The Beastie Boys started out as a Hardcore Punk act, releasing a handful of singles and EPs throughout 1981-83, but started out in Hip-Hop with rap parodies during their Punk shows in the early 80s. They quickly developed real skill with the "call and response" rapping style that was popularized in the mid-80s by acts like Run-DMC. I don't quite know how they hooked-up with Run-DMC's label (Def Jam) and producer (Rick Rubin) so early in their career, but it was a game-changer for all parties involved. Like a lot of the hippest acts in the US, their first big break came from the UK, and the earliest fruits of their collaboration with Rick Rubin and Def Jam was the 1985 UK hit "She's On It" (1985/UK#10) from the Krush Groove movie soundtrack. Right around this time, fellow New Yorker, Madonna (who was only on her second album at this point, but already as big as Prince or George Michael) tapped them as an opening act on several of her tour dates. They followed-up with a classic full-length LP hit called Licensed to Ill (1986/US#1, UK#7). The album sold well and performed well in Rap-friendly outlets and formats, but it was the Pop crossover success of their Rap-Rock anthem "Fight for the Right to Party" (1987/US#7, UK#11) that turned them into household names, almost overnight. That first album, Licensed to Ill only had the one US Top40 single (despite eight singles being pulled from the album), but the album itself sold like crazy, and every damn song on it became a perennial favorite. It took a couple of years for them to follow-up Licensed to Ill, and when they did, they released the greatest (and worst-selling) album of their career. 1989's Paul's Boutique is even more legendary than the first LP, and more artistically singular, as well. Where the first album was just full of jokey party raps by middle-class Jewish Frat Boys who clearly loved Run-DMC, Paul's Boutique (1989/US#14, UK#44) was a creative tour de force that helped kick-start the 1990s a year ahead of schedule. Co-produced along with the Dust Brothers, this was one of peak albums of the so-called "Golden Age of Hip-Hop" (1987-92). It was an absolute smorgasbord of sampladelic genius and mile-a-minute pop culture references that still sounds fresh to this day. But, for all intents and purposes, it was a commercial disappointment. Only one single, "Hey Ladies" (1989/US#36, UK#76) even cracked the Top40, but again, the album itself became absolutely legendary. During this time, Rap and Hip-Hop had evolved tremendously and gone mainstream - in large part, with help from The Beastie Boys, themselves. They were always respected by their Hip-Hop peers, but also had a huge (and growing) following in the huge (and growing) "Alternative Nation". College radio, normally the bastion of Indie Rock, absolutely adored The Beastie Boys, and they were chummy with hip, underground Rock acts like Sonic Youth as much as they were with Rap royalty like Public Enemy and De La Soul. Their third album, Check Your Head (1992 (US#10, UK#106), came out in the midst of the Grunge revolution, and you can absolutely hear the influence of Grunge on singles like "So Whatcha Want", "Pass the Mic", and "Gratitude". They had moved on from the Dust Brothers' wacky sample-heavy approach and their Rick Rubin "Rap Rock" days were all-but forgotten as they picked up live instrumentation (guitar, bass, and drums, played by the boys, themselves) again for the first time since their hardcore days. Now working with co-producer Mario Caldetto Jr. and multitalented keyboard wiz Money Mark, they were zeroing in on their style, even more. They got lots of MTV and industry love, but the singles faltered and the 1992 LP stalled at US#10. Assembling the same team for their fourth album, Ill Communication (1994/US#1, UK#10) somehow the gang found themselves back on top of the Billboard 200 and the videos for "Sure Shot" (1994/UK#27) and "Sabotage" (1994/US#115, UK#19) went into heavy MTV rotation. They toured the summer of 1995 with Lollapalooza, bolstering their Alternative Rock cred, too. At this point, they were widely respected as elder statesmen of Alternative and Hip-Hop, just as Rap Rock-influenced acts like Rage Against the Machine were coming into prominence. They also got more deeply involved in activism (mostly with respect to the "Free Tibet" movement), feminism (Adam Horowitz - Ad Rock had begun dating Riot Grrrl queen, Bikini Kill/Le Tigre leader, Kathleen Hanna), and were losing touch with the Hip-Hop audience who once adored them as it became more focused on G Funk's slack grooves and violent, sexist subject matter for much of the 1990s. "Intergalactic" (1998/US#28, UK#5) from their fifth album, Hello Nasty, was their biggest crossover since "Fight for Your Right" eleven years earlier, and proved to be the biggest hit LP of their career. They had somehow outlasted a lot of the Hip-Hop greats they emerged alongside, including NWA, Fat Boys, Whodini. Even some of the best Hip-Hop acts still in the game had disappeared from the mainstream (Public Enemy, Run-DMC, De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest), leaving The Beastie Boys as the last great 80s Rap act still standing at the dawn of the 2000s. They had also started their own label, Grand Royal, releasing music by Hip-Hop-influenced Alternative acts like Luscious Jackson (featuring Kate Schellenbach, their drummer from the Hardcore days), Cibo Matto (a clever Japanese duo, whose music belied a strong Paul's Boutique influence), and Post-Hardcore revivalists, At the Drive-In. They released a Greatest Hits box set in 1999 and a couple of albums in the 00s, but by that point, they were almost on autopilot. They had become so influential and well-respected (in Rock, Indie, and Hip-Hop circles) that anything they touched turned to gold for a while. Sadly, about a decade ago, Adam Yauch (MCA) passed away. The Beastie Boys went ahead and hung up their mics out of respect for their fallen comrade, and retired from recording as The Beastie Boys.
A great analysis of the Beastie Boys and their significance to Rap and Hip Hop is by Murs on the HipHipDX channel. ua-cam.com/video/XTcJ9groRo8/v-deo.html
Spot on!!!! My brother!!!! RIP Adam Yauch the beautiful Buddist. Never forget it was Adam that put together the concert "Free Tibetan Freedom Concert" Yauch forever is an inspiration for me. Cancer Sucks, The Beasties are amazing!!
The thing I love about the Beastie Boys is how sincere they are. They don't pretend to be black, or from the getto, or part of any gansta life. They know who they are and they are straight up about it. They fully understand the difference between appropriation and appreciation. They talk about old school hip-hop. They preach about those who came before them. They. Are. True.
They are old school Hip Hop. They were the first rap group with a Billboard #1 album. They are part of the foundation/formation of the genre. It wouldn't be what it is without them. They were crucial in making Hip-Hop more widely acceptable. They got LL Cool J put on. RUN DMC took them on tour. Beastie Boyz gave Public Enemy worldwide exposure by taking them on tour with them. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee. Pushed the genre by experimenting with different types of music.
Sabotage. A song with beats so DOPE that they turned it into a WEAPON in one of Star Trek's reboot timeline movies. This is an actual thing that happened (though by the 23rd century, the Beastie Boys are "classical music"). But that raises up an interesting point: if the Beastie Boys canonically exist in Star Trek's history, what are we to make of this song which has lyrics about Mr. Spock giving neck pinches? One fan theory goes back to the movie Star Trek 4 (the one with the whales) when they went back in time to mid 1980s San Francisco, and Spock gave the Vulcan Nerve Pinch to a punk who was playing his boombox too loud. There was a busload of witnesses to that event who could have also had a chance to overhear Kirk calling Spock by name, so who's to say that the story didn't spread about some guy named Spock in white robes and a headband who can just knock people out. Could have even become a bit of an urban legend in punk circles, and the Beastie Boys, who straddle the line between punk and Hip Hop, would easily have had a chance to hear the story and put it in this song.
"Licensed to Ill" is definitely the first album that blew them up in a major way! I was in High School playing basketball at the time. Talk about getting ourselves hyped up, in the locker room, before a game, "Paul Revere" was definitely our go to song!
