In honor of the Beastie Boys’ new release, The Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, we’re listening to their first seven albums (in order) and blogging our thoughts. Join us, won’t you, on a B-Boy Odyssey…
Licensed To Ill (1986)
1.Rhymin & Stealin
Hey these guys sound just like Led Zeppelin! God damn, I was six years old when this album came out, so I was not at the record store to pick it up, but it must have been sweet to put this on, not entirely knowing what you were going to get. “Rhymin & Stealin” has to be one of the best all-time first tracks on a debut album. “We are the Beastie Boys. This is what we’re going to do. If you don’t like it then, hey—,” oh wait, that comes later. There are so many songs to love from these guys, I always forget that “ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES” is one of my favorite Beastie hooks (I always sing the high-pitched part).
2. The New Style
I fucking love Adrock’s delivery. All three of them, actually. Granted, they worked together on some punk stuff before this, but it’s mind-boggling on an evolutionary scale that they decided to go the rap route and actually made it work.
3. She’s Crafty
Another Led Zeppelin sample (“D’yer Mak’er”). There are a bunch of tracks on LTI that actually have lyrics with a storyline. I feel like they went away from that on later albums. This song is about a loose woman that’s “just my type.” It also, contains the debut of Adrock’s whiny voice.
4. Posse In Effect
Here we go, back to the let’s-just-rhyme-things style that we all know and love:I got a girl in the castle, and one in the pagoda,Huh? AWESOME.
You know I got rhymes like Abe Vigoda!
5. Slow Ride
Is that a sample from “Low Rider?” It’s like a merengue version or something. Plenty of hoopdie-rides were rolling around Queens blasting this song in the summer of ‘86. Via cassette tape.
6. Girls
GIRLS. GIRLS. GIRLS. GIRLS. WALK. TALK. SMILE. NILE (NILE NILE NILE). DAY. WAY. MCA. PLAY. MAY. OKAY. D.J. BAY (BAY BAY BAY). SAY. HAY. NO WAY. GAY. DELAY. A-WAY. MAY. DAY. JOCKIN’ MIKE D TO MY DISMAY. GIRLS. GIRLS. GIRLS. GIRLS. GIRLS. GIRLS. GIRLS. GIRLS. GIRLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLS.
7. Fight For Your Right
Now we’re into the meat of the frat party music. There was a period of time where I think we all actually bought into the lyrics of this song. It was like “Get Up, Stand Up” for kids who had parents who didn’t like them doing things that might be detrimental to their health (read: all kids). Am I right though? Weren’t we all like, “I DO need to fight for my right to party. I HAVE RIGHTS, Mom and Dad.” It was probably around the time in my life where I thought I should get paid to go to school because it was “my job.”
8. No Sleep Till Brooklyn
The first time I heard this song I had no idea where Brooklyn was. Pretty sad considering most of my family is from Jersey, about 20 minutes from New York City. Mike D outs MCA as “in the back, getting’ with a whe’re.” I wonder if MCA ever has to explain any of that to Mrs. MCA. Also, there’s a guitar solo in this song. I’m thinking that it’s someone famous, like Eddie Van Halen or someone, but I’m too busy pumping my fist to check.
9. Paul Revere
Fuckin’ A, this song is awesome. Love the backwards loop. It gives us a glimpse into the formation of the group:
Looking for a girl,
I ran into a guy,
His name is MCA,
I said, “howdy,”
He said, “hi.”
After that, MCA asks Adrock for a sip of his beer. Adrock refuses and MCA PULLS A FUCKING SHOTGUN ON HIM! How can a band survive a first meeting like that, much less stay together for almost 30 years?! Wait, do you think that might not be how it all went down?
I’m afraid of what I’ll find if I Google “how to do it with a Wiffle Ball bat.”
10. Hold It Now, Hit It
Okay, 20 seconds in, and I can say this is the weakest song on LTI. Give me more frat party anthems and funny rhymes! This song features the 87th mention of White Castle. You really see the growth of these men by looking at their early work. We all know about their activism and political views now, but here’s where they came from:
You’re wet behind the ears,
You like men,
AND WE LIKE BEERS!
11. Brass Monkey
This is one of those party songs like “The Humpty Dance” and “Baby Got Back,” that I should really know all the lyrics to, but I do not. What’s in a Brass Monkey? Traditionally, rum, vodka, and orange juice. They talk a lot about beer though, so I think in this case it might be the less popular OJ-and-beer mixture. Gross.
(Wiki tells me that it’s a pre-mixed malt liquor beverage, whose sales spiked after the release of the song.)
12. Slow And Low
This is another song that just sounds like it should be a lot better. There’s a lot of empty space in this track. Like the mics are off in the studio because they don’t know what to say… So they just go back to the chorus. They should re-do some of these tracks with Mix Master Mike.
13. Time To Get Ill
Great way to wrap up LTI. I’ve got a Root Down EP that’s got a live version of this song that kicks ass. I don’t think I even heard the album version until I heard the live version and sought out the original. Hmmm, not so sure about the Mr. Ed theme song sample though. Forgot about that. I’m sure most of this shit I think it stupid is actually some awesome inside joke that I would think is the best thing ever if I knew about it. There’s also a little bit of CCR’s “Down On The Corner” thrown in there at the end of the track as the Beasties tell you what time it is for the last time. Then the 808 kicks in and takes you home…
Read all parts here.
1 comments:
In response to your suggestion that there was "some awesome inside joke" surrounding Licensed To Ill, I remember reading an interview w/ the BBoys in which they admitted the whole album was very tongue-in-cheek, kind of a spoof that somehow took off and became a legendary album. That's why, when they decided to get serious and release something truer to themselves three years later (Paul's Boutique), they caught tons of flak for veering from "their true sound."
As for the wiffle ball bat line in Paul Revere, I vaguely recall reading a Rolling Stone article when I was in high school or college that detailed some HS boys' rape of a girl w/ special needs, and one of the objects they used was a wiffle ball bat. I'm sure that line is one of many regrets the BBoys have from their early years.
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