550 Hello Beastie Boys - ( You Gotta ) Fight For Your Right ( To Party )

Chart  entered : 28  February  1987

Chart  peak : 11

Number  of  hits  : 15

We've  crossed  a  personal  Rubicon  here  as  we're  now  discussing  records  released  after  I  started  work. As  I  was  working  in  an  office  environment , there  was  no  radio  which  means  I  can  no  longer  say  whether  records  got  airplay  or  not. Mind  you, post- Jack  Your  Body  getting  to  number  one,  that  wasn't  such  an  important  factor  any  more.

 Beastie  Boys  arose  from  a  hardcore  punk  band  called  Young  Aborigines  in  New  York  in  the  summer  of  1981 . Vocalist  Michael  Diamond  ( born  1965 ) , guitarist  John  Berry  and  drummer  Kate  Schellenbach  invited  Adam  Yauch   ( born  1964 ) to  replace  a  departing  bass  player  and  renamed  themselves  Beastie  Boys.  They  released  an  eight  track  EP  "Pollywog  Stew"  in  1982. The  lyrics  are  mostly  unintelligible  and  to  British  ears  most  of  it  sounds  as  tediously  retarded  as  the  likes  of   The  Exploited   although  there  are  passages  of  more  disciplined  guitar  from  Berry. He  left  shortly  after  its  release  and  was  replaced  by  Adam  Horovitz  (  born  1966  )  from  punk  peers  The  Young  And  The  Useless.  Beastie  Boys  played  on  the  New  York  circuit  with  the  likes  of  Bad  Brains, Dead  Kennedys  and  Reagan  Youth  but  were  also  keeping  an  eye  on  the City's  burgeoning  hip  hop  scene.  

Although  three,  wholly  or  partly  Jewish  white  boys  and  a  girl  were  unlikely  conduits  for  the  new  music  they  released  a  track  "Cooky Puss"  on  an  EP  in  1983 , based  on  a  prank  call   to  an  ice  cream  company , and  incorporating  scratching  and  samples. It's  incoherent  and  frankly  dire  but  its  acceptance  in  the  underground  dance  clubs  convinced  the  three  lads  that  this  was  the  way  forward. Schellenbach  wanted  to  stay  a  punk  and  quit  at  this  point  with  Mike  taking  over  behind  the  drum  kit  when  necessary.

As  the  group  incorporated  rap  into  their  set  they  decided  they  needed  a  DJ  and  selected  Rick  Rubin  another  ex-punk   and  white  enthusiast  for  hip  hop. Rubin  had  also  set  up  a  new  record  label  with  Russell  Simmons  called  Def  Jam  and  signed  Beastie  Boys  to  it. They  released  their  next  single  "Rock  Hard  in  1984. The  single  takes  the  riff  from  AC/DC's  Back  In  Black   synchronises  it  with  a  monster  breakbeat  ( for  which  Rubin  took  a  writer's  credit ) and  the  lads  shout  over  the  top  of  it. The  sample  was  uncleared  and  with  AC/DC  predictably  opposed  to  the  concept  it  had  to  be  withdrawn  promptly.

Their  next  single  "She's  On  It"  came  out  in  November  1985  after  the  song  was  featured  in  the  film  Krush  Groove, Simmon's  self-mythologizing  account  of  the  early  days  of  Def  Jam. Rubin  came  up  with  the  hard  rock  riff  while  Adam  H  supplied  the  tasteless  lascivious  lyrics  which  they  whine  in  turn. I  find  it  grindingly  boring  but  it  was  a  top  10  hit  on  reissue  in  1987.

In  April  1986  they  released  their  next  single  "Hold  It  Now  Hit  It"  which  turned  out  to  be  the  lead  single  for  their  album  "Licensed  To  Ill"  though  that  didn't  come  out  until  six  months  later. Like  early  Run DMC  the  guys  are  rapping  over  a  bare  percussion  track  with  just  the  occasional  sample  to  break  the  monotony.  It  still  confounds  me  that  anyone  could  enjoy  listening  to  these  obnoxious  frat  boys  shouting  (  or  whining  in  the  case  of  Adam  H -" "Ad Rock" - whose  gnat-like  voice  is  particularly  aggravating )  about   their  loutish  lifestyle  with  the  occasional  break  for  profundities  like  "I  come  from  Brooklyn  cause  that's  where  I'm  from"  with  no  tune  in  sight   for  three  minutes   but  I  guess  that's  just  a  rite  of  passage  for  everyone.

The  next  single  "The  New  Style" , released  just  ahead  of  the  album  is  just  as  impenetrable  - the  line  "We  got  the  kind  of  voices  that  are  in  your  face"  couldn't  be  more  true. This  one  came  with  added  objectionable  lyrics  about  shooting  people   and  "The  girlies  I  like  are  underage". Despite  the  fact  that  none  of  their  singles  had  made  the  Billboard  chart  the  album  "Licenced  to  Ill"  was  an  instant  success  and  became  the  first  rap  album  to  top  the  US  chart  ( here  it  got  to  number  7 ) .

"( You  Gotta )  Fight  For  Your  Right  ( To  Party ) "  was  the  third  single  from  the  album  in  the  UK  and  was  boosted  by  a  sudden  interest  in  the  band   from  the  tabloids  eager  for  some  Sex  Pistols-style  outrage   (  the nonsense  that  they'd  been  rude  to  some  disabled  kids  at  the  airport  was  almost  a  re-run  of  the  Pistols'  puking  story  and  just  as  fictitious ).  Adam  Y  and  his  friend  Tom  Cushman  wrote  the  song  as  a  parody  of  empty-headed  frat  boy  behaviour  but  of  course  that  wasn't  understood  by  most  of  its  audience.  Mike  D  later  commented  ruefully "There  were  tons  of  guys  singing  along  to  "Fight  For  Your  Right"  who  were  oblivious  to  the  fact  it  was  a  total  goof  on  them".

Musically  the  single  is  something  of  a  compromise. One  of  only  two  tracks  on  the  album  not  to  use  samples  it  also  eschews  any  urban  slang  in  its  attempt  to  get  across  to  a  white  rock  audience. The  guys  fall  into  a  disciplined   verse  chorus  structure  with  a  break  for  a  guitar  solo. Only  the  rhythmic  rigidity  and  non-melodic  vocals  stop  it  being  an  out-and-out  rock  track. Although  not  their  biggest  hit,  it's  probably  their  best-known  track  in  the  UK   and  I  suspect  many  people  still  remember  the  video  and  recall  them  as  the  bastard  offspring  of  John  Belushi.