The Beastie Boys were originally a punk band from Brooklyn in the 1980's, while playing small gigs around the NYC area they met and performed with many pioneering hip hop groups including RUN-DMC. The cadence they use for most of their career was directly inspired by these interactions. Their music is a great example of the difference between an MC and a rapper, the Beastie Boys were MCs.
The first single I can remember was Cooky Puss. Kate Schellenbach was the drummer at that time. First time (of many) times I saw live was opening for Madonna in Detroit. BTW Madonna is not a New Yorker. She was born and raised in the Detroit area. Moved to NYC after attending the University of Michigan.
"When did they get their big break?" 1986, with the album License to Ill. They had a smash hit from that album with the song "Fight for Your Right (to Party)." The song was making fun of knuckleheaded party music and the people who listen to it, but ironically, it was embraced as a party anthem by those very same people. It remains so today, guaranteed to get a room full of drunk people to their feet. Next Stops: LL Cool J, "Mama Said Knock You Out" (live, MTV Unplugged; he had a live band playing all his beats) Danger Mouse, "Encore" (this is a mashup of Jay-Z and the Beatles, from the excellent Grey Album) Public Enemy, featuring Anthrax, "Bring the Noise" (perhaps the best rap/metal fusion)
That actually isnt true. In 1985 they toured with MADONNA...yes, Madonna and on her Virgin tour on top of it. Their tour caused the popularity of Run DMC and others to skyrocket and is the reason why their debut album sold so well, they already had a large following. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virgin_Tour
If you think about it, three of their biggest hits (Fight for your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, and Sabotage) are kind of the predecessors to the '90s rap-rock stuff from Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park...
Saw BB at a music festival. They were the second to last group to go on. They killed it! So much so that the last group that came on stage was mad because everyone was sitting down during their set. The crowd had no energy left to give to the last group. The last Group was the Smashing Pumpkins.
Was that in Baltimore? I saw those two groups at a music festival around 2007, but I think they performed on separate days. Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, and Cheap Trick were all good.
Lollapalooza 94! Pine Knob, Clarkston, MI. I had the same reaction, the Pumpkins just stood there and played, no energy. I left halfway into the Pumpkins set.
The crazy part of the story is that, after License to Ill was released, the Beastie Boys went on tour with Madonna, yes, MADONNA. The caught fire across the country.
The Beastie Boys are loved and respected across all gendered of music; rap, hip-hop, rock, heavy metal. They started off as a punk influenced group that is why the learned to play instruments as per interviews they introduce to rap early on.
Yeah but they /really/ took time to learn their instruments before they put out their second album, Paul's Boutique. Ill was their bachelor degree, Paul's was their masters, and Check Your Head was the doctorate.
The coolest thing about this song that most people miss is that they rhyme every single line in between the hooks. Go back and listen. They go like 20 lines between hooks and each one rhymes. Their big break came by opening for RUN DMC in the late 80s. RUN DMC introduced suburban white kids to rap and the Beastie Boys made them fall in love with it for the first time.
Yep I remember when this came out. I was maybe 16 or 17. I considered getting the whole album but for whatever reason I didn't at the time. It took me until "Ill Communication" came out to realize how amazing they were. Also, I don't think they get enough credit for their instrumental songs. The two albums "In Sound from Way Out:" and "The Mix-Up" are very jazzy a lot different than what they are known for but makes it very clear that these guys are some extremely talented musicians.
The video pays homage to the Godzilla movies of the 50’s, and especially to the late 70’s, early 80’s gigantic robot movies that were so popular in Japan. The movies always had people dressed up in costumes fighting in a scaled down set. They were really pretty cheesy, and that’s why the production value of the fight scenes in this video look so low.
First big album was “License to ill” First really big hit from that was “Fight for your Right(to party)” They started on DefJam as some of the first artists on the label, along LLCoolJ and Run DMC. Beastie were an actual band too, that played a lot of just rock and jazz shows in their later careers, which added to their flow, like how a band has a lead and back up singers.. And since Hip Hop and Rock started and had a hay day in the 70s and 80s, Beasties were a great way to get rockers into this new thing, hip hop...
To better understand the "mmm, drop" line, listen to "The New Style" off of the Licensed to Ill album. Studio version would be good. There is also a video clip with Dave Chapelle doing the intro, and the band performing on a boat with Dave jamming right along.
A lot of people watch this and don't realize what they had to do to the tempo while they were filming this video. The beginning verses in the video are in slow-mo while the final couple of verses are in fast-forward while they're lyrics are rapping is always at the same speed throughout the video. Whoever came up with that concept was genius.
U know what?! I’ve loved the Beasties since Licensed To Ill & loved Missy since her black plastic bag blow-up suit (😛) & never thought of them having the same energy - and Amber was so right!!!
*turning the dial on my time machine back to 1986 when I was 19 yrs old... In July we saw the debut of Run DMC's version of the rock classic - Walk this Way by Aerosmith. When the music video dropped on MTV, we had never seen anything like it before. Rock and Rap together? WHAT?!?! They cracked open the door to give us a peek at this new type of "fusion music". Then several months later, Beastie Boys showed up to kick that door in with their debut music video "Fight for your right to party". MTV played it on a constant loop. Although it's not one of their favorite songs, the video itself is pretty damn funny. It introduced us to those silly Beasties. I bought their first album LICENSED TO ILL & 35 years later it is still on my playlist. There is a cute little song from that first album that most people skip over or forget to mention. It is one of my all time favorites from the boys because it is so unique & different sounding - nothing like what they typically give us. It is a bouncy, silly, fun, although a tad misogynistic, song. Whenever you get the chance, check out "GIRLS". They never made an official music video, but I think UA-cam may have a lyric version. Someone told me that there is a fan-made video by a group of young teenagers using the song but I've never seen it.
Licensed to Ill was their breakout with several singles that got major airplay on MTV, Fight For Your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, and Rhymin and Stealin were all big early hits for them. Paul Revere and Brass Monkey were other big hits but didn't have videos. That whole album was really full of eventual hits and their music crossed over between both hip hop and metal fans.
One of their best lines is "I got more suits than Jacobi and Meyers." totally inside joke for anybody who lived in NYC in the early 80s. Jacoby and Meyers was a local tv add about a law firm. was constantly on local tv.
They formed when Mike D left the punk band Young Aborigines. MCA joined as the Bassist later on. Then when Ad-Rock joined in 1982, they switched to hip-hop, eventually gaining the attention of Rick Rubin, before he became a legendary producer.
The Beastie Boys were known around NYC which was their stomping grounds but they first hit nationwide with the album Licensed To Ill. I was twelve that year. "Fight For Your Right (To Party)" blew everyone's MINDS. Huge MTV hit.
I'm an old head. One of my favorite bands ever. And they ARE a band because they actually play instruments. If you love the way they do videos, check out "Pass the Mic" from "Check Your Head" or "ILL Communication". If you look at who they've worked with, it ranges from Biz Markie to Kerry King from Slayer. They were all over the place musically. I miss them terribly because I don't feel like anyone can bring beats and fun like they used to, but again, I'm old😅
I was recently reminded of a country/southern rock song you would really enjoy. It is Keep Your Hands to Yourself by the Georgia Satellites. Great voice, fun lyrics.
Definitely. I've suggested this one a few times. I hope they react to it eventually because I'm pretty sure they'll enjoy it the same way they did Ram Jam's "Black Betty." I also think they'd enjoy some Kings of Leon (one of the more fun, uptempo ones preferably, even though everybody seems to recommend "Sex On Fire" instead).
@@RobSquadReactions 🤩 I used to put my oldest (now 13) on my hip and dance him around to No Sleep til Brooklyn to keep him awake when he would skip his nap and then start falling asleep while I was making dinner! "Brooklyn" in that case was 7pn 😄
What makes the Beasties so good is they themselves are musicians so they have a more experienced approach in the studio and they never took themselves seriously. They just go out there and have fun.
