Licensed To Ill

Not their best, but still a lot of fun

Efficient and annoying as it wants to be!!

Ik heb dit vroeger heel veel gedraaid en ik hoor nu nog altijd de toffe dingen in bepaalde nummers. Maar ik betrapte me er nu op dat ik het nu bij vlagen ook best irritant begon te vinden. Dat nasale geschreeuw. Ruwe diamant die op latere platen veel beter tot zijn recht is gekomen, gelukkig.

Start of a new sound? Perhaps, but I struggle to listen to much of the Beastie Boys because the singer sounds too much like Glibert Gottfried. Still, some great sampling work (which then got sampled).

Estrena discogràfica més destacada pel que va suposar en el seu moment que pels seus atributs propis. És refrescant i divertit i d'escolta fàcil, tres conceptes no fàcils de trobar en el génere. La multitud de samples i referències al rock també puntuen en el seu benefici

Classic of they're style. Interestingly listening back to it, the cultural knowledge alluded and referenced within lyrics is quite dense, but also much more white bread Anglo than I recall. I wonder if that contributed to their mainstream success. However, I'm not a mad fan of their overall sound. Like it's punchy and good, but for more than a couple songs it's a bit much.

A classic that probably is your Facebook using Uncle’s favourite

Never listened to a Beastie Boys album before but I recognised quite a few tracks. I thought it was pretty good overall, some great guitar riffs that work well with their rock rap style. Highlights were "Fight For Your Right", "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" and "Brass Monkey".

This is a pretty strong debut and some of these songs are classics I can't help but feel that Rick Rubin's production is probably the most innovative thing about this album. The Beastie Boys lyrics on this one are purposely aggressive, in your face, and puerile at times (just look up the original title for the album). Luckily for all of us (and their legacy) they evolved.

This is quite a debut. 3.5/5

I like this old school Album, not listening to it much but there is so much to find, the good kind of experimental.

This album hasn't grown with me. I remember hearing this when it was released and loved it. As I've aged, I'm not sure I appreciate it as much. I do appreciate the history and BB in general. 3 stars.

fun metal-hiphop fusion at times but dated and obnoxious at others

hahahah white boys go brrrrr (great production, great chemistry, great energy, some questionable lyrics) fav songs: Fight For Your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn least fav songs: Slow Ride, Girls

i didn’t love any specific songs but i can 100% see myself putting this album on in the car

An album that starts with John Bonham’s legendary drumming from When the Levee Breaks can’t go wrong, right? I don’t like rap music, and that’s an understatement, but the Beastie Boys are the exception because they show how rap can be done right: by quoting tons of quality rock music! [It’s a pity copyright laws prevent others from following down the Beastie Boys' path.] That said, the latter parts of the album features tracks that overstay their welcome, featuring mostly screaming band members and less brilliance.

IT'S THE BEA-STIE BOYS!!

hip hop é engraçado. eu não consigo levar a serio "IF I PLAYED GUITAR ID BE JIMMY PAGE THE GIRLIES I LIKE ARE UNDERAGE!" ironicamente tem umas coisas bem led zeppelin nesse album, por exemplo, rhymin and stealin tem uma bateria completamente bozo e she's crafty tem um lick que eu tenho quase certeza que é igual a o de uma musica do led zeppelin, so n lembro qual. enfim, hip hop n é meu negocio, então só ouvi o lado A, mas eu achei legal o uso de rock em cima das batidas e rima.

Классика, но с морально устаревшим звуком. Скретчей пиздец, аж заебывает. Гитарные рок рифы звучат круто, прикольно засемплированны. Ударки отстой.

Doesn't hold up to the test of time, mostly due to the casual misogyny that the band would later apologize for. Probably the most consistent Beasies record though - all tracks are listenable and close to "singles" vs. some of the later output that had a lot (a LOT) of filler. So I have to rate this in balance...

I heard this album a decade before I'd ever heard a Led Zeppelin song so it was surprising to discover the original cuts when I get around to Led Zep's catalog. I really like hip hop and The Beasties but this one is just OK. While it was a landmark release at the time, the beats and rhymes don't hold up.

7/10 REPETITIVE AT TIMES

ожидала большего. может опять же нужно сильно больше времени, так всё сливается и выглядит вариацией одной и той же песни

classic

It's fine. Not really my musical style. Very old school. Not really a fan of the rap rock though.

