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UnevenEdge

Hot take: The Beastie Boys


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I gotta preface this with I'm not exactly a fan, though I do not by any means hate them, and I am only familiar with songs that were played on MTV and the radio.

Anyway:

Sabotage isn't that great of a song. It was the awesome video that made it great. Because that was a great fucking video.

The following are Beastie Boys singles / hits that I enjoy more than Sabotage on a purely musical level: No Sleep Til Brooklyn, Brass Monkey, and I think the other one is called So Watchu Want (even if its not, you know the one I mean, right?)

As an aside I don't think Fight For Your Right is that great strictly on a musical level either, but I can definitely get behind its message.

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2 hours ago, Raptorpat said:

Hm, I guess I interpreted it neither as intended nor at face value. I thought they were using the partying aspect as a metaphor for fighting for your personal freedoms to be who you are. Though as a kid I definitely took it at face value and thought it was a stupid song.

Not sure I understand how it's a parody of "frat boy" culture though. Frat boys tend to live on college campuses and don't have to worry about their parents telling them they'll kick them out if they don't cut their hair, to not smoke, how to dress, and throwing away their porno mags. Literally none of this is relevant to frat boys and all of it is relevant to rebellious teenagers.

Also not sure how often "frat boys" (quote-unquote) have long hair.

Edited by Doom Metal Alchemist
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2 hours ago, Doom Metal Alchemist said:

I gotta preface this with I'm not exactly a fan, though I do not by any means hate them, and I am only familiar with songs that were played on MTV and the radio.

Anyway:

Sabotage isn't that great of a song. It was the awesome video that made it great. Because that was a great fucking video.

The following are Beastie Boys singles / hits that I enjoy more than Sabotage on a purely musical level: No Sleep Til Brooklyn, Brass Monkey, and I think the other one is called So Watchu Want (even if its not, you know the one I mean, right?)

As an aside I don't think Fight For Your Right is that great strictly on a musical level either, but I can definitely get behind its message.

opinions are, of course, subjective and all, but my hot take is that I find this backward.

sabotage is a great song. great baseline. solid hook. love the use of guitars.

brass monkey sounds to me like something a ten year old wrote on the playground after lunch.

I do admit to gravitating more toward their rock inspired songs, though.

 

 

 

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1 minute ago, nameraka said:

opinions are, of course, subjective and all, but my hot take is that I find this backward.

sabotage is a great song. great baseline. solid hook. love the use of guitars.

brass monkey sounds to me like something a ten year old wrote on the playground after lunch.

I do admit to gravitating more toward their rock inspired songs, though.

 

 

 

Brass monkey's lyrics for sure sound like something like a 10 year old wrote on the playground after lunch. I guess I should clarify I usually don't pay much mind to lyrics and I was judging the song based on the melody played on the brass (?) instrument as well as the vocal delivery (not the lyrics).

I love the use of guitars on No Sleep Til Brooklyn. But an argument can be made that riff is more "metallic" while Sabotage and Fight For Your Right are more "rockish" without being metallic at all, so that fits more in my wheelhouse while for you it may be different.

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I like all those songs so its not super-controversial for me

7 hours ago, Doom Metal Alchemist said:

Hm, I guess I interpreted it neither as intended nor at face value. I thought they were using the partying aspect as a metaphor for fighting for your personal freedoms to be who you are. Though as a kid I definitely took it at face value and thought it was a stupid song.

 

To me one of the tells is that in the video, when they go "Your mom busted in and said, what's that noise?" a janitor shows up at the door instead.

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I like the Beastie Boys music, but I think Sabotage ended up falling victim to being overplayed in movies and shows.

Where instead of being hyped about a great rap-rock song, you’re reminded that the opening notes are there to let you know a wacky chase scene is about to start. 

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Their tunes were always catchy, but It's hard to take hip hop from a bunch of Jewish kids from Brooklyn all that serous when they were contemporaneous with golden age of West Coast versus East Coast rap.  Part of the reason the satirical overtones get lost is because the music itself is snarky and bright versus the comparative mature and complex rhythm of gangsta rap.  It's almost a joke.

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