Not my bag, baby. But this was a long gestating pet project. In Dan Leroy’s awesome book about the making of Paul’s Boutique, Tim Carr, formerly of Capitol Records, says that Ad-Rock spoke to him about an instrumental album as early as 1994. Carr’s response: “Great, everyone’s so tired of those adenoidal, nasal voices anyway.”

Not me. I’ve heard The Mix-Up, and I missed my favorite MC’s.

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SPECIAL BONUS! A LOOK FORWARD AT THE BEASTIE BOYS: THE HOT SAUCE COMMITTEE PT. 1!

In 2009, The Beastie Boys debuted a new song at a Tennessee music festival. “Too Many Rappers,” featuring guest vocals by Nas, quickly leaked to the web, and it’s pretty damn good, an old school lament about the current state of rap music. In other words, something I can agree with them on. “Too Many Rappers” was nominated for a Grammy, Best Rap Duo or Group, but lost out to Jay-Z (who is also awesome). The band announced that they would be touring in late-2009, in support of a forthcoming album called “The Hot Sauce Committee Pt. 1,” which was scheduled for release on September 15, 2009. My wife and I bought tickets to see them at The Hollywood Bowl, and we were planning to take our son, who has become quite the fan. (more…)

Why a Beastie Boys series on Big Hollywood? Perhaps “To the Five Boroughs,” an album that largely eschews the fun party vibe in favor of left-wing political rants, helps to answer that question.

Here’s the thing about politics and music, in my very humble opinion: They sometimes go together, but it has to be a unique marriage of artist and material in order to work. The less overt the better, except in the case of, say, “Public Enemy,” because their whole persona is based around politics (and reality TV, but I digress). I don’t necessarily have to agree with the political message to enjoy the music, which is good because if I did, I would only listen to the soundtrack to “Bob Roberts.” My pet rule of course isn’t limited to politics or music, but encompasses any message in any form of media that is MEANT TO ENTERTAIN ME.

In terms of politics and social issues, The Beastie Boys had become increasingly active in the wake of the terrorist attacks that hit their city on September 11, 2001, even organizing a New Yorkers Against Violence Concert. The simplistic “Peace is better than war” grated me; of course peace is better than war. On the cusp of US deployment into Iraq, the Beastie Boys released a much-downloaded song on Moveon.org, of all places. It’s an amusing, and yes, simplistic cry for peace. In it, the Beasties go out of their way to fawn all over Islam, which I didn’t get. It was getting tiresome to hear the left apologize on behalf of Muslims in the wake of 9/11. To hear the left tell it, crazy white people were going all vigilante on Muslims at 7/11’s across the country. I don’t recall anyone in the liberal elite defending Christians in the wake of the senseless killings of abortion practitioners. Nor would I want them to. (more…)

In 1998, the Beastie Boys announced the arrival of a new album with the release of “Intergalactic,” which in my opinion, is their biggest and best single to date. It’s certainly their most accessible single, mainstream but with a sound that’s undeniably Beastie. The accompanying video, masterfully directed by Nathaniel Hornblower, featured them battling giant robots in homage to Japanese monster flicks.

It. Was. Awesome.

Prior to the album’s release, they pulled another prank worthy of Andy Kaufman when they booked time on cheesy public access stations and ran a series of infomercials in which they hawked the album. Donning so-stupid-they-were-clever disguises, they marketed the album as a six-pack inducing exercise tool, a get-rich-quick money maker, and a juicer. Oh, they’re was also a psychic thrown in for good measure. It was an inspired bit, hardly well-advertised, which in concept and execution showcased their absolute strength as entertainers: they’re just fun. Good, stupid, irreverent, ridiculous fun. (more…)

[Ed. Note: Previous chapters of this outstanding series can be found here.]

Never before had a Beastie Boys album been so greatly anticipated. The release of “Ill Communication” was preceded by the single and video for “Sabotage,” an all-out screaming rock song. The video is legen- (waitforit) -dary, an instant classic that featured the Beasties and their DJ, Hurricane starring in spoof/homage of/to 70’s cop shows. Directed with style and wit by Spike Jonze, the video was the source of a little bit of controversy when it lost in every category to Aerosmith and R.E.M at the VMA’s. When Spike Jonze lost best director to whoever won for R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts,” as his alter ego, Nathaniel Hornblower, Yauch bum rushed the stage in full leiderhosen and interrupted Michael Stipe’s acceptance speech. Hornblower claimed that the awards were a farce and that in addition to his great work on “Sabotage,” Spike Jonze had conceived “all the best ideas for “Star Wars.”

With “Sabotage” and the VMA interruption, we were introduced to the Andy Kaufman side of the Beasties. The album was fine, their first number-one hit since “Licensed to Ill.”  It was the first Beastie Boys album to sound anything like the last one, and as such, was a bit anti-climatic. It features a few great songs, plus a cameo from Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest. They managed some funny lines (“Got fat bass lines like Russell Simmons steals money.”), but fewer and further between. Yauch had become a Buddhist, and so they included a song about it. I didn’t love it, or the Funky Instrumentals.

Another emerging theme was their newfound respect for women. On both “Licensed to Ill” and “Paul’s Boutique,” women were treated like objects, for the most part (Sample lines: “Girls! To clean up my room!,” “I love girlies, waxin’ and milkin’!”). But themes were far too playful for me to label the Beasties as misogynists. (more…)