Right? Which is weird, because this here board will most certainly discuss any aspect of popular culture into the ground without any over the top statements to riff off, just cause we generally skew older and pop culture proficient and we all hold strong opinions about such things.
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Nothing generates views online like “defending a controversial position.”
I’m not saying it’s without some validity (longevity, sales, influence), but they are not who would immediately come to mind if I were asked, and I bet even they feel weird about anyone calling them that.
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Run DMC has my vote. They were the first truly mainstream group I can think of.
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Art is subjective, “best of” is therefore impossible to determine. Beatles versus Stones. Rembrandt versus Leonardo. Stuff you talk about when you have run out of things to talks about.
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Beatles or the BeeGees, just as Scholastic’s Dynamite Magazine asked in their October 1978 issue.
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Yes, Beastie Boys are freaking incredible, even ground-breaking in a sense. But yeah, hyperbole is the death of interesting. But why has no one mentioned Public Enemy?! That’s some hard-core real shit right there.
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i mean, the headline does say “arguably,” so of course it’s open to debate. i wouldn’t say they were the greatest, but they were certainly creative, influential, and also instrumental in spreading it.
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everyone I gave a like to already said what I was going to say, i.e. NO, but I do so love them for what they are.
welcome to my living room:
edit: after watching the video, Murs’ argument is very nuanced. he’s not saying they’re his personal favorite, but in terms of sales, they can’t be caught due to having multi-platinum releases over a giant timespan. the other rappers who have also done that all started collab-ing with hot young acts to stay relevant and boost sales, which the Beastie Boys never had to do. plus many other arguments, all while acknowledging when white privilege played a role but also when it didn’t.
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Paul’s Boutique is a great album. I bought the remaster CD not too long ago.
Also, your secret of a stolen US mail box is safe with me 
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there’s nine more just on that same shelf, lol
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Ha I wanna see the results from that one.
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Little Simz does not get enough respect… and her latest is on album of the year lists.
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I never would have thought to propose them as greatest group in history, but the great thing about the Beastie Boys is that I only have to read their name and my brain starts to hear that chopper that comes in at 0:40 in Shake Your Rump
Not really up for getting into the controversy, but seems like Wu Tang and The Roots should be way up there on all time greatest lists. I don’t think just having been big mainstream is enough - influencing everything counts more to me.
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I don’t know if it’s splitting hairs, but I’m pretty convinced by the argument that Wu-Tang isn’t a rap group, per-se, they’re a crew. The distinction being that in a group, every member appears on every song (like a rock band), whereas a crew is an affiliated set of rappers who do songs all together, in various combinations, and also solo.
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Yes! That’s where I first heard of her, too–she was on everyone’s best-of list, except it wasn’t this past year, but in 2019 for GREY Area.
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i look on the beastie boys second album-- paul’s boutique as one of a trio of rap albums which closed out the 80s and solidified the place of rap in american music culture along with 3 feet high and rising by de la soul and public enemy’s it takes a nation of millions to hold us back. those three albums disseminated so fully and deeply into the musical consciousness of america and spread out to the rest of the world where there influences can be heard to this day.
what set the beasties apart from almost any other act on paul’s boutique was the depth of their pop cultural references which were so often tied to the samples they chose to use. like de la soul and public enemy they deserve to be remembered.
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That sent me looking for this Hank Shocklee interview:
Can’t believe it but that magazine came in the mail not long after my oldest kid was born…
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