Love beastie boys so much. Lived listening to them as a kid and would listen to them with my mom. They were one of her favorite groups. She passed away away 6 years ago so I couldn't listen to them or a lot of the other bands we used to listen to but it was great hearing this from you guys and made me smile a liitle.
They started off as a punk rock band before they mixed rock and hip-hop and one of their last records was an instrumental album, imagine that. They always appeared to be just three chaotic knuckleheads when they actually were three absolute geniuses who broke up genres barriers and influenced so many artist coming after them. See, I grew up with rock and metal, all of my friends listened to it, but every single one of them loves the Beastie Boys. I think that says it all. They were the predecessors of bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers or Rage Against The Machine, all those bands that connect not even genres but also generations and fans from different sides. I absolutely love the Beasties.
I hope you read this Jay. The beastie boys started out as a punk rock band (yes, they played their own instruments) but never could really break through in that genre. They were good but not great. The story goes that they were pulling a goof with rap/ rock and played a song “ you got to fight for your right to party” that song went all over the air waves of both rock and hip hop radio stations. They became an over night sensation filling every venue they played. Not long after their hit other musicians attempted to copy with some success like Aerosmith remaking their hit “walk this way” in the remake they included run dmc. The beastie boys one day will be recognized for changing music. My opinion of course.
They came together as teenagers in NYC and had a hardcore/punk rock band, they put out an album which had music and comedy, it got noticed in college radio. They met a college (NYU) student named Rick Rubin who became their first DJ. They started rapping over Rick’s beats, Rick introduced them to a guy named Russell Simmons, they started a record label called Def Jam, put out Beastie Boys’ first rap album: License to Ill, and the rest is history. ✌
My wife was a VIP Hostess at The Danceteria, The World, and Limelight in NYC in ‘84-‘85 and says they would come in all the time but were too young to order drinks, so she would hook em up and knew her by name. They had started out as a punk band when they were teens called The Young and The Useless, but got heavily into the upcoming Rap and Hip Hop scene in NYC at the time and befriended Fab 5 Freddy, Grandmaster Flash, and Run-DMC among many others. Back then, DJs would battle each other live on the radio there in NYC, she came back from there with a bunch of amazing tapes she recorded live off the air back then.
Rap is one of the 4 elements of Hip Hop. DeeJaying, tagging (graffiti art) and breaking (dance) being the others. Other great rap groups from the same era that are worth checking include Public Enemy, Run DMC, De La Soul and Gangstarr. The Beastie's were on the same label as Run DMC and Public Enemy. The label also included metal bands Anthrax and Slayer. They all used to tour together.
You've got to remember that they got their start in 1981, so they were contemporaries of the early rappers. They were soooooo influential to the genre as a whole.
Beastie Boys completely unintentionally had the big party anthem of 1986 with “Fight For Your Right to Party.” Crazy because it was a parody of party oriented jock rock, that basically hooked all the jock rock fans. The rest of the album was closer to Run DMC style-wise. I mean, they sampled a lot of 1970s rock riffs, but they used them in a 100% hip hop way. If you wanted to listen to a song back then you usually ended up buying the cassette and playing it in the car on the strip, so they really brought a lot of young rock fans into the hip hop fold, just in time for the 90s. You would seriously hear Paul Revere thumping out of kids’ car speakers in the middle of Nebraska. It was like a gateway drug. Then their music videos were always super cool in a kitschy, Mystery Science Theater 3000 kinda way, so they were always on heavy rotation on MTV. If you pulled that off you got huge in a hurry back then. Everybody who grew up in the 1980s knows who Beastie Boys, Run DMC, LL Cool J, and Public Enemy are because they were on MTV every time you turned it on.
Definitely need to do more Beastie Boys. 'Fight For Your Right' 'Sabotage' 'Body Movin' and 'Make Some Noise' would be my picks. Also, watching the 'Intergalactic' video again reminded me of the video for 'Flux' by Bloc Party so maybe give that a try too?
The Beasties started in 1979 as a punk band. They slowly morphed into hip hop via The Sugar Hill Gang, Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5. Mainly East Coast Hip Hop. "Beastie" is an acronym standing for "Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Inner Excellence" When they were punk they opened for bands like Bad Brains, The Dead Kennedys and The Misfits(all punk royalty). In 1984 they met Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons who just started Def Jam records. Their first "hit" was Hold it Now, Hit It. In 1986 they came out with Licensed to Ill. It sold 26 million copies world wide. They have put out a total of 8 albums with so many bangers. They influenced everyone from Eminem to Korn. Rappers and rockers both love the Beasties. And now you do you. EVERYONE loves the Beasties....some just don't know it yet.
I think their old school rhyme style is one of the secrets to their longevity as a group. When you're passing it back and forth mid verse, mid rhyme, mid word even, it just requires them to A: be present together as opposed to just being off writing their own verse, and B: the level of co-operation, and having to be on the same page just brings more cohesiveness on a group level. The other secret? Having fun together. Not trying to out do one another. Just being silly and making each other laugh. There's just no room or need for beef between them. And people who don't know will never appreciate the references they drop Kool Moe Dee, Wild Style, Oooh Child... just off the top of my stoned head, and just in this song.
There's a valid argument that beastie boys saved hip hop by introducing a whole new customer base to rap. At the time hip hop was a very niche market. A lot of my friends from rock and punk got into rap specifically because of beastie boys. Their punk band origins influenced their sound and consequently appealed to a much broader range of fans.
fun fact for those that dont know at 3:00 after the robotic "intergalactic, planetary" part the voice is also saying "ANOTHER DIMENSION ANOTHER DIMENSION another dimension another dimension" up until their first verse. didnt realize this until i was in my late 20s 😂
Next you guys should do "Sabotage" by the Beastie's! The video's a takeoff on the 1970s Detective Shows that were such a trend back then. It's hilarious and super creative with a great song.. Intergalactic is about the same parr as far as I'm concerned.. I love em both.
Just watched all those Queen videos you just dropped so the idea of a Beastie Boys day, YES x 1000!!! It's a must. And two you'll have to do are "Fight for Your Right (to Party) and "Make Some Noise." The video for Make Some Noise picks up 25 years later where Fight For Your Right ends and has tons of cameos in it. Very funny video and one of the lasts videos before the death of MCA. I'd do those back to back. Very good and you mentioned wanting to know how they got big, well Fight For Your Right was the song that exploded for them. They were around several years, but that's when they really started to blow up.
Their biggest song, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (to Party), " was a huge hit in 1987, all over the radio and MTV, and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
NYC is where rap began. That's where the Boys came from. It was all underground for years. Like, break dancing. Nobody thought rap ever go mainstream. So, the original NYC vibe is still alive in their style...
Classical samples: 1. Rimsky-Korsakov’s arrangement of Mussorgsky’s A Night on Bald Mountain. 2.Elements of Les Baxter’s rendition of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor. Other samples: 1. The sound effect sample originates from the sound the Resonator makes in the 1986 film From Beyond. 2. Elements of the Jazz Crusaders album Powerhouse. 3.The closing “Do it!” is sampled from the 1971 Stovall Sisters song “Hang on in There”.
The Beastie Boys were an underground 80’s punk band. The legend I heard is they told Run-DMC it wasn’t difficult to make a hit rap album, and Run-DMC bet them they couldn’t do it, or make a bigger album than them, or something like that, and “License To Ill” was born. BTW, there’s a great Beastie compilation album of their instrumentals called “The In Sound From away Out” that really shows off their musicianship.
They were one of the rare groups that could play instruments and they stuck through it being the minorities in the rap game. 'So What'cha Want' is a great tune if you haven't heard it already.
