Author: rrhoea

Fifty cups of coffee and you know it’s on

A recent conversation started me thinking about my favourite albums, or at the very least, the albums that shaped me and my personality (or possibly spoke to the personality I already had). It’s impossible to rank such a list, but some items that make the shortlist are obvious.

The first album I ever bought with my own money was Hello Nasty by Beastie Boys. At that time I was familiar with their previous work, but not intimately. My knowledge was largely drawn from their clever and often amusing music videos.

So in a similar vein, Hello Nasty was introduced by way of the video for Intergalactic. It was hilarious, fresh, and experimental. And I can’t pass a robot voice nor a thumping beat. That song was, and still is, a JAM. I wanted to see more, hear more and learn more.

In 1998 I was 15. I had a job at the local pharmacy delivering medication to little old ladies on my bike. I made $6 for my 90 minute shift after school, two days a week. On a good shift, I’d get to deliver to Gladys Day – who, despite living only a block away from the pharmacy would give a whopping $2 tip. There’s a reason I remember her name 22 years later.

So in a good week, I’d make $15. An album was over twice that, and in those days all you had to go off was what you’d heard on the radio or seen on TV. I took the plunge and bought it, and got far more value than I had paid. I listened to that album on loop. I was a regular on the (very active for 1998) Beastie Boys message board and made friends from all over the world.

Last year I read Beastie Boys Book, which I thoroughly recommend to general music fans. One thing that delighted me was a chapter by Adam Horovitz titled “Hello Nasty Is Our Best Record”. Horovitz goes on to outline his reasoning, and what grabbed me was that I agreed with all of it. Hello Nasty is weird, genre hopping, lyrically both deep and goofy, and yet all works. And the cover artwork encapsulates all of this. Horovitz says it best:

Hello Nasty is more mixtape than record. A gift from us to you. When you get a sec … listen to the songs Song for Junior, Song for the Man, Sneakin’ Out the Hospital, I Don’t Know, and Body Movin’. Are those songs supposed to be by the same band on the same record?

Adam Horovitz, Beastie Boys Book

Most of those who only casually know Beastie Boys seem to draw their conclusions from Fight for your Right (To Party). In my case, I wasn’t even aware of their first album until years later and was surprised how different that was from the band I’d come to know from listening to (in this order) Hello Nasty, Check Your Head, Paul’s Boutique, Ill Communication, and To The Five Boroughs. To this day I still surprise friends when I play tracks such as I Don’t Know or Song For Junior and tell them it’s Beastie Boys.

I was fortunate enough to see these guys play three times, the highlight being their 2005 “dress to impress” tour at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney – right up front in the January heat. When Adam Yauch died of cancer in 2012, it was the first time that a celebrity death had ever affected me. These guys were always true to themselves, did things the way they wanted, and pushed boundaries. They were never afraid to speak up for injustice, be it Tibetan freedom, endless war, or sexism (“Like you got the right / to look her up and down“). And all the while they were happy to goof around and have a laugh (“Dogs love me cause I’m crazy sniffable“) or drop cultural references in French or Spanish. When I visited New York City for the first time in 2011 I felt I already knew my way around based off Beastie lyrics.

They were never in it for money or fame – they just did what they loved and said what they felt. Ad Rock, Mike D and MCA had an overwhelmingly positive impact on that 15-year-old-me and the life that followed.

Play or fold, love is bold
What is the future that will unfold?
Some like it hot, others like it cold
But we all want to hold the remote control

Remote Control