The passing of Adam Yauch, a.k.a. MCA, has hit me harder than the heaviest beats on The Beastie Boys’ debut album, Licensed to Ill.
Perhaps more than any other band, I grew up with the BBs. Sure, my favorites remain The Beatles (a group sharing the first six letters) and Led Zeppelin, but they were much before my time (and the Beasties’, too… though they did sample both of them).
In a previous post entitled The Record of Records, I had detailed every single album that influenced me up until the year 2000 (a fine cutoff point for anything).
About Ill (not to be confused with III by Led Zep), I wrote:
This album was huge. I remember learning all the lyrics to “Paul Revere.” (I still know them.) As they’ve progressed through various genres of music, I consider them to be one of the most significant bands of all time. And this album was synonymous with fun. Amazing.
Among the several commented, a bloke named CJ replied:
Wish I had kept that clip taken from a mosh-pit during a pro neo-nazi/KKK rally where it showed the participants slam dancing to the Beastie Boys.
I replied:
CJ – It just goes to prove my point that everybody loves the Beasties. I don’t think there’s a musical act in history that endears you to a more eclectic collection of people, even if some of them give straight-arm salutes and likely distort the lyrics to Fight for your Reich.
In fact, “Revere” may have been the first song to which I knew all the words.
Furthermore, I stand by the “broadly appealing” sentiment, perhaps because the BBs moved from punk to hip-hop to modern rock. (I resent the term “alternative.” Alternative to what?) Recently, I started asking comics, “If you were a musical act, who would you be?” I’m no doubt the BBs… an evolving mosaic of pop culture, sampling everything from movies to other music.
Ill dropped in 1986, smack in the middle of fifth grade. We all loved it. I even recall John, Jon, Matt, Gabe (and I’m sure I’m missing a couple) dressing up as the Beachie Boys, replete with beach balls and jams, which were all the rage. The band largely went quiet until 1989, with Paul’s Boutique. I like the album in retrospect, but at the time, I think I was expecting more Revere and less Boutique. I may also have been too young to appreciate the transition… my modern rock phase was just beginning as I started to listen to R.E.M., Depeche Mode, The Cure, et al.
Check Your Head dropped my junior year in high school and everybody was asking each other loudly, “So Whatcha Want?”
Cue to 1994… and anyone who knows me knows that this is my favorite year. No one helped define it better than the Beasties. From high school through that summer into freshman year of college, we rocked these fools at the top of our stereos. I’ll never forget spending (wasting) all my time down the hall in Allspach & Dreyer’s room, kicking “Sure Shot,” “Root Down,” “Sabotage,” “Flute Loop,” and then toning it down with “Get It Together” on the late-night tip. (Or I guess, the Q-Tip.)
Such relatable lyrics, too. “I got a Grandma Hazel and a Grandma Tilly.” I mean, I have a Grandma Shakuntala and another Grandma Shakuntala, but close.
Actually, “Sabotage” helped me win my 4th straight Class Presidency term since I appropriated the lyrics for a campaign poster… LISTEN ALL Y’ALL, IT’S A SATYAL. All in all, I felt like they were with me as I grew up.
I’m in Denver, Colorado, for the weekend (fresh off of hearing the sad news yesterday from on-air personality, SK), on my way to visit my friend from 4th grade, Kyle, with whom I’ll surely reminisce. But as soon as I can get back East, I’ll pull a Kumar (that is my middle name, after all) and head to White Castle in honor of MCA. I may even do some long-form improv and pull a Harold & Kumar.
(Boy, that quip is as esoteric as the Beasties were not. But my Upright Citizens Brigade friends should get that. In fact, my favorite warmup game was Beastie Boys-inspired: you had to do a rap in BB form… Start with something like, “I was walking down the street and I saw a ___.” Then somebody would say a word and give it to the next person, who’d then have to make it rhyme. And so on and so on, we’d “Pass The Mic.”)
Yes, I realize this post is as convoluted as one of the BBs’ tracks (though not as good). I’m just a little scattered.. a little “Slow and Low.” Perhaps I’ll add to it… I’ve already thought of a few jokes, but for me, it’s too early. For now, I’ll close with this…
Adam, you were too young. You were always licensed to ill, but you were much too young to die.
#RIPMCA