Good call on the influence on Busta Rhymes. When MCA of the Beastie Boys passed away Busta tweeted his condolences and said that the Beasties were one of his biggest influences! Once I read that I kinda smacked my forehead and went "how did I not see that?"
OMG…in Jr. High when the License to ILL album came out we wore that sucker out! It was like NOTHING we had ever heard. Loved them from Day 1. Their first big song I recall was “Fight for your Right to Party”. The 80s was just a Magical time for so many reasons…image hearing Bon Jovi and the Beastie Boys for the first time in the 80s. Wow!
A quick Google search about the origins of the Beastie Boys says they formed in 1981 and were signed to Def Jam Records in 1985 (Def Jam was formed by co-founders Rick Rubin, then a young DJ and student at NYU, and Russell Simmons). I didn't discover them until their album called "Licensed to Ill" was released and a friend of mine brought it over one night... Love you guys!
The Beastie Boys started out as a punk band. Then they signed with Def Jam who was behind Run DMC. Their first rap album was License to Ill, which is one of my favorite albums of all time. Straight fire! However, they weren’t taken seriously as rappers, they were actually considered comedy in rap circles. At the time, there were Run DMC, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J and others who were setting the standard. The Beastie Boys were viewed as three crazy white boys cutting up, when they were actually ahead of their time. Their influence is evident in so many artists who followed.
I'm old and know entirely too much about the beastie boys, they started as a punk band (ua-cam.com/video/JaEdAtIAWvI/v-deo.html) and later switched over to rap with their first hit being "She's On It" (ua-cam.com/video/9PLfjhQG97I/v-deo.html) which was on the soundtrack for "Crush Groove" and the song got a lot of club and college radio play and was the first of three singles they released rapping. I first saw them opening for Madonna on the Virgin Tour 1985 where they were playing a mix of their unreleased album Licensed to Ill (which would be released about a half a year later) and their earlier singles (they had dropped the girl drummer right before I saw them play) I was only 15 when I saw them and just remember most of the crowd booing them (young new wave kids wanted Madonna) and how they kept teasing the crowd about booing them and they were going to tell Madonna to go home, my friend and I both loved them right away and I never would have imagined the heights they would later climb... Btw I still put "Paul's Boutique" as one of my favorite albums (any genre), I'm a producer and sampler and I'm always inspired by their sampling work, I used to use the same sequencer & sampler (ASR10) they were using during the 90s, always been a big fan of their work
Beastie Boys found LL Cool Js tape in a box and made sure the right people at the label heard it helping him get signed. They also took Public Enemy on that groups first major tour. The Beastie Boys go back to the very early days and are beloved by their peers for a reason. Check out the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame speech induction speech where LL and Chuck D talk about it.
CHEAP TRICK, Foreigner, Human League, Garry Puckett and the Union Gap, Jay (Black) and the Americans. All groups with multiple top 10s all need to be reacted to.
I wouldn't say the Beastie Boys were "discovered" by anyone as much as they were lucky enough to hire Rick Rubin as a DJ for their live shows. Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons formed Def Jam Recording (they were classmates at NYU) and asked them to record an album for them.
Thats not quite accurate... Rick was indeed their d.j. in the early days but he also absolutely found them as they were transitioning from punk to hip hop.
@@chuckhouse5179 They found each other more than were discovered since Def Jam didn't exist. They actually asked the Beatie Boys to make the first album for their new label (Def Jam) - and the first album was a 12" (not License to Ill). It's okay, we both know this is more so you can be pedantic because nothing you wrote really negates anything or clarifies it. They were already doing their own shows and when deciding to make an album they made the decision to focus on rap - it wasn't really a "transition".
They were literally rapping in Brooklyn when Rap was founded. They hired a young Rick Rubin as their DJ for a bit before he formed Def Jam records with Russel Simmons. Beastie Boys were one if the first groups Rick signed to Def Jam.
The Beastie Boys started out as a Hardcore Punk act, releasing a handful of singles and EPs throughout 1981-83, but started out in Hip-Hop with rap parodies during their Punk shows in the early 80s. They quickly developed real skill with the "call and response" rapping style that was popularized in the mid-80s by acts like Run-DMC. I don't quite know how they hooked-up with Run-DMC's label (Def Jam) and producer (Rick Rubin) so early in their career, but it was a game-changer for all parties involved. Like a lot of the hippest acts in the US, their first big break came from the UK, and the earliest fruits of their collaboration with Rick Rubin and Def Jam was the 1985 UK hit "She's On It" (1985/UK#10) from the Krush Groove movie soundtrack.
Right around this time, fellow New Yorker, Madonna (who was only on her second album at this point, but already as big as Prince or George Michael) tapped them as an opening act on several of her tour dates. They followed-up with a classic full-length LP hit called Licensed to Ill (1986/US#1, UK#7). The album sold well and performed well in Rap-friendly outlets and formats, but it was the Pop crossover success of their Rap-Rock anthem "Fight for the Right to Party" (1987/US#7, UK#11) that turned them into household names, almost overnight. That first album, Licensed to Ill only had the one US Top40 single (despite eight singles being pulled from the album), but the album itself sold like crazy, and every damn song on it became a perennial favorite.
It took a couple of years for them to follow-up Licensed to Ill, and when they did, they released the greatest (and worst-selling) album of their career. 1989's Paul's Boutique is even more legendary than the first LP, and more artistically singular, as well. Where the first album was just full of jokey party raps by middle-class Jewish Frat Boys who clearly loved Run-DMC, Paul's Boutique (1989/US#14, UK#44) was a creative tour de force that helped kick-start the 1990s a year ahead of schedule. Co-produced along with the Dust Brothers, this was one of peak albums of the so-called "Golden Age of Hip-Hop" (1987-92). It was an absolute smorgasbord of sampladelic genius and mile-a-minute pop culture references that still sounds fresh to this day. But, for all intents and purposes, it was a commercial disappointment. Only one single, "Hey Ladies" (1989/US#36, UK#76) even cracked the Top40, but again, the album itself became absolutely legendary.
During this time, Rap and Hip-Hop had evolved tremendously and gone mainstream - in large part, with help from The Beastie Boys, themselves. They were always respected by their Hip-Hop peers, but also had a huge (and growing) following in the huge (and growing) "Alternative Nation". College radio, normally the bastion of Indie Rock, absolutely adored The Beastie Boys, and they were chummy with hip, underground Rock acts like Sonic Youth as much as they were with Rap royalty like Public Enemy and De La Soul. Their third album, Check Your Head (1992 (US#10, UK#106), came out in the midst of the Grunge revolution, and you can absolutely hear the influence of Grunge on singles like "So Whatcha Want", "Pass the Mic", and "Gratitude". They had moved on from the Dust Brothers' wacky sample-heavy approach and their Rick Rubin "Rap Rock" days were all-but forgotten as they picked up live instrumentation (guitar, bass, and drums, played by the boys, themselves) again for the first time since their hardcore days. Now working with co-producer Mario Caldetto Jr. and multitalented keyboard wiz Money Mark, they were zeroing in on their style, even more. They got lots of MTV and industry love, but the singles faltered and the 1992 LP stalled at US#10.
Assembling the same team for their fourth album, Ill Communication (1994/US#1, UK#10) somehow the gang found themselves back on top of the Billboard 200 and the videos for "Sure Shot" (1994/UK#27) and "Sabotage" (1994/US#115, UK#19) went into heavy MTV rotation. They toured the summer of 1995 with Lollapalooza, bolstering their Alternative Rock cred, too. At this point, they were widely respected as elder statesmen of Alternative and Hip-Hop, just as Rap Rock-influenced acts like Rage Against the Machine were coming into prominence. They also got more deeply involved in activism (mostly with respect to the "Free Tibet" movement), feminism (Adam Horowitz - Ad Rock had begun dating Riot Grrrl queen, Bikini Kill/Le Tigre leader, Kathleen Hanna), and were losing touch with the Hip-Hop audience who once adored them as it became more focused on G Funk's slack grooves and violent, sexist subject matter for much of the 1990s.