80’er hiphop, alternativ rap, punk-inspireret, indflydelsesrigt, NYC

Still remembered all the lyrics. They were Soo young. Party album

Stand-outs: "Fight for Your Right," "Slow Ride," "Slow and Low"

Meh

Je voulais vous prouver qu'Eminem s'était inspiré de cette pochette pour faire peur à Moby grâce à des éléments de preuve irréfutables mais deux espions de Robert sont actuellement à mes trousses. Je vous tiendrai informés dès que je les aurai semés.

J'ai beaucoup apprécié cet album des Beastie Boys, qui a fait s'échapper de moi les idées naziabondes précédemment inculquées dans mon cerveau par les totalitaristes de Laibach. La langue française sera donc de nouveau mise à l'honneur sur ma page 1001albumsgenerator, n'hésitez pas à me suivre pour ne louper aucune critique.

I subconciously recognised most of this album without realising

Its a fun album, its high tempo, energetic and makes you smile and bob your head.

3.25

Solid beastie, but not their best work

I've tried a few times and just can't get into beastie boys

Ok it's kinda outdated.

Beastie boys blir mye av det samme, spesielt nå som vi har hørt to albumer blant de 21 første. Siste halvdel av albumet har noen av de store, Girls, You gotta fight for your right to party, og disse er helt råe, men resten av albumet er ganske fattig.

Did not âge well

The first rap album to top the Billboard charts, Licensed to Ill is a supremely goofy tongue twister of a time. Though the Beastie Boys later apologized for the casual misogyny in some of the lyrics, it barely impedes the flow, and the selection and arrangement of samples is masterful,

some very fat 808 sounds. that was the best bit really other than the iconic record sleeve.

I fucked my first sex robot to this record. She malfunctioned and scorched the tip of my penis so badly that my cum was like molten lava for 3 weeks. I pumped my load up her so many more times.

Highlights: New style Girls Rhymin and stealin Brass monkey

Thought it was ok, unique sounding, haven't rly heard anything like it, especially within hip-hop. definitely worth a relisten

has No Sleep till Brooklyn and Brass Monkey i knew what to expect and that's what it was

Ill communication>licensed to ill> pauls boutique>intergalactic fight me.

Didn't listen to it but vaguely remember it

classic

Disco de rap que fluiu bem pela presença das guitarras.

Beastie Boys are iconic for a period in which rap slowly became popular in a broader public. Their controversial crossover with punk was new and exciting, and the lyrics were ballsy. They inspired many artists, but for me I can't help but feel like this was just a joke that got out of hand. That doesn't mean I don't enjoy the joke. I like hearing the album, but next day I've forgotten all about it again.

Third Beastie Boys in under three weeks. Middle of them, between Paul’s Boutique and Ill Communication

Some bangers. Also a few stinkers 3/5

At the time, fans liked it for all the wrong reasons. I disliked it for the same wrong reasons. Well played, Beasties.

Takes me back to high school

3/13, 23%

Licensed To Ill is poor until Fight For Your Right, then you get a couple of monster hits and the back half hit hard. Does it deserve a 3/5 on that basis? Yeah, probably.

45 minutes of the Beastie Boys is just too much. All the songs sound way too many similar, the slow rapping passed back and forth with the extended notes at at the end of every few lines gets grating after a while. This album takes a while to get going as well, not a great first few tracks, but then a couple of their best songs about halfway through. This gets a 3, relatively high 3 because it's got a couple of their best songs on it but it's really hard work to get through a whole one.

I like beastie boys but I'm not sure about this one chief it feels like a classic beastie boys album but smth dosent set with me and the girls track certainly didn't help

It was alright, some bangers, didn't feel like finishing

Funky beats and questionable lyrics

Liking the flow n beats of the boys. Started off strongly, lost my interest after the big hits.

Boats N Hoes wouldn’t be out of place on this. I can’t decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing

The New Style: interesting beat breaks, very 80s hip hop. “Let me clear my throught” sample She’s Crafty: strong drum intro. Slow Ride: samples the George Lopez theme song. cowbell, woodblock, Congo Girls: very playful xylophone & kick/snare pattern. “Doing laundry & dishes” lol Fight for your Right: classic!

Immature album that was the springboard to a wonderful career

Slick!

I was surprised by how many songs I liked.

