I have a distinct memory of sitting down at the lunch table on one of the first days of 6th grade school year:
My friend had this image taped to his binder
and I was immediately fascinated.
This was during the heyday of the PMRC, the crusade against vulgarity in popular music led by the wife of that guy who was Bill Clinton's VP. The Beastie Boys got hit and put in the same dirty class as Prince and W.A.S.P. by the PMRC because they brandished an enormous inflatable penis onstage or something. Anyway Fight For Your Right was a radio hit at about the time that I got my first radio and the song made a big impression on me. To say the least, it's a fun album - I still listen to it occasionally.
Paul's Boutique is, of course, good and I was pleasantly surprised that the BB had gone from being a flash-in-the-pan novelty to a respectable hip-hop act. I didn't really listen to the album seriously until years later but when I did it stuck. Check Your Head was another surprising step up in a way. I was living in a college dorm when So What'cha Want hit big and I consequently drank much cheap beer along with nonstop infusions of marijuana while this album played in the background. Also, around this time I learned that the band could actually play instruments (they were a godawful hardcore punk band, though) and they could play funky jams that were so much hipper than those of actual jam-bands. I'll Communication was also surprisingly good. By this time I expected them to lose steam but they hadn't. All the later albums go downhill to me but I still own them. There's always at least one or two good songs on their worse albums.
Yes
Linear Mode