"Intergalactic" (1998/US#28, UK#5) from their fifth album, Hello Nasty, was their biggest crossover since "Fight for Your Right" eleven years earlier, and proved to be the biggest hit LP of their career. They had somehow outlasted a lot of the Hip-Hop greats they emerged alongside, including NWA, Fat Boys, Whodini. Even some of the best Hip-Hop acts still in the game had disappeared from the mainstream (Public Enemy, Run-DMC, De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest), leaving The Beastie Boys as the last great 80s Rap act still standing at the dawn of the 2000s. They had also started their own label, Grand Royal, releasing music by Hip-Hop-influenced Alternative acts like Luscious Jackson (featuring Kate Schellenbach, their drummer from the Hardcore days), Cibo Matto (a clever Japanese duo, whose music belied a strong Paul's Boutique influence), and Post-Hardcore revivalists, At the Drive-In.
They released a Greatest Hits box set in 1999 and a couple of albums in the 00s, but by that point, they were almost on autopilot. They had become so influential and well-respected (in Rock, Indie, and Hip-Hop circles) that anything they touched turned to gold for a while. Sadly, about a decade ago, Adam Yauch (MCA) passed away. The Beastie Boys went ahead and hung up their mics out of respect for their fallen comrade, and retired from recording as The Beastie Boys.
Man! Thank you for this incredible info! 👍👍salute
A great analysis of the Beastie Boys and their significance to Rap and Hip Hop is by Murs on the HipHipDX channel. ua-cam.com/video/XTcJ9groRo8/v-deo.html
Spot on!!!! My brother!!!! RIP Adam Yauch the beautiful Buddist. Never forget it was Adam that put together the concert "Free Tibetan Freedom Concert" Yauch forever is an inspiration for me. Cancer Sucks, The Beasties are amazing!!
I'm with Roy on this one..
Their punk was fkn awesome.
Holy snappers
The thing I love about the Beastie Boys is how sincere they are. They don't pretend to be black, or from the getto, or part of any gansta life. They know who they are and they are straight up about it. They fully understand the difference between appropriation and appreciation. They talk about old school hip-hop. They preach about those who came before them. They. Are. True.
Exactly this!! And in my opinion is one of the many things that sets them apart..they’re style is authentic and genuine
They are old school Hip Hop. They were the first rap group with a Billboard #1 album. They are part of the foundation/formation of the genre. It wouldn't be what it is without them. They were crucial in making Hip-Hop more widely acceptable. They got LL Cool J put on. RUN DMC took them on tour. Beastie Boyz gave Public Enemy worldwide exposure by taking them on tour with them. Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee. Pushed the genre by experimenting with different types of music.
Perfectly put🇬🇧👊🏼
Sabotage has to be next! Beastie Boys are legends.
Yeeeeees. Sabotage! The song is incredible, but you’ve got to check out the video, too.
Sabotage. A song with beats so DOPE that they turned it into a WEAPON in one of Star Trek's reboot timeline movies. This is an actual thing that happened (though by the 23rd century, the Beastie Boys are "classical music").
But that raises up an interesting point: if the Beastie Boys canonically exist in Star Trek's history, what are we to make of this song which has lyrics about Mr. Spock giving neck pinches?
One fan theory goes back to the movie Star Trek 4 (the one with the whales) when they went back in time to mid 1980s San Francisco, and Spock gave the Vulcan Nerve Pinch to a punk who was playing his boombox too loud. There was a busload of witnesses to that event who could have also had a chance to overhear Kirk calling Spock by name, so who's to say that the story didn't spread about some guy named Spock in white robes and a headband who can just knock people out. Could have even become a bit of an urban legend in punk circles, and the Beastie Boys, who straddle the line between punk and Hip Hop, would easily have had a chance to hear the story and put it in this song.
💯
Yaaaasssss! Sabotage is my favorite! Beastie Boys are by far the best live concert I've ever seen. Legends.
Definitely!
The Beastie Boys are the reason why LL Cool J landed on his record label! Beastie Boys go waaaaaay back in Brooklyn, NYC, deep into the 80s!
"Licensed to Ill" is definitely the first album that blew them up in a major way! I was in High School playing basketball at the time. Talk about getting ourselves hyped up, in the locker room, before a game, "Paul Revere" was definitely our go to song!
I was in high school around this time too… we were young for classic rock, little for 80’s and our high school era had great music too!!
Aaah, yes, the memories of our youth. Where did all the time go? Thanks for sharing.
I could have written the same comment. But our warm up song pre-game was Basketball by Kurtis Blow
No doubt. "Basketball's" a classic, too!
My senior in high school every party I went to had a bottle of Brass monkey.
The Beastie Boys were originally a punk band from Brooklyn in the 1980's, while playing small gigs around the NYC area they met and performed with many pioneering hip hop groups including RUN-DMC. The cadence they use for most of their career was directly inspired by these interactions. Their music is a great example of the difference between an MC and a rapper, the Beastie Boys were MCs.
Truth. They are the epitome of what an MC is: the ability to rock a crowd and flow with whatever beat they're given.
The first single I can remember was Cooky Puss. Kate Schellenbach was the drummer at that time. First time (of many) times I saw live was opening for Madonna in Detroit. BTW Madonna is not a New Yorker. She was born and raised in the Detroit area. Moved to NYC after attending the University of Michigan.
@@LocalFoe Madonna is from Flint. Which is technically its own metro area.
@@bevil4aday Madonna is not from Flint lol. She was raised in Bay City.
@@PDC1987 heh, Bay City, Flint. Not much difference between the two.
3 MCs and 1 DJ, is straight fire.. Weird this hasn't gotten more views, some reactors make a living on B-Boys reactions..
that's probably one of their most basic yet amazing videos ever
Epic
So fun, so fire!
I'm not a rap/ hip hop fan, but I love the Beastie Boys.
You can’t be in a bad mood while listening to Beastie boys.
Yes I 100% agree with this statement!
It's tempered a bit once you remember MCA is no longer with us 😭
RIP MCA
I used to love to get baked to the Paul's Boutique album
bruh
'You Have to Fight for Your Right to Party' was one of their earliest mainstream hits in the 80's. Been a huge fan ever since.
“3 MC’s and 1DJ” is a must for anyone who likes the Beasties!
Run DMC blew up the Beastie Boys, especially after they toured together…Together Forever
"When did they get their big break?" 1986, with the album License to Ill. They had a smash hit from that album with the song "Fight for Your Right (to Party)." The song was making fun of knuckleheaded party music and the people who listen to it, but ironically, it was embraced as a party anthem by those very same people. It remains so today, guaranteed to get a room full of drunk people to their feet. Next Stops:
LL Cool J, "Mama Said Knock You Out" (live, MTV Unplugged; he had a live band playing all his beats)
Danger Mouse, "Encore" (this is a mashup of Jay-Z and the Beatles, from the excellent Grey Album)
Public Enemy, featuring Anthrax, "Bring the Noise" (perhaps the best rap/metal fusion)
That actually isnt true. In 1985 they toured with MADONNA...yes, Madonna and on her Virgin tour on top of it. Their tour caused the popularity of Run DMC and others to skyrocket and is the reason why their debut album sold so well, they already had a large following.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Virgin_Tour
Fight For Your Right has a very different sound though.
Wax is for Anthrax, still it can rock bells
Ever forever, universal it will sell
Time for me to exit
Terminator-X it!
@@jamesschmidt2234 BRING THE NOISE!
