Beastie Boys

The Beasties' classic 1986 debut hit the scene like a 500 ton megablast -- the first rap record to reach No. 1. It's loaded with crass humor, pop culture references, and numerous odes to dust, beer, and girls. Backed by rock-tinged 808 beats from Rick Rubin and Run-D.M.C., the album is a far cry from their later, more politically correct work. Obnoxious rap at its finest.

The Beastie Boys' first album should bear a prominent label, not to protect impressionable
teens so much as their elders. warning: certain scenes and references contained herein
may seem offensive, even dangerous, until you realize that it's all a colossal joke. "We
drink and rob and rhyme and pillage," goes "Rhymin & Stealin," the lead cut, and that could
also serve as the Beastie Credo. They also boast about smoking "dust," shooting p... More >

The wisecracking arrogance of this record is the only rock and roll attitude that means diddley right now. With the mainstream claimed by sincere craftspeople and the great tradition of Elvis Presley, Esquerita, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Sex Pistols, and Madonna sucked into a cultural vacuum by nitwit anarchists and bohemian sourpusses, three white jerkoffs and their crazed producer are set to go platinum-plus with "black" music that's radically original, childishly simple, hard to play, and accessible to anybody with two ears and an ass. Drinking, robbing, rhyming, and pillaging, busting open your locker and breaking your glasses, the Beasites don't just thumb their noses at redeeming social importance--they pull out their jammies and shoot it in the cookie puss. If you don't like the joke, you might as well put your money where your funnybone is and send a check to the PMRC. (Grade - A+)