What your fave era of the Beastie Boys?

1978-1984 The Polly Wog Stew/Cooky Puss (Punk Rock) era

1985-1988 The Licensed To Ill era

1989-1991 The Paul's Boutique era

1992-1993 The Check Your Head era

1994-1997 The Ill Communication era

1998-2003 The Hello Nasty era

2004-2006 The To The 5 Buroughs era

2007-2012 The Mix-Up to Adam 'MCA' Yauch's passing era

Check Your Head

while I enjoy their later stuff a lot, still it is clearly Pauls Boutique era for me. that album just blew me away first time I heard it, and it sounds as fresh to me today as it did back then.

oh, and I still haven't heard anything from the punk rock phase, but I doubt this era would top my list

It shouldn't surprise you because I was 14 going on 15 but my favorite era was Ill Communication! Every video and live appearance I enjoyed very thoroughly.

Paul's Boutique & Check Your Head, for me... really interesting albums.

I almost saw them at the end of their punk days, they did a gig with the Meatmen, Fang and Tales Of Terror that I just missed going to with my friends. We were shocked when they started opening for Madonna about a year later.

Ill Communication era

Beastie Boys’ Licensed To Ill Album Certified Diamond By The RIAA, A 1980s Rap First!

Nearly 30 years old, the Beastie Boys’ 1986 debut album, Licensed To Ill has sold 10 million copies. Officially certified diamond status, the Def Jam Records release (the only the Beasties recorded for Russell Simmons & Rick Rubin’s then-label)—this is the first for the 30-plus year-old label. Jay Z, DMX, Public Enemy, LL Cool J, and Kanye West—all onetime Def Jam artists, have not yet accomplished this feat. In fact, no 1980s Rap albums have reached diamond, until L.T.I.

Following LL’s Radio, the debut from MCA, Ad-Rock, and Mike D was Def Jam’s second full-length release, after the label had received a distribution deal with Columbia/Sony Records. Notably a group of three white MCs, Licensed To Ill would be the first Rap album to debut at #1 on the charts—and it stayed there for a staggering five weeks.

The 13-track effort, produced by the group and mentor Rick Rubin, would include the hits “You Gotta Fight For Your Right (To Party),” “Paul Revere,” “Girls,” and “Brass Monkey.” Rooted in a party theme, the album focused on drinking, mischief, sex, and debauchery. For the music, samples—like some of Run-DMC’s work at the time—were pulled from Classic Rock bands like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, and The Clash. Additionally, the Beasties pulled from their contemporaries such as Joeski Love, G.L.O.B.E. & Whiz Kid, and Sugarhill Gang. The results gained support from Rock radio, something that collaborative act Run-DMC had also experienced with “Walk This Way” that same year.

Notably, Licensed To Ill is separated from much of the Beasties’ other catalog. Recorded when the group was either teens or in their early twenties, the album would not match their maturing sound and lyrics. After all, Rolling Stone reviewed the LP, “Three idiots create a masterpiece.” The group’s subsequent tour of the same name featured an inflatable penis, and cages of female fans. The sex-crazed lyrics were matched with these objects, along with beer showers and partying on stage.

Following 1987, the Adam Horovitz, Adam Yauch, and Michael Diamond collectively decided to cease ties with Def Jam Records, Russell Simmons, and Rick Rubin. Signing with Capitol Records, where they immediately began recording 1989’s Paul’s Boutique, the trio remained at the storied imprint through MCA’s death from cancer in May, 2012. That same week, Licensed To Ill re-entered the Top 200 at #18.

In his book, Life & Def, Russell Simmons credited catalog sales of Licensed To Ill in later years, for helping sustain Def Jam Records through some creative and financial transitions in the early 1990s.

Do you think Licensed To Ill is deserving to be the first 1980s Rap album, or the first Def Jam LP to sell 10 million copies?

Spotted at XXL.

I hated the Beasties until Check Your Head.

Paul's Boutique is My FAVORITE Beasties project PERIOD!!!!

bobzilla77 said:

Paul's Boutique & Check Your Head, for me... really interesting albums.

Yep, same for me!

Paul's Boutique is one of my top ten favorite hip hop albums ever. I had the Licensed To Ill album for awhile, but came to detest it in later years. I stopped listening to them after Ill Communication.

i love them all...

pre and license to ill being my least favorite, but damn, from paul's boutique on (excepting maybe 5 burroughs) they could do no wrong as far as i'm concerned. hot sauce committee is the shit. such a strong album. nonstop disco powerpack all day!

[Edited 3/17/15 10:03am]

sexton said:

Paul's Boutique is one of my top ten favorite hip hop albums ever. I had the Licensed To Ill album for awhile, but came to detest it in later years. I stopped listening to them after Ill Communication.

I hated To The 5 Buroughs. Didn't care after that one.

From about 89 to 95 they were one of my favorite groups. Saw them open up for Sonic Youth once. Probably one of the best concerts I have ever seen. Interesting interview here with Mike D. who looks like a Beastie Man now:

gotta respect them for what they did for hip-hop and for not selling their music for use in commercials

Beasties were always cool but for me The Mix-up album and their non commercial jammin was some of their best music and something I still listen to alot of to this day...

Long live Beastie Boys!

[Edited 3/17/15 16:29pm]

Not a lot of love for Licensed To Ill here.

JabarR74 said:

Not a lot of love for Licensed To Ill here.

i think their output since just has it overshadowed...it is a great album, but they became so much more and better after.

JabarR74 said:

Not a lot of love for Licensed To Ill here.

Not so fast!
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PB.

Were you guys all fans of Paul's Boutique as the sophomore follow-up album in 1989? Those PB cassettes filled entire delete bins in the early 1990s.

Cinny said:

Were you guys all fans of Paul's Boutique as the sophomore follow-up album in 1989? Those PB cassettes filled entire delete bins in the early 1990s.

because PB was such a massive departure from ill that it turned off alot of frat boys who just wanted to get drunk and fuck.

The Beasties on Soul Train

Cinny said:

Were you guys all fans of Paul's Boutique as the sophomore follow-up album in 1989? Those PB cassettes filled entire delete bins in the early 1990s.

absolutely...paul's boutique was the soundtrack to my summer when it dropped. license to ill was familiar as a novelty record that got a lot of airplay, but this record was a phenomenon. from the first time i saw the shake your rump video til constant rewind/replays of looking down the barrel of a gun wore my cassette out, paul's boutique asploded my head. we used to roll in my buddy's late 70s ford ltd that he had somehow wired some big-ass cabinet speakers to, having egg fights and other drink/drug induced mayhem, deafening ourselves to this album.

[Edited 3/19/15 8:18am]

[Edited 3/19/15 8:25am]

JabarR74 said:

Not a lot of love for Licensed To Ill here.

Are you kidding?!? The Beasties' Licensed To Ill album was the later part of my childhood and right before my teen years! How my fellow orgers can sleep on Paul Revere, Hold It Now Hit It, Brass Monkey, Slow And Low, & Time To Get Ill is beyond me.

Beastieography from the 'Hello Nasty' era

Cinny said:

Were you guys all fans of Paul's Boutique as the sophomore follow-up album in 1989? Those PB cassettes filled entire delete bins in the early 1990s.

for sure. I liked the Dust Brothers since the Tone Loce debut (and later was crazy for Young MC of course ) but Pauls Boutiques was simply another level. there were not many albums that year I played more frequently

Easy