at a glance...

Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Formed: 1981

Personnel:
Mike D (Mike Diamond)
MCA (Adam Yauch)
Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz)
with:
The Dust Brothers -production

Bands in the family :
Luscious Jackson, A Tribe Called Quest, BS2000, Money Mark, UNKLE, DFL

Notes:
Formed in New York City in 1981 by Mike Diamond and Adam Yauch, with drummer Kate Schellenbach and guitarist John Berry, The Beastie Boys began as straight-ahead punk rock band, joining the burgeoining underground club scene. In 1983, Schellenbach and Berry left, and Adam Horovitz joined; one year later they joined forces with aspiring record moguls Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons and their fledgling Def Jam Records. Their debut album, License to Ill, was released in 1986, and the mix of heavy metal riffs, punk attitude, and hip hop sensibility made the album an overnight sensation and the best-selling rap album of the 1980's. After a three-year hiatus, the Beasties took a monstrous leap forward artistically with Paul's Boutique, a groundbreaking masterpiece that introduced the world to the inimitable production style of The Dust Brothers. In 1992, the band formed their own record label, Grand Royal, built their own studio, G-Son, and picked up their instruments again to record Check Your Head, which catapulted them back into the spotlight. Followed (relatively) closely by 1994's Ill Communication, and a massive world tour, it would be another four years before the release of a full length album of new material, 1998's Hello Nasty. The Beastie Boys are also the founders of the Tibetan Freedom Concert, The Milarepa Foundation (dedicated to raising awareness and money in an effort to end Chinese oppression of Tibet and its people), Grand Royal Magazine, and X-Large Clothing.

Links:
Beastie Boys Mothership
We Love The Beastie Boys

The best story about this album has to be the one in which Russell Simmons and Chuck D, sitting in the Def Jam offices after they had dumped the Beasties, listened to Paul's Boutique in disbelieving silence; when it ended, they just looked at each other, thinking, "I guess they are for real after all." Vindication is sweet, baby, and so is this perfect piece of aluminum.

Everyone who knows this album has a favorite lyrical moment from it. My brother Tim votes for "'Is your name Michael Diamond?' 'No, mine's Clarence.'" My wife likes: "Lookin' down the barrel of a gun/Son of a gun/Son of a bitch/Gettin' paid/Gettin' rich!" My personal favorite moment is Mike D's freestyle right at the end: "I shed light like cats shed fur/Ride around town like Raymond Burr." No one (except maybe De La) had been rocking wild Dr. Seuss stuff like this since rap's early days, and it was needed.

These kind of lyrics needed the perfect sonic Procrustean bed, and this remains the second-greatest-sounding rap record of all time. So what if the Dust Brothers had already pretty much finished all the tracks, and the guys just rapped over 'em? It still feels like it sprang full-grown from the earth; one huge organic beast shivering down the D-train line, waiting to soul-kiss a doubting world. "The Sound of Science" is built from now-impossible samples of the Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-four" and "The End" (along with a great Ad-Rock interlude, some ill scratching, and a nod to KRS-One), and it's a tip-off: the Beasties really wanted this to be as expansive and diverse and generous as the White Album or Abbey Road. The latter album is explicitly referenced through the 12½-minute concluding medley, a whole bunch of little snippets stitched together into a "B-Boy Bouillabaisse." But even the less important songs rock: "Shake Your Rump," the single "Hey Ladies," "High Plains Drifter," and the all-time funkiest song about homeless guys who claim to be former rockabilly stars, "Johnny Ryall."

If you don't have this album, you should be ashamed of yourself. If you do have it, go listen to it right now, and then once a month for the rest of your life. Play it at your wedding reception. Teach it to your kids. Buy extra copies in case you get ripped off. I'm serious.