If you think about it, three of their biggest hits (Fight for your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, and Sabotage) are kind of the predecessors to the '90s rap-rock stuff from Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park...
"Fight for your right to party" was their first MTV hit. 😁❤️🎼
YESSSSS!!!❤❤❤
Saw BB at a music festival. They were the second to last group to go on. They killed it! So much so that the last group that came on stage was mad because everyone was sitting down during their set. The crowd had no energy left to give to the last group. The last Group was the Smashing Pumpkins.
I saw that tour's show outside DC. The pumpkins had been fighting or something and they were horrible. BB was incredible.
@@mlilback saw Smashing Pumpkins in a small bar. They were a bunch of whiners there too. Everything was everyone else's fault.
Was that in Baltimore? I saw those two groups at a music festival around 2007, but I think they performed on separate days. Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, and Cheap Trick were all good.
@@TheWood005 in cincy lollapalooza years ago
Lollapalooza 94! Pine Knob, Clarkston, MI. I had the same reaction, the Pumpkins just stood there and played, no energy. I left halfway into the Pumpkins set.
The crazy part of the story is that, after License to Ill was released, the Beastie Boys went on tour with Madonna, yes, MADONNA. The caught fire across the country.
The entire LICENSE TO ILL album was a smash hit.. FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT ( to party! ) was the first hit on the airwaves I believe.
They came....They saw....They KICKED ASS!!
The Beastie Boys are loved and respected across all gendered of music; rap, hip-hop, rock, heavy metal. They started off as a punk influenced group that is why the learned to play instruments as per interviews they introduce to rap early on.
Yeah but they /really/ took time to learn their instruments before they put out their second album, Paul's Boutique. Ill was their bachelor degree, Paul's was their masters, and Check Your Head was the doctorate.
@@jaylinnell4009 well said jay I've been a fan of the BOY'S SINCE THE LATE 80s insanely awesome live band
The coolest thing about this song that most people miss is that they rhyme every single line in between the hooks. Go back and listen. They go like 20 lines between hooks and each one rhymes.
Their big break came by opening for RUN DMC in the late 80s. RUN DMC introduced suburban white kids to rap and the Beastie Boys made them fall in love with it for the first time.
"Fight For Your Right (To Party)" was their first huge hit and was played a ton on MTV.
I believe I was a High School freshman when that came out, and this was pretty much the anthem for those high school years.
Yep that was it. Great answer
Yep I remember when this came out. I was maybe 16 or 17. I considered getting the whole album but for whatever reason I didn't at the time. It took me until "Ill Communication" came out to realize how amazing they were. Also, I don't think they get enough credit for their instrumental songs. The two albums "In Sound from Way Out:" and "The Mix-Up" are very jazzy a lot different than what they are known for but makes it very clear that these guys are some extremely talented musicians.
they hit it with Fight For Your Right off Licensed to Ill. Their first tour was then opening for Madonna. The group has an amazing story.
The video pays homage to the Godzilla movies of the 50’s, and especially to the late 70’s, early 80’s gigantic robot movies that were so popular in Japan. The movies always had people dressed up in costumes fighting in a scaled down set. They were really pretty cheesy, and that’s why the production value of the fight scenes in this video look so low.
First big album was “License to ill”
First really big hit from that was “Fight for your Right(to party)”
They started on DefJam as some of the first artists on the label, along LLCoolJ and Run DMC.
Beastie were an actual band too, that played a lot of just rock and jazz shows in their later careers, which added to their flow, like how a band has a lead and back up singers..
And since Hip Hop and Rock started and had a hay day in the 70s and 80s, Beasties were a great way to get rockers into this new thing, hip hop...
They were a new sound, and it's amazing at how many rap artist respect the beastie boys.
I think it’s not amazing how many rap artists respect the Beastie Boys.
Not amazing...it's well-deserved. They earned it.
Their song “The New Style” laid it out on their first album. One of the best beats ever. Review that song
"Three MC's and One DJ" by the Beastie Boys! Mad bars and a sick DJ. You'll love it.
To better understand the "mmm, drop" line, listen to "The New Style" off of the Licensed to Ill album. Studio version would be good. There is also a video clip with Dave Chapelle doing the intro, and the band performing on a boat with Dave jamming right along.
Leave it to the Beastie Boys to sample themselves
and then check out The Pharycde's "Drop" which uses that sample, and is one of the most unique music videos ever made
Hanson.
A lot of people watch this and don't realize what they had to do to the tempo while they were filming this video. The beginning verses in the video are in slow-mo while the final couple of verses are in fast-forward while they're lyrics are rapping is always at the same speed throughout the video. Whoever came up with that concept was genius.
Ok guys. Now you're getting there. Next...must "What'cha want." Then "3 MC's and 1 DJ" and "Sure Shot."
One of the early original hip hop groups from NYC. Helped break hip hop to the masses.
U know what?! I’ve loved the Beasties since Licensed To Ill & loved Missy since her black plastic bag blow-up suit (😛) & never thought of them having the same energy - and Amber was so right!!!
*turning the dial on my time machine back to 1986 when I was 19 yrs old... In July we saw the debut of Run DMC's version of the rock classic - Walk this Way by Aerosmith. When the music video dropped on MTV, we had never seen anything like it before. Rock and Rap together? WHAT?!?! They cracked open the door to give us a peek at this new type of "fusion music". Then several months later, Beastie Boys showed up to kick that door in with their debut music video "Fight for your right to party". MTV played it on a constant loop. Although it's not one of their favorite songs, the video itself is pretty damn funny. It introduced us to those silly Beasties. I bought their first album LICENSED TO ILL & 35 years later it is still on my playlist. There is a cute little song from that first album that most people skip over or forget to mention. It is one of my all time favorites from the boys because it is so unique & different sounding - nothing like what they typically give us. It is a bouncy, silly, fun, although a tad misogynistic, song. Whenever you get the chance, check out "GIRLS". They never made an official music video, but I think UA-cam may have a lyric version. Someone told me that there is a fan-made video by a group of young teenagers using the song but I've never seen it.
Licensed to Ill was their breakout with several singles that got major airplay on MTV, Fight For Your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn, and Rhymin and Stealin were all big early hits for them. Paul Revere and Brass Monkey were other big hits but didn't have videos. That whole album was really full of eventual hits and their music crossed over between both hip hop and metal fans.
One of their best lines is "I got more suits than Jacobi and Meyers." totally inside joke for anybody who lived in NYC in the early 80s. Jacoby and Meyers was a local tv add about a law firm. was constantly on local tv.
They formed when Mike D left the punk band Young Aborigines. MCA joined as the Bassist later on. Then when Ad-Rock joined in 1982, they switched to hip-hop, eventually gaining the attention of Rick Rubin, before he became a legendary producer.
The Beastie Boys were known around NYC which was their stomping grounds but they first hit nationwide with the album Licensed To Ill. I was twelve that year. "Fight For Your Right (To Party)" blew everyone's MINDS. Huge MTV hit.
Root Down, Rump Shaker, and Three MCs and one DJ. Trust me, they’re all 🔥🔥🔥
They’re in the ROCK and ROLL hall of fame…they are hip hop ✌🏼
All of today's rappers owe these guys homage, they paved the way.
I'm an old head. One of my favorite bands ever. And they ARE a band because they actually play instruments. If you love the way they do videos, check out "Pass the Mic" from "Check Your Head" or "ILL Communication". If you look at who they've worked with, it ranges from Biz Markie to Kerry King from Slayer. They were all over the place musically. I miss them terribly because I don't feel like anyone can bring beats and fun like they used to, but again, I'm old😅
Fight for Your Right (to party) was their big break. Huge cross over hit.
I saw these guys live nonstop fun and most energy I have seen from a non rock band it was an awesome experience they rocked
I was recently reminded of a country/southern rock song you would really enjoy. It is Keep Your Hands to Yourself by the Georgia Satellites. Great voice, fun lyrics.