Some killer beats, but the vocals never really land for me. Standout - minimalist beat on Paul Revere

Seventeen year old me would waste no time enthusiastically rating this a 5. Fifty-two year old me thinks 17-year old me is an idiot. This album just doesn't hold up at all, and gets incredibly annoying after only a few songs. I'm almost embarrassed by how much I once loved this. But, as Red from The Shawhank Redemption might say, I was a young, stupid kid. I wanna talk to him. I wanna try to talk some sense to him. Tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I gotta live with that. I'll split the difference, since I enjoy the other Beastie Boys albums on this list, and for the 17-year old kid stuck in Hicksville, USA who wore out the cassette of this album from playing and rewinding "No Sleep Til Brooklyn" ad nauseum. That cassette wasn't meant to last, but it turns out the Beastie Boys were.

Not as good as ill communication

I am most I'll and I'm rhyming and stealing. Nostalgia at its finest

Yeah this is some OG white boy rap. Some good fun on this album.

I love what the Beastie Boys brought to the music scene; they are undeniably among the select few pioneers of the rap rock style in the late 80s and early 90s. It's impressive how solid they sound on this debut album -- it's like they had already been doing this for decades. That is only further exemplified by the fact that several of their biggest hits come off of this debut album. One of the amusing things about Beastie Boys has always been their ability not to take themselves too seriously. Half the time, it feels like they are joking around with each other and being stupid, and they're letting you in on the joke. I will say that objectively, this album does sound pretty dated by rap rock standards. But you know what? It's still just so old school cool. It was fun to listen for the various samplings throughout this album -- my favorite among them being Led Zeppelin's When the Levee Breaks and CCR's Down on the Corner.

Got better as it went. Sounded like a bunch of young lads just having fun. Contains some monotony. But pretty damned good at it's high points. Conor - 3 Bill - 2 Shannah - 3 (2.7/5)

Iconic East Coast rap album with some absolute classics. A couple of weak points though, which docks them a star or two. They still have more influence, relevance and authenticity in the tips of their little fingers than Kanye and his ilk ...

The Beastie Frat Boys.

shouting with cool beats

3/5

Ok, I think that's the last of the Beastie Boys for me on this list and that's 3 for 3 (boom, tish!). Faves: Fight For Your Right, No Sleep Till Brooklyn

Brooklyn frat boy rap at its best!

Bom.

I’m getting too old for this.

A bit corny at times, but fine.

This was quite an audacious debut by a bunch of Jewish kids from NYC who loved hip hop and rock. Brash and obnoxious lyrics delivered with an "in yo face" style. Sampling Black Sabbath and Led Zep on She's Crafty and When the Levee Breaks no doubt adds to their street cred. Eminem said this album changed Hip Hop and who am I to disagree.

Solid plata. Fullt þarna sem ég var búinn að gleyma.

3, some real jammers

Alguma músicas mais legais que outras. Ouviria vez ou outra.

Omd school hip-hop

Least fav beastie boys record. Kinda childish.

Pretty decent album. Some songs were great but some were sort of a slog. I liked it more than I thought I did, but I like their later stuff that has more going on instrumentally.

While influential, I don't think is this the best Beastie Boys' album. But there are definitely a lot of timeless songs that are on this record.

There’ll never be another like this (or Paul’s Boutique) for a long-ass time given the unique nature of sampling at the time, and that alone provides limitless intrigue for me. The samples are all over the place and though often primitive, exude the kind of creativity only ignorance can inspire. Despite the optics (you’ve seen that track suit promo photo), LTI sounds less like hip-hop cosplay and more like an early hip-hop laboratory. And even though it’s experimental by nature, these dudes really knocked it out of the park with a handful timeless classics (as well as a few duds). It’s lightning in a bottle marred by growing up dumb white kids. So yeah, it’s really fun to hear a buncha punks rifle through funk and classic rock’s greats, chopping em up with an 808, and finding mainstream success in an emerging genre with some of the weirdest (and yeah, poorly-aged) rhymes. As dated as this feels at times, the entire Beasties blueprint is right here. It just takes a little growing up before they perfect their craft. 3.5/5

Músicas para quebrar tudo!

only a complete douchebag would listen to this on a daily basis. some songs are fun, though.

I can't take the Beastie Boys seriously anymore. Andy Samberg/Lonely Island has retroactively ruined them.

Love a bit of the Beastie Boys, but I'll admit by the end I'd heard enough.

p546, 1986. 3.5 stars, not strong enough for 4. Wasn't expecting to like this as much as I did. Rap meets heavy rock riffs, bass and guitar. THE sound of twenty year old American white boys in the mid 80s, taking the piss of out everyone and themselves. Having said that... points deducted for Girls, which is just cheese - compare that with the next track, which is Fight For Your Right - and it is all a bit shouty and "samey".

