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Jagara - RE Beastie Boys story
Watched it two nights ago and thoroughly and completely loved it. It answered a bunch of questions I've had over the past few years even though they're not a musical constant for me much these days. It was a fantastic distraction from this chaos we're living in.
It brought back a lot of great memories of how entrancing they were in my high school days. There's not a single other band amongst the big ones back then that ever made us think "I want to live like that. I want to be THAT cool." Other major bands made equally great music around that time (92-96 and on into college years) - Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, RATM, etc. etc. - but none of them for us as high school kids in suburban north Texas had the allure that Beastie Boys did. The Beastie Boys made NYC feel like this far off land of amazement that might as well have been the moon - anything we got our hands on, videos, articles, photos, etc. to me at least made me look upon that city as an epicenter of coolness and possibility (Sonic Youth had a lot to do with that as well back then) that no other band could come close to. Nobody wanted to learn about Seattle because of Pearl Jam. Nobody wanted to learn about Chicago because of Smashing Pumpkins. But the Beastie Boys at that time for me defined NYC. They created this mystique that only an urban city of that size and cultural melting pot could create.
Things I never knew...
I never knew how tight they were with Run DMC even though they started with that schtick of intentionally emulating them. Never knew they toured with Madonna.I probably never knew that full Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons story of their start. I never knew that so much of what they did was a calculated bit, and that's always been my biggest wonder. How much of what they did was a goof, a bit, a joke? It doesn't make any difference to me in the end, but it was enlightening to see just how much was schtick until they really morphed into genuine musicians and exploded creatively. Those clips of them on talk shows just being absolute fools were cringe-inducing, but at that time and that place they were loving it, and that was really cool.It was also cool to see how much Adam Yauch had to do with their image, creative direction, and song ideas. I'd known a bit about that over the years, but it's clear he was the brains behind most of what they did, but it only came together because of their equal dedication.
All in all, such a great documentary and great format as a live show being rebroadcast.. It made me miss being in high school, a world before the Internet when info about bands was far more previous and much less readily available like it is now. I'm glad I'm the age I am to have experienced that. It was kind of an innocent time in that regard... the power of seeing a band for the first, second, third time and not going into it full of pre-watched YouTube clips that wear down the mystique. The first Beastie Boys show I saw at Fair Park in Dallas in 1995 was an incredible experience. The walk through the parking lot full of every type of person you could imagine - hip hop guys with bass rattling their cars, afros, punks, jocks... Just driving out to Dallas in my dad's truck because my Datsun certainly wouldn't make it was an experience in itself. John Spencer Blues Explosion, and The Roots opening up... Beastie Boys just going berserk as we were in the general admission floor after jumping down from the bleachers and dashing past security guards. Hell of a time and the memory didn't fade for weeks. Such great memories.
- It was a great time for music before the internet boom. Everything has changed.Bennn
- My first concert was the Check your Head tour at small venue, Tabernacle in Atlanta. We’re on the floor pressed up against the main stage ..... lights dim ...Ramanisky2
- “To Allllll the Girls” starts playing —the bass is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before — and then they jump out on stage as Shake Your Rump kicks in.Ramanisky2
- Holyshit !!! me & my boys were shitting ourselves as Yauch and Adrock came by and gave us all high 5’s ..
Greatest fucking show EVER!!!!Ramanisky2