Definitely. I've suggested this one a few times. I hope they react to it eventually because I'm pretty sure they'll enjoy it the same way they did Ram Jam's "Black Betty." I also think they'd enjoy some Kings of Leon (one of the more fun, uptempo ones preferably, even though everybody seems to recommend "Sex On Fire" instead).
They always have good beats and I love their flow. They just don't throw on sample beats from other songs but they seem to come up with their beats
Omg, LOOOOOVE Beasties!!! Intergalactic and SABOTAGE! are among my faves, along with No! Sleep! Til BROOKLYN!!!
The no sleep till Brooklyn lullaby on his cd is SO good.
@@RobSquadReactions 🤩 I used to put my oldest (now 13) on my hip and dance him around to No Sleep til Brooklyn to keep him awake when he would skip his nap and then start falling asleep while I was making dinner! "Brooklyn" in that case was 7pn 😄
What makes the Beasties so good is they themselves are musicians so they have a more experienced approach in the studio and they never took themselves seriously. They just go out there and have fun.
So many great Beastie Boys Song.. a whole day dedicated to them would be great :P
Love beastie boys so much. Lived listening to them as a kid and would listen to them with my mom. They were one of her favorite groups. She passed away away 6 years ago so I couldn't listen to them or a lot of the other bands we used to listen to but it was great hearing this from you guys and made me smile a liitle.
"Fight For Your Right" I believe got them on people's radar. I think "Sabotage" is a banger .
Beastie Boys are so unique. They have such an old school, but timeless sound. They are very true to what they sing, their sound and beats are awesome.
They started off as a punk rock band before they mixed rock and hip-hop and one of their last records was an instrumental album, imagine that. They always appeared to be just three chaotic knuckleheads when they actually were three absolute geniuses who broke up genres barriers and influenced so many artist coming after them. See, I grew up with rock and metal, all of my friends listened to it, but every single one of them loves the Beastie Boys. I think that says it all. They were the predecessors of bands like Red Hot Chili Peppers or Rage Against The Machine, all those bands that connect not even genres but also generations and fans from different sides. I absolutely love the Beasties.
Except the peppers I'm pretty sure were first if not concurrent. But I'm often wrong.
I hope you read this Jay.
The beastie boys started out as a punk rock band (yes, they played their own instruments) but never could really break through in that genre. They were good but not great. The story goes that they were pulling a goof with rap/ rock and played a song “ you got to fight for your right to party” that song went all over the air waves of both rock and hip hop radio stations. They became an over night sensation filling every venue they played. Not long after their hit other musicians attempted to copy with some success like Aerosmith remaking their hit “walk this way” in the remake they included run dmc.
The beastie boys one day will be recognized for changing music. My opinion of course.
A video you guys REALLY should check out by the Beastie Boys is: Pass The Mic. Probably my favorite BB song.
Oh, HELLLL yeah...... This song is one of my all time favourites from my childhood..... SO glad it was in here.....
"License to Ill": this album just exploded them on the scene-"You've Got to Fight for Your Right (to Party)".
They came together as teenagers in NYC and had a hardcore/punk rock band, they put out an album which had music and comedy, it got noticed in college radio. They met a college (NYU) student named Rick Rubin who became their first DJ. They started rapping over Rick’s beats, Rick introduced them to a guy named Russell Simmons, they started a record label called Def Jam, put out Beastie Boys’ first rap album: License to Ill, and the rest is history. ✌
Beastie Boys are always a fun listen. How could you not get in a better mood after that? 😆😁
My wife was a VIP Hostess at The Danceteria, The World, and Limelight in NYC in ‘84-‘85 and says they would come in all the time but were too young to order drinks, so she would hook em up and knew her by name.
They had started out as a punk band when they were teens called The Young and The Useless, but got heavily into the upcoming Rap and Hip Hop scene in NYC at the time and befriended Fab 5 Freddy, Grandmaster Flash, and Run-DMC among many others.
Back then, DJs would battle each other live on the radio there in NYC, she came back from there with a bunch of amazing tapes she recorded live off the air back then.
Rap is one of the 4 elements of Hip Hop. DeeJaying, tagging (graffiti art) and breaking (dance) being the others. Other great rap groups from the same era that are worth checking include Public Enemy, Run DMC, De La Soul and Gangstarr. The Beastie's were on the same label as Run DMC and Public Enemy. The label also included metal bands Anthrax and Slayer. They all used to tour together.
And every single band and group you reference all freaking slap! Absolute talent all over there!
First time ever hearing Beastie Boys. Mark me down as a HELL YES!
You've got to remember that they got their start in 1981, so they were contemporaries of the early rappers. They were soooooo influential to the genre as a whole.
Beastie Boys completely unintentionally had the big party anthem of 1986 with “Fight For Your Right to Party.” Crazy because it was a parody of party oriented jock rock, that basically hooked all the jock rock fans. The rest of the album was closer to Run DMC style-wise. I mean, they sampled a lot of 1970s rock riffs, but they used them in a 100% hip hop way. If you wanted to listen to a song back then you usually ended up buying the cassette and playing it in the car on the strip, so they really brought a lot of young rock fans into the hip hop fold, just in time for the 90s. You would seriously hear Paul Revere thumping out of kids’ car speakers in the middle of Nebraska. It was like a gateway drug. Then their music videos were always super cool in a kitschy, Mystery Science Theater 3000 kinda way, so they were always on heavy rotation on MTV. If you pulled that off you got huge in a hurry back then. Everybody who grew up in the 1980s knows who Beastie Boys, Run DMC, LL Cool J, and Public Enemy are because they were on MTV every time you turned it on.
Definitely need to do more Beastie Boys. 'Fight For Your Right' 'Sabotage' 'Body Movin' and 'Make Some Noise' would be my picks.
Also, watching the 'Intergalactic' video again reminded me of the video for 'Flux' by Bloc Party so maybe give that a try too?
The Beasties started in 1979 as a punk band. They slowly morphed into hip hop via The Sugar Hill Gang, Kurtis Blow, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5. Mainly East Coast Hip Hop. "Beastie" is an acronym standing for "Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Inner Excellence" When they were punk they opened for bands like Bad Brains, The Dead Kennedys and The Misfits(all punk royalty).
In 1984 they met Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons who just started Def Jam records. Their first "hit" was Hold it Now, Hit It. In 1986 they came out with Licensed to Ill. It sold 26 million copies world wide. They have put out a total of 8 albums with so many bangers. They influenced everyone from Eminem to Korn. Rappers and rockers both love the Beasties.
And now you do you. EVERYONE loves the Beasties....some just don't know it yet.
I think their old school rhyme style is one of the secrets to their longevity as a group.
When you're passing it back and forth mid verse, mid rhyme, mid word even, it just requires them to A: be present together as opposed to just being off writing their own verse, and B: the level of co-operation, and having to be on the same page just brings more cohesiveness on a group level.
The other secret? Having fun together. Not trying to out do one another. Just being silly and making each other laugh. There's just no room or need for beef between them.
And people who don't know will never appreciate the references they drop Kool Moe Dee, Wild Style, Oooh Child... just off the top of my stoned head, and just in this song.
There's a valid argument that beastie boys saved hip hop by introducing a whole new customer base to rap. At the time hip hop was a very niche market. A lot of my friends from rock and punk got into rap specifically because of beastie boys. Their punk band origins influenced their sound and consequently appealed to a much broader range of fans.