Like beastie songs way more than albums

Most of the songs on here are obviously good to great, but the Beastie Boys style gets grating for me at album length.

more like 3.8

Lögin sem ég þekkti ekki bættu litlu við þau sem ég þekkti vel, en ágæt hlustun svona oftast.

It sounds suuuuuper dated, and looking back this is probably by far the Beastie Boys weakest album both for the frat boy lyrics and the dodgy musicianship. having said that, Fight for your right and No sleep til Brooklyn are bangers

It's easier to enjoy the Beastie Boys when all they're fighting for is the simple right to party, rather than for Tibetan freedom. Whilst the latter may be a worthy objective, the former is much more achievable. In fact, they nailed it here, on their debut LP. It may not be very sophisticated, but this is a big, fun, bombastic party in album form. 3.5/5.

lyrically interesting, with a good flow its odd you dont hear them much anymore

Very similar to Run DMC. Some good songs and it's nice to have something different but gets very samey.

Solid

Have genuinely never listened to this record. So, here we go... Man, that drum sound is H-U-G-E! Guitar tone is pretty killer too. I love how the Beastie Boys (and rap from this era, in general) always seems like such a team effort. Especially with the Beastie Boys. They always know when to underscore a punch line by screaming the lyric in unison. All that said, I just don't really care. I wasn't there and I feel like you had to be there. Or, at least, you really aren't in a position to "get there" when you're a 39-year-old dude from Grosse Pointe.

Fun! Not really my kinda music, don't get most of the references and don't gel with this style of hip hop, but I appreciate that there are some true classics/bangers in this album. Not a huge fan of the shouty-ness of it all. With the exception of one or two songs (fight for your right, hold it now hit it), I probably won't listen to it again but that's got more to do with my personal preference. Can see why this is on the list given it's "cultural" significance and pioneering style.

Beastie boys are like a cooler micheal scott got drunk and decided to rap Best song: no sleep till brooklyn Worst song: brass monkey ffs Honorable mention : low and slow

I have mixed feelings about Beastie Boys, because I find them both enjoyable and annoying at the same time. What I enjoy the most is the production value. The vocals can sometimes get irritating, but it's part of what separates them from the rest. The combination of energetic vocals, rock samples, and punk ethos all blend together in a perfect way that only the Beastie Boys could accomplish. Strangely, I found myself enjoying the deep cuts more than the hit singles. Not sure if that's due to hearing them so much, but they are some of the weaker tracks for me. Overall, it's mostly enjoyable, but a little goes a long way.

ill🤒est

I still struggle with this one. If this is the “proper” Beastie Boys, then I am obviously not the fan I thought I was.

Still wouldn't say I am a BB convert, my natural aversion to hip hop prevents me, but I enjoyed this FAR more than I thought I was going to. Can see how it has been so influential.

Very samey sound to all of the songs. Some diddly lyrics. Good in small doses.

Hot beats and casual misogyny. It's enjoyable but there is definite cringe

Quite listenable, I like it. And I recognized some samples and songs, which was also nice

My first rap album. As a pre teen white kid from rural UK this was a non confrontational way to get into hip-hop/rap whatever we called it back then. I don't think I knew it was unusual for 3 white kids to produce this as it shouldn't be but certainly made them stand out at the time. I only got the here the radio hits back in the day and took me to me students years a decade or so after to enjoy the full album. Not a favourite but a fond memory nether the less. 3/5

Great to hear the classics in context on this one. Suffers from the usual BB drawbacks (vocals on top of each other in the mix especially) but the production and guitar here still make for an entertaining LP

Still good fun!

Didn't like it. not really my thing.

Like this more and more, the samples are truly amazing, and the lyrics are so honest. Young adults wanting what they really want.

So different

I dig the humour that runs through the Beastie Boys' music, and there's plenty on display on this album, but the one-trick-pony nasal obnoxious delivery of these white boys does a number on my ears after an album worth. Glad to have ridden the train all the way but I won't be visiting this place again. (Though I may occasionally visit Fight for Your Right, as it's a perfect meld of their various styles).

Schon besonders aber halt beastie und nicht Beauty

I mostly know later Beastie stuff, so some of this sounded pretty raw. The rhyming schemes are great but lyrics are dated. You can see the budding genius though.

I grew up listening to the beastie boys so it’s nostalgic for me, but other than the hits this album is pretty underwhelming.

