Off the Charts: Beastie Boys

Nice guys who invented rap-rock

By Newt Briggs

One of the peculiar things about African-American culture is that white interest in black art is what sometimes incites proprietary interest in that art within the black community. Prime example: the emergence of the Beastie Boys. The rapid rise of this Manhattan-based trio of white MCs, whose debut, Licensed to Ill, sold 4 million copies, generated a racial chauvinism among black folks, making the Beasties the first whites (but hardly the last) to be accused of treading on 100 percent black turf.

--Nelson George, Hip Hop America

"I'm trapped in the past. You know, I just get nostalgic. The changing times and shit. I get nostalgic for Atari. You know what I'm saying? For a cheeseburger."

--Ad-Rock to Request, December 1998

Most people don't remember that when Mike D, Ad-Rock and MCA--also known as the Beastie Boys--busted out of Brooklyn and onto the pages of New Music Express in 1983, they were a punk band. But listening to the contemptible Polly Wog Stew EP and its slightly more palatable descendant Cooky Puss, it's clear the Beasties had much more in common with idiot-core acts like the Butthole Surfers and Angry Samoans than with Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc and the rest of the New York hip hop underground. In fact, not until 1986--seven years after the band's formation--did the Beasties actually release a bona fide rap album, and it was chock-full of fratboy drivel like, "You drippy nose knucklehead, you're wet behind the ears/ You like men, and we like beer" ("Hold It Now, Hit It").

To take that argument a step further, Licensed to Ill was also the first LP to combine rock and rap from start to finish. Produced by swarthy rap-rock mogul Rick Rubin, the album pinched riffs from the Clash, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC and at least a dozen other hard rock acts. At the time, it may have been an acceptable expression of post-punk New York's musical climate, but it was clearly the first salvo in a rap-rock barrage that would climax in Limp Bizkit's "Rollin'" (No. 4 on Blender's worst songs of all time).

And perhaps this is why the Beastie Boys have been inspired to do so many good deeds over the years. Not only did they ruin hip hop for African-Americans, they pioneered the most regrettable musical style in the history of pop since hair metal (and even that has a certain naive charm). So don't feel compelled to thank the Beastie Boys when they play the MTV2 $2 Bill Concert Series this Wednesday at the Huntridge. Just let them thank their lucky stars you're not pelting them with rocks--big, sharp, painful rocks.

FREE SHOW: Well, it's not exactly free, but $2 is definitely a bargain-basement price at which to catch the Beastie Boys (even if they haven't released an album since the Clinton administration). But you're going to have to be quick to get a ticket; only a limited number will be sold on the morning of the show. The official MTV2 stipulations are as follows: "Tickets will go on sale June 9 at the Huntridge Theater at 9 a.m. Please do not line up prior to 7 a.m. on June 9. Cash only." But smart people know they're technically not lining up if they're nibbling on churros in the Tacos Mexico across the street 36 hours before the show. More cinnamon for everyone!

FREE LOVE: Good news: The Beastie Boys have finally had the courage to step up and rap against the war. Because it really wasn't enough when every West Coast punk band, every band that still travels in a pre-2001 Ford Econoline Van, every band that hosts its own online message board, every musician who ever sang a song about a nonrenewable resource (including but not limited to love) and Sting were protesting the war all by themselves. Raise your voices, Beasties, and be heard: "In a world gone mad it's hard to think right/ So much violence hate and spite/ Murder going on all day and night/ Due time we fight the nonviolent fight" ("In a World Gone Mad...").

FREE MUMIA, TIBET, NADER, ETC.: But really, the Beastie Boys are pretty good dudes, and as long as you're not pushing up on their ladies, they'll probably throw a benefit concert for you. The short list of the band's charity interests includes New Yorkers Against Violence, the Tibetan freedom movement, Ralph Nader's 2000 presidential campaign, the Kosovo relief effort, the retrial of convicted cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal and the New York Women's Foundation Disaster Relief Fund.