"3MC's & 1 DJ"
The DJ is Mix Master Mike - definitely Google him - his awards & collaborations are very impressive.
fun fact for those that dont know at 3:00 after the robotic "intergalactic, planetary" part the voice is also saying "ANOTHER DIMENSION ANOTHER DIMENSION another dimension another dimension" up until their first verse. didnt realize this until i was in my late 20s 😂
Next you guys should do "Sabotage" by the Beastie's! The video's a takeoff on the 1970s Detective Shows that were such a trend back then. It's hilarious and super creative with a great song.. Intergalactic is about the same parr as far as I'm concerned.. I love em both.
Just watched all those Queen videos you just dropped so the idea of a Beastie Boys day, YES x 1000!!! It's a must. And two you'll have to do are "Fight for Your Right (to Party) and "Make Some Noise." The video for Make Some Noise picks up 25 years later where Fight For Your Right ends and has tons of cameos in it. Very funny video and one of the lasts videos before the death of MCA. I'd do those back to back. Very good and you mentioned wanting to know how they got big, well Fight For Your Right was the song that exploded for them. They were around several years, but that's when they really started to blow up.
Sabotage is a great song and you will love the video performance on that one!
3 MCs and 1 DJ (official video)...it will blow you both away!
The Beasties Were one of the First Groups to Sign to The New Rap label Def Jam With LL Cool J & Run DMC.
There's an amazing doco on Apple+ TV - Beastie Boys Story - that's MC'd by the two remaining BBs. Shows how they formed and what got them to the top.
My introduction to the Beastie Boys was "Fight For Your Right To Party", but "Sabotage" and "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" are also good.
😁
Their biggest song, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (to Party), " was a huge hit in 1987, all over the radio and MTV, and is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
NYC is where rap began. That's where the Boys came from. It was all underground for years. Like, break dancing. Nobody thought rap ever go mainstream. So, the original NYC vibe is still alive in their style...
Classical samples:
1. Rimsky-Korsakov’s arrangement of Mussorgsky’s A Night on Bald Mountain.
2.Elements of Les Baxter’s rendition of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C# Minor.
Other samples:
1. The sound effect sample originates from the sound the Resonator makes in the 1986 film From Beyond.
2. Elements of the Jazz Crusaders album Powerhouse.
3.The closing “Do it!” is sampled from the 1971 Stovall Sisters song “Hang on in There”.
Something I fully dig about these guys is that they mix it up so smooth... ie in this song the background music changes at least 5 times.
Brilliant
The Beastie Boys were an underground 80’s punk band. The legend I heard is they told Run-DMC it wasn’t difficult to make a hit rap album, and Run-DMC bet them they couldn’t do it, or make a bigger album than them, or something like that, and “License To Ill” was born.
BTW, there’s a great Beastie compilation album of their instrumentals called “The In Sound From away Out” that really shows off their musicianship.
They were one of the rare groups that could play instruments and they stuck through it being the minorities in the rap game. 'So What'cha Want' is a great tune if you haven't heard it already.
I can't even. Bestie Boys meant so much in my life. Celebrity deaths don't often affect me personally, but losing MCA. Woof. That one cut deep.
3 mc's and 1 dj you guys will absolutely love
Good call on the influence on Busta Rhymes. When MCA of the Beastie Boys passed away Busta tweeted his condolences and said that the Beasties were one of his biggest influences! Once I read that I kinda smacked my forehead and went "how did I not see that?"
God damn. It's about time you got back to the Beastie Boys.
Did you just scream 'Oo God Damn?'
The creme de le creme is who I AM
Agreed 😂
OMG…in Jr. High when the License to ILL album came out we wore that sucker out! It was like NOTHING we had ever heard. Loved them from Day 1. Their first big song I recall was “Fight for your Right to Party”. The 80s was just a Magical time for so many reasons…image hearing Bon Jovi and the Beastie Boys for the first time in the 80s. Wow!
Straight beat-makers. These guys are legends. Check out Paul’s Boutique
The beats and (dear god) the samples on PB were from the Dust Brothers.
"Paul's Boutique" and "Ill Communication" are masterpieces.
A quick Google search about the origins of the Beastie Boys says they formed in 1981 and were signed to Def Jam Records in 1985 (Def Jam was formed by co-founders Rick Rubin, then a young DJ and student at NYU, and Russell Simmons). I didn't discover them until their album called "Licensed to Ill" was released and a friend of mine brought it over one night... Love you guys!
LOVE ME SOME BEASTIES!!! I believe their break through song was “Fight for Your Right To Party.” (that’s when I first heard them).
The Beastie Boys started out as a punk band. Then they signed with Def Jam who was behind Run DMC. Their first rap album was License to Ill, which is one of my favorite albums of all time. Straight fire! However, they weren’t taken seriously as rappers, they were actually considered comedy in rap circles. At the time, there were Run DMC, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J and others who were setting the standard. The Beastie Boys were viewed as three crazy white boys cutting up, when they were actually ahead of their time. Their influence is evident in so many artists who followed.
"The Beastie Boys were viewed as three crazy white boys..."
They're not white though.
I'm old and know entirely too much about the beastie boys, they started as a punk band (ua-cam.com/video/JaEdAtIAWvI/v-deo.html) and later switched over to rap with their first hit being "She's On It" (ua-cam.com/video/9PLfjhQG97I/v-deo.html) which was on the soundtrack for "Crush Groove" and the song got a lot of club and college radio play and was the first of three singles they released rapping. I first saw them opening for Madonna on the Virgin Tour 1985 where they were playing a mix of their unreleased album Licensed to Ill (which would be released about a half a year later) and their earlier singles (they had dropped the girl drummer right before I saw them play)
I was only 15 when I saw them and just remember most of the crowd booing them (young new wave kids wanted Madonna) and how they kept teasing the crowd about booing them and they were going to tell Madonna to go home, my friend and I both loved them right away and I never would have imagined the heights they would later climb... Btw I still put "Paul's Boutique" as one of my favorite albums (any genre), I'm a producer and sampler and I'm always inspired by their sampling work, I used to use the same sequencer & sampler (ASR10) they were using during the 90s, always been a big fan of their work
Icons and they dont have 1 bad song! Never will they ever be replicated!
Sabotage Live on Lettermen is a must 😎
Beastie Boys found LL Cool Js tape in a box and made sure the right people at the label heard it helping him get signed. They also took Public Enemy on that groups first major tour. The Beastie Boys go back to the very early days and are beloved by their peers for a reason. Check out the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame speech induction speech where LL and Chuck D talk about it.
Have you all reacted to Beastie Boys "Sabotage" yet? 😊
Thanks so much, guys. Go make your kids happy.
CHEAP TRICK, Foreigner, Human League, Garry Puckett and the Union Gap, Jay (Black) and the Americans. All groups with multiple top 10s all need to be reacted to.
I have watched this video a bunch of times💛💚showing someone for the first time. You guys are nice! Thanks for doing it
I wouldn't say the Beastie Boys were "discovered" by anyone as much as they were lucky enough to hire Rick Rubin as a DJ for their live shows. Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons formed Def Jam Recording (they were classmates at NYU) and asked them to record an album for them.
Thats not quite accurate... Rick was indeed their d.j. in the early days but he also absolutely found them as they were transitioning from punk to hip hop.
@@chuckhouse5179 They found each other more than were discovered since Def Jam didn't exist. They actually asked the Beatie Boys to make the first album for their new label (Def Jam) - and the first album was a 12" (not License to Ill).
It's okay, we both know this is more so you can be pedantic because nothing you wrote really negates anything or clarifies it. They were already doing their own shows and when deciding to make an album they made the decision to focus on rap - it wasn't really a "transition".
They were literally rapping in Brooklyn when Rap was founded. They hired a young Rick Rubin as their DJ for a bit before he formed Def Jam records with Russel Simmons. Beastie Boys were one if the first groups Rick signed to Def Jam.
Great stuff as usual guys ! You should try Beasties So whacha ya want or Hey ladies keep up the great reactions