paul's Boutique" is one of those few albums (Kid A, and Dark Side of the Moon are some others) where you really have to listen to it with headphones. Completely different experience than if you listen without headphones.
amen. i'm gonna go isaiah thomas on you and say if the Beastie Boys were black, they'd be just another rap group. nothing special. i enjoy their music...i think it's fine. but i don't see them as revolutionary like some do.
Disagree. They were pioneers of rap. They toured with the first generation of famous rap bands they played to mostly black audiences, and rocked them mightily. Licensed to Ill was just about everyone's favorite rap album at they time it came out, white and black. It was revolutionary. I think with Paul's Boutique their popularity started to wane some with the black audience but how can you compete with Public Enemy? I remeber they were live, hanging out in the studio on Majic 102 around 1992, and people were calling in going ape****. They belong up there with anyone.
Meowgi -- I agree they rock. I just think Tribe, De La and others are far superior. I guess pioneers in cross-over. But the pioneers were years before the Beasties were popular. Run DMC is still king in that area, as far as I'm concerned.
Paul's Boutique. beginning to end. period. yes, the beasties were revolutionary. license to ill was one of the most anticipated albums of that era--regardless of genre. paul's boutique's release date came at an unfortunate time in the boys' career. it was released almost simultaneously to the public crushing of the party/"rape" accusations. it could have been one of the best selling albums of the decade, but instead it didn't even sell close to ONE million copies when it was originally released. the Dust Brothers dominate everything they touch (see "Odelay" and beck's newest album vs. all of his other releases.) again, Paul's Boutique...
check your history books. de la and tribe were probably buying their weed and ecstasy from the beasties while school was in session.
i loved them in high school, but i dont think their music has aged very well. i saw them at the unicorn in 1992 and it remains a top 5 ever show for me, but witht the occasional paul's boutique i just cant listen to them anymore. it seems like their stuff of the last few albums is a bad parody of their 80's stuff. it would have been cool if they had relied more on actual playing, like alot of the stuff on check your head. they were kind of evolving that way, and than fell back on the old school beasties style on their last few albums. i would defintaly say at this point they are coasting on their laurels.
i didn't mean they were contemporaries. but i'm thinking their debut albums were only separated by about 3 years. 1990 was the first Tribe studio cut, with People's Instinctive Travels. i was really talking about the quality of the music...which i realize is entirely subjective and really not arguable. tribe's stuff is timeless, to me.
Their old stuff is so classic. I like their newer albums too, just not as much. Paul Revere Crafty Intergalactic Brass Monkey Sabotage And the Beasties were around years before De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest, afaik. And I wouldn't characterize them a pure rap group, they have a style that's pretty unique.
(In no order) Body Movin' Brass Monkey Sure Shot Fight For Your Right Intergalactic Ch-Check It Out Girls Come to think of it, those are the only songs I've ever heard by them, and I like every one. I guess I should look into them some more.
Absolutely, positively disagree. Their technical wizardry in sampling (I can't remember, but I think Ad Rock did much of it) alone was revolutionary. They did bring rap to the forefront of multicultural America, but they did way more than that. Licensed to Ill was nothing like any other album of the day. It is and will go down as one of the top rap albums of all time simply for the turn it took from "the usual". You know the lyrics are silly and non-sensical, but the songs still kicked. They had an edge/a funk to them without the Beasties coming out being hardcore or anything. Hell, the way they can switch from college sillyness in Licensed to Ill to the funk beats in Check Yo Head (underrated album!) was pretty amazing. Not to mention how many groups have had the longevity these guys have had? If you can get Chuck D's nod as being one of the greatest and influential rap groups of the time, you can get the nod from me as well.
technical wizardry is a phrase too often underused. i promise to use it in a sentence today. i'm trying to work on a jury charge, but i'm way distracted, because it's friday. i need to gather myself and assert some technical wizardry.
I feel exactly the same way, about that show and everything. But how well has all that old rap help up? Max, I actually like De La and Tribe more than Beasties. I have listened to those albums hundreds of times. I bought Tribe's "Travels" the day it came out when nobody knew who they were because I read they were "related" to De La Soul. But they are not far superior to Beasties, or even superior. There is a depth to Besties Boys lyrics on PB that the average listener, like me, doesn't even realize. They are talking about some heavy ****.
is this the part where i say, "disagree" or "strongly disagree" or "absolutely, positively disagree" or "i'm using my technical wizardry to disagree?" it's music. it's al subjective. that's why i posted, "i think" before my assertion about Tribe's superiority. in my humble opinion, Tribe rocks the doors off anything i've ever heard in rap music...at least consistently, song to song. there are songs here and there from other performers, including modern performers, that are great. but in terms of being able to put out albums of music that i love, it was Tribe...and then everyone else.