Not my thing, all seemed repetitive beats and similar rhymes, couple of songs i thought where clever like the girls song

I'm conflicted about this. Songs like Fight for Your Right and Brass Monkey are iconic and entertaining, but all of the rest sounds...the same. Same beats. Same flow. Plus two of the three Boys sound like Rick and Morty characters, which is not a good thing.

Some good classic tracks like fight for your right, many songs sound like the beat was made by a primary school child in music class through. Bit like a low rate white version of NWA

The trios ability to play off of each other’s rhyming and whatnot was awesome to finally sit down and listen to carefully over the length of the album rather than just listening to the more popular songs and seeing how it all works cohesively.

While this contains a significant number of Beastie Boys greatest, I found it challenging to get through—much as I did when it came out. Unlike many artists who seem to lose their spark as they age, Beastie Boys actually improved over the arc of their career.

The rock aspect and production are great but the lyrical content and structure feels juvenile.

So hard to rate. Some songs are classics, and some are absolute shite, but still somehow classics (e.g: Girls). And the black cultural appropriation is embarrassing (he says 'Aks' instead of 'Ask'). But then Fight For Your Right is such a classic, fuses punk with a more hip-hop style. Overall, as a whole album, pretty bang average, in fact not even that great. And yet because it has some classic tracks it has to get at least a 3.

There is do denying that this is an incredibly fun record. However, this much beastie boys in one sitting can get very grating, very fast. best enjoyed in smaller doses, for me.

You like men and we like beers... Yeah... Okay, 2-3 hits, kick it, you gotta fight for your right to hit the Kuhglocke. Am Stück ist es mir zu anstrengend, für zwei, drei Lieder 90s-feelig gern.

Listened to it in bed, decent, but wouldnt buy

prefer their later stuff

Some filler but still a cracking album in parts - no sleep Til Brooklyn rocks

Whew. I mean, it was a classic album alright. Similar to lauper, but obviously more streamlined and connected, the flow was great and the style was cool. A few parts felt cheap but. .. seems like the point. I mean, you wouldn't call hollywood undead stupid right? Cause thats part of the point. So .... i mean it gets a 3 for sure. wasn't amazing, wasn't super good, but wasn't bad. obviously the lyrical content is another thing. I won't go into that mess.

Fun listen, a bit more interesting than the other albums so far.

Tämä ei ollut ihan niin sekava pläjäys kuin aiemmin arvosteltu Beastie Boysin Ill Communication. Tällä levyllä oli myös muutama tuttu hittibiisi, mutta ei tämä siltikään noussut enemmän kuin kolmen tähden arvoiseksi. Huuto- ja lällättelyräppiä ei oikein jaksa määräänsä enempää, varsinkaan kädenlämpöisiä biisejä.

Not a bad debut, some duffers on here (looking at you Brass Monkey and Girls) but overall decent.

Bon son pour Peter des gueules ! Un peu de mal avec la voix !

Preferred 5ive's version

nlc

6

No está mal, pero no es mi rollo.

Lovely!

"Hold It Now, Hit It" Released: April 15, 1986 "Paul Revere" Released: August 13, 1986 "The New Style" Released: November 6, 1986 "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" Released: December 1986[4] "Brass Monkey" Released: January 5, 1987 "No Sleep till Brooklyn" Released: March 1, 1987 "Girls" Released: May 6, 1987

false

Hip-hop. Un poco rollo.

Very powerful, but not my cup of tea. It is an icon though

Jeg skjønner ikke helt om det er tull og jeg er uansett ikke med på spøken.

Not bad, but not a style I particularly care for outside of its comedic use (e.g. The Lonely Island).

Pretty cool album. 6/10 1. Rhymin' & Stealin' 2. Fight For Your Right 3. The New Style

Fun, party hip-hop. Hasn't aged particularly well.

Have heard that this album is so well liked by so many different types of people. I don't really see the greatness in this, but do find some of it catchy and a lot of it amuses me. I think these guys have a good sense of humor and it comes through in the music. The samplings of different things in songs are like Easter Eggs that make it more fun to listen to.

Its fine, i can tell why this was popular. I used to love the beastie boys but no songs from this album. Lots of energy. Didnt age super well

this album is hilarious. fight for your right, brass monkey, slow and low, no sleep till brooklyn, rhymin and stealin

Algum tem algumas músicas que tu nem percebe a transição.

I know it's all supposed to be lighthearted and silly rap, but it doesn't do much for me. It all feels juvenile but... at this point in my life I am not the target demographic for this. Even in middle school I didn't care about Beastie Boys though. I'm sure the legacy of this is probably 4-5 stars but for me it's only 3*.

