(originally published June 20, 2012)
Pollywog Stew (1982)
I never knew the Beastie Boys did straight-up punk.
Licensed to Ill (1986)
“(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)” was impossible to avoid. The video was on heavy MTV rotation, and I disliked the Beastie Boys for many reasons: shouty lyrics, frat-boy antics, low-level homophobia. Of all the things to fight for, I thought, why is partying first? But the biggest reason was that hip-hop wasn’t on my radar; I was twelve, and only making the transition from Top 40 to Euro synth-pop.
Paul’s Boutique (1989)
At Barnes & Noble, I spread all the alternative music magazines I could find in front of me on the table so that everyone could see how alternative I was. Even though Paul’s Boutique got plenty of positive press, my antipathy towards the Beastie Boys had evolved into indifference. They were mainstream, I thought, and to hell with the mainstream! I was too busy with the review of the latest Peter Murphy album and the up-and-coming Nine Inch Nails, who I suspected might get big.
Check Your Head (1992)
R___ had a poetry class with me. He wore baseball caps backwards and was in a fraternity: in other words, the type I associated with the Beastie Boys. And, sure enough, when I delivered a copy of my workshop poem to his dorm, there, on the floor, was Check Your Head. Mark Strand took a liking to R___’s work, much to my dismay. Strand held up phrases of his for us to examine: a crumb of soap. Grandmother slurping soup. I wondered, How was this possible? Strand gave me a C, and I retreated to the Baltimore raves, which frat boys hadn’t yet infiltrated.
Ill Communication (1994)
In X-Force #43, Rictor (a mutant with the ability to create seismic waves) takes his teammate Shatterstar (a warrior from another dimension) to the Limelight to teach him about human feelings. When Shatterstar hears “Sabotage,” he notes the atavism of the song, how the bass rattles his bones. When a young girl tries to dance with him, he runs away, wondering what it would take to make him feel human. Years later, he and Rictor become lovers.
Hello Nasty (1998)
Ad-Rock apologized for his past homophobia in a letter to Time Out New York. “There are no excuses, but time has healed our stupidity,” he wrote. “We have learned and sincerely changed since the 80s.” He takes it a step further in “Alive” when he raps “Homophobics ain’t OK,” while wearing a fuzzy powder-blue jumpsuit.
Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 (2011)
Adam Yauch passed away from cancer about a month ago. A friend in Brooklyn told me about passing a beauty salon that had a hand-written sign reading ‘R.I.P. MCA.’ I didn’t know what it meant, my friend said. Neither did I. Adam Yauch, to me, was not MCA but the founder of Oscilloscope Laboratories and vegan Buddhist. But, rewatching the videos, I realized how Adam Yauch is inseparable from MCA, the way I’m inseparable from my 80s self for which I have yet to apologize. There he is dressed like a scruffy 80s motorcycle rocker; then again with short-cropped gray hair. There he is his delivering a gruff rap about beer; then again criticizing disrespect towards women. There he is, still fighting.