{"id":39570,"date":"2005-12-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2005-12-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/licensed-to-ill\/"},"modified":"2005-12-16T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2005-12-16T00:00:00","slug":"licensed-to-ill","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/licensed-to-ill\/","title":{"rendered":"Licensed To Ill"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

I’m curious as to whether or not the Beastie Boys of
\ntoday would condemn the type of album the Beastie Boys of 1986
\nmade. Yes, the Beastie Boys have been politically active, women
\nrights-respecting, Dali Lama-befriending folks for almost a decade,
\nbut they still showed some of their prankster edge on To The
\nFive Buroughs<\/i>. Still, it’s doubtful that we’ll ever hear the
\nBeastie Boys ever put in a line like “I did it like this\/I did it
\nlike that\/I did it with a wiffle ball bat” on any of their newer
\nreleases.<\/p>\n

No matter how much awareness the Boys raise to
\nhorrific conditions in Burma, they can never erase the sloppy-drunk
\nlegacy that was Licensed To Ill<\/i>. Their major label debut
\nproved a rap album could be a monster hit (even though their
\nbiggest hits, “Fight For Your Right to Party” and “No Sleep Till
\nBrooklyn,” were more heavy metal than rap). For many who came of
\nage in the ’80s, Licensed To Ill<\/i> was their introduction to
\nrap (and who better to be the spokesperson of the emerging genre of
\nrap than a trio of white, middle-class, Jewish New Yorkers?).<\/p>\n

You can graph the Beastie Boys’ maturation by
\nclassifying their first three albums by the drugs most likely taken
\nto inspire their inception. Check Your Head<\/i> was the Beastie
\nBoys’ “pot” album. And if Paul’s Boutique<\/i> was recorded in an
\nacid haze, then Licensed To Ill<\/i> was most likely recorded
\nunder the influence of Schlitz, Spanish Fly and any other alcohol
\nyou could buy with the change in your pocket. Drunken disregard is
\nthe only explanation of kicking your album off with “Rhymin &
\nStealin.” The album kicks off with one of the most sacred drumlines
\nin rock (Led Zeppelin’s “When the Levee Breaks”) and a record
\nscratch pulls you into a beer-stench alleyway where Mike Diamond,
\nAdam Horovitz and Adam Yauch beat you down with repetitive
\nnonsensical lines like “Ali Baba and the forty thieves.”<\/p>\n

Even though Licensed To Ill<\/i> was a defining
\nalbum of the ’80s, its broad humor would have seemed in the
\nunderground circuit of the 1950s. Take the Big Bopper “doo-wop”
\nharmony of “Girls,” the greaser storytelling of “Paul Revere” and
\nthe baby-voiced whine of “She’s Crafty” and you’ve got an album
\nthat would have most likely been in heavy rotation on Lenny Bruce’s
\nturntable. Still, the 1950s probably weren’t ready for all of what
\nLicensed To Ill<\/i> offered, namely Slayer’s Kerry King’s
\ncontribution to “No Sleep Till Brooklyn.”<\/p>\n

It took Johnny Cash’s recording sessions to finally
\nbring many music critics to respect the production genius of Rick
\nRubin. He made Licensed To Ill<\/i> sound like a basement kegger
\n— complete with Mr. Ed samples and the aforementioned pillaging of
\nLed Zeppelin riffs. Rubin was able to keep things light, such as
\nthe cowbell-heavy “She’s Crafty” and slow things to a molasses
\ncrawl like “Slow Ride” and “Slow and Low” and make it all seem
\ntotally cohesive.<\/p>\n

Licensed To Ill<\/i> helped introduce millions to
\nRun DMC, LL Cool J and Public Enemy. The album even created a bit
\nof an overexposure backlash for the band, which resulted in the
\nfairly cool reception that first greeted Paul’s Boutique<\/i>. No
\nmatter. The Beastie Boys survived the backlash that came with
\nhaving the very first rap album to top the charts. While the album
\ndid little to convince people that rap was more than a fad, it did
\nhelp bring a genre that was generally still very much in the
\nunderground to the forefront of mainstream culture.<\/p>\n

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