Good album, really picks up steam in the 2nd half

My favorite part was how they mentioned White Castle in like half their songs

not gonna revisit it

Tasapaksumpaa kamaa kuin muut kuuntelemani Beastie Boysin levyt. Omituinen sekoilu on ehkä hieman vähäisempää, mutta myös parhaat biisit eivät ole ihan samalla tasolla kuin myöhemmässä tuotannossa. Ihan hyvä levy, mutta ei tätä tarvi varmaan uudestaan kuunteluun ottaa.

A lot of their hits but most songs sounded the same to me

No es lo mío

Ikke min kop te. Lidt for diskant, og enslydende

classic but prefer later work.

I'm glad this wasn't my introduction-in-a-record to the group, thanks to Ill Communication getting generated first. Reading about the album's context helps me understand the relative simplicity of the debut, but without the color grading of nostalgia, the flows, rhyme schemes, and most of all the screaming are a bit... harsh. Funny enough, the humor, which usually rubs me the wrong way, doesn't come across badly here. I understand why this is a classic and think I get the hype for the Beastie Boys more generally, but when they start to play around with form more the difference is night and day. See: the samples in the closing track. Brilliant breaths of fresh air, a bit too late.

1986. Key Songs: No Sleep till Brooklyn, Fight For Your Right, Girls

old school rap (probably one of the foundation), not my genre (even the modern ones) but i recognize why people would like this wait wait wait I actually ended up saving 3 songs, i like them a lot. I dunno why Slow Ride's intro sounds so familiar im sure ive heard it somewhere

No es mi estilo, no lo he terminado de escuchar al completo:(

This is music for retarded adolescent boys.

Juu ei kiitos.

Kinda fun but a bit one note.

Overall, not a bad album, although it's not really my thing. It's fine having the songs in the background, but the only one that I kind of enjoyed, and that I also knew already, was Fight For Your Right, and that was pretty decent.

didn't like it very much, but there are some ok songs

Eh, they get better.

No me gusto tanto , para mi gusto se hizo aburrido

1.5

It’s shit isn’t it

lots of shouting

4/10

one of the most influential hiphop albums but does it live up to that? --NO!

Review - it's the classic album but it's not aged so well. Influential at it's time but their later work is much better Score - 5/10 Need to listen? YES

I love Beastie Boys, but I never connected with this. Maybe if I had been just a little older and experienced it in real time? With the exception of the ubiquitous singles, I only heard it in full after Check Your Head and Ill Communication, and visiting it in that order made it sound like a goof. (Coming to Paul's Boutique even later made Licensed to Ill feel even more like a footnote in a storied career.) Their charisma is obvious, but the rhymes are dumb and seem to single-mindedly exist to get babes and have a good time. That's not out of keeping with the other stuff in the early days of the genre, but its place in the modern musical canon is fueled by nostalgia (and probably a touch of racism, since this made rap music safe for the first time for an awful lot of white people).

Alcune idee molto interessanti, ma nel complesso mi è risultato un po' ripetitivo e a tratti disturbante nelle voci e nel mixaggio.

Not my favorite genre, but very good album overall

Hurt my head

Although plagued by unnecessary shouting, lyrics that sound like they were written by fourteen year old boys and outdated themes, some of the songs were fine.

Mid as shit

Not my cup of tea

wasn’t my vibe today but in general just not rly my speed

When we reviewed the Beastie Boys’ second album, ‘Paul’s Boutique’, I was surprised how much funky, jazzy, soulful, interesting, complexly arranged sampling was being done and how the songs overall showed more restraint, maturity and general appeal than I expected based on my knowledge of the BB. As it turns out almost all of the songs I was indirectly complaining about with that review are on this album. ‘Licensed to Ill’ has moments of smart lyricism, but the overall impression is that it’s tacky, overwrought, and childish.

I was prepared for this to hurt my ears but it wasn't so bad. Two things can be true: they were cool and also I don't really care for it too much.

Não é o meu estilo

First listen: By about halfway through track three I was thinking Oh Man This Is Not My Thing and they're *all* gonna be like this. But once that was established, I could appreciate the good vibes that were in here - and more importantly, that it does feel like a very historically important listen for this genre. Second Listen (had some time over the weekend to give it another go): I did end up getting into it! It's not the kind of thing I'd seek out more of, but it is hard to argue with the sheer vitality and energy of this. And I was maybe initially bringing a bit too much of a 2026 political viewpoint to something made by 3 20-year-old Jewish kids in the 80s. Who, looking into them, all seemed like pretty decent guys? Perhaps the stuff they were bragging about having done on this record wasn't entirely accurate. Favourite tracks: well No! Sleep! Till Brooklyn!! Obviously is just a banger. I also really liked Paul Revere. The parts where it just feels like some friends goofing around endeared me the most.

a little too white pa mi gusto, aunque sea a propósito o eso dicen vea xd

A great band...before they become truly great.

Cool, nostalgic, annoying, limited appeal when all is said and done. Several songs sound like they were made by Lonely Island to spoof the Beastie Boys.

Apart from the few popular songs, the rest seem a bit cringe to me - like improv rap battle boom-clap tracks.

Slow Ride... Shoebill sampled this 😮 So much fun! 😆 Paul Revere... This must have inspired Hamilton the musical 🙃 By the end this album gave me a bit of a headache though 😅 I don't see myself revisiting any of this😥, but it was a fun experience. I had lots of fun🤍

Man I hate it. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills when it comes to the Beastie Boys. On this album - the production sounds like shit, the lyrics are dumb, the flow is amateurish even by 80s standards.....and the voices. They sound like a flock of geese being strangled all at the same time. And why are they always shouting? It's just horrible. I'll be honest - I listened to a few songs all the way through and gave the others a cursory 30-45 seconds before skipping. I just couldn't do much more. Sorry. This is terrible. One extra star because I thought "Rhymin' and Stealin'" was actually kind of funny. TWO STARS TWO STARS

Eh. Meh.

Another one? Did their shout singing and loud crash backing tracks really evolve that much from album to album?

How did we get all three Beastie Boys albums already?

it took half a minute to figure out how to actually navigate this site and i'm still not sure if my personal list is separate from the group i'm in. this is necessary context because i need to establish that the first album i was given to listen to before i maybe figured out the web site was Stevie Wonder's Innervisions, and moving from that directly to Licensed to Ill was like enjoying a long, picturesque drive down a scenic coastline, then reading the end of that coastal road and turning back onto the main urban grid, immediately hitting a long red light and seeing worse-than-average congestion ahead for the entire length of the drive back home. i can recognize the contemporary importance of an album but beastie boys ain't for me, kin. it made me smile a couple times i guess but my white boy quotient is far too low for me to enjoy it.

algunas canciones tenían buen ritmo pero la letra dejaba mucho de desear.

I mean No Sleep Till Brooklyn is a classic the rest is w/e. TMNT ass band. Not my vibe.

I gave myself an edit window via settings to move this down to 2 so I could give public enemy a 3

Too much noise and Rick Rubin's production is all over the place, even though he's a great producer

Hip hop, eh…

Some of the sampling was interesting, otherwise this was not for me.

I know this has some great songs on it, but as an album there was a lot of crap. It's a 2 for me.

Album #147 Beastie Boys: Licensed To Ill I suppose I just found out where every white kid got their flow from. Normally, when listening to a formative album from a genre, I find it interesting to note all of the influences that it has had on music to come; from Licensed To Ill, the most obvious disciples of the sound that I recognize are white comedy rappers like The Lonely Island, Smosh, and The Warp Zone. The only avenue that this sound has been able to survive in is through YouTube sketch songs and video game raps. 90s rap in general is too over the top for me, though Beastie Boys at least seem to be (hopefully) playing up the absurdity for comedic effect. Some of the lines on here are quite funny, albeit very of their time, notably a line about being like Jimmy Page because he likes his girls underage, as well as the dozens of lines about White Castle and KFC. I think it’s the kind of album I’m not supposed to analyze and just enjoy, but even then, the schtick gets pretty old quite fast; there are only so many times I can be caught off guard when the rest of the band says the last word of a sentence. The strongest point of the album is definitely the middle, with a spell of classic songs; honestly, quite unusual for an album to have a weak beginning and end. Though I didn’t completely hate it, it is really more of a novelty album and not one I’d be quick to return to. Best Songs: No Sleep Till Brooklyn, Brass Monkey, The New Style Worst Song: Slow And Low Score out of 10: 5.5

I like beastie boys generally but they have better albums than this

Has some classic party songs but otherwise I felt heavily annoyed by this album. Maybe it just wasn’t my day but I felt like the beats sucked, especially the drums which was most of what every beat was, and the rapping was over the top and about nothing. I grew up with my dad’s CD of Check Your Head which is an album I still love but this falls so short of that

Everything in this album its repetitive, maybe its because I was born in a different era but this album its like it was made for a 90's kids show

Liked some parts of the music. Did not like the singers/rappers at all. It felt like they were just screaming the whole time.

A great album for when you want 45 minutes of Walk This Way - this is an extended elaboration of the idea of mixing of rock samples and 1980s rap delivery. Gets pretty tiresome how the whole crew chimes in on the words that rhyme, even on the novely songs. But, No Sleep Till Brooklyn is great, and Fight for Your Right is a timeless adolescent classic. A fun, lighthearted and playful album even when its being annoying.

Je comprend l'histoire important pour rap Pas pour moi trop lent vraiment super lent 😱

mainly shouty shite.

4/10, чисто крутые хип-хоп ребята в бэгги джинсах с примесью рока

It sounds like this was a whole lot of fun to make, I remember friends going crackers over the Beastie Boys when this came out and I feel the same about is now as I did then: ambivalent. I assume this was the first mix between Rock and Rap? Probably good fund to spot where all the samples are from, if you can be bothered. I can't. The odd track I might smile wryly at but the whole album drags on.

Never understood the appeal

I immediately recognized the drums opening the first track, and my thought was "this is going to be interesting". The songs themselves are mostly repetetive, though they have great potential to stick in, it isn't my particular style.

Knew a few songs, like Brass Monkey and No Sleep Till Brooklyn. A little too yelly for me.

Funny storytelling but generally quite crap musically

There were a couple of good tracks on here (No Sleep... , She's Crafty), but over-all, I didn't care for this. From a historical preservation standpoint, this may deserve at least a 3, from for a personal how much did I like it / will I play it again standpoint, the answer is, "Nope! I won't be playing this again."

ale gowno xd

Not my style

hmm

verstehe nicht was so krass an dem album sein soll. kulturelle relevanz okay aber iwie fand ich nur paul revere stark. der rest hat mir nicht gefallen

Liked it back in the day, now I find it a bit screamy and juvenile

4/10

Un estilo totalmente diferente a lo que suelo escuchar, creí que nada me iba a gustar y sorprendentemente me gustaron varias canciones. En definitiva, no es mi estilo, pero tiene lo suyo. Me recordó al rap que cantan Michael Scott y Dwight en The office.

Not really my vibe tbh. I liked the first one more

S'OK, not really my thing - a bit slow for my tastes. Can't believe it's nearly 40 years old!

2,4/5

No es el estilo que más me gusta, pero tiene buenos temas.

ill drink a big fat beer (beer) then ill go to the potty (potty)

I'm just not into the Beastie Boys, sorry

Não faz meu estilo.

I only listened to a few of the songs, but I could not get into it :(

This, like RUN DMC sounded quite corny now and I don’t think this has aged that well. I found it hard to hear how this is so influential, it just feels quite repetitive.

Just not my thing at all. Music for playing loud in suburban America in a bedroom to annoy Mom. Can't really relate to it sonically or lyrically. Music for kids and adults who wish they were still children.

Didn’t like it, not my style

Go, white boys, go! 2/5

J’ai vraiment pas trouvé ça bien

I feel like I am both too young and too old to enjoy this. Too young to have any nostalgic feelings for this era of music and too old (read not a child) to enjoy it at face value. There are some cool samples and some good beats but it’s all ruined by some kids shouting at me the entire time. I actually don’t get it at all, it’s just annoying. Maybe it’s supposed to be ironic or something but that doesn’t stop it being hard to listen to.

Not my taste. Listened to a couple known "classics" (Brooklyn and Party), and called that enough.

There is some crap in the album (girls?), and only one or two very good songs. So, let's say its average. 5/10

Too much going on for me

Don't like them except for a couple of songs here and there. The voice is annoying, grating and their melodies boring. They sound like annoyed kids not able to decide which genre of music they want to play

Feels a little bit too silly most of the time. Some moments that perk my interest but lyrically doesn't do it for me.

I love love love Beastie Boys, but besides Brass Monkey, Fight For Your Right and No Sleep Till Brooklyn the rest of the songs just aren't good and not enjoyable. Especially knowing what great work they would do later.

I couldn’t listen to much of this. I liked the underlying music but the scream singing is very different from what I enjoy.

This makes me distrust Rick Ruben

Wouldn't listen to again. Just sounds like boys screaming. Brass Monkey was a familiar tune. Girls has a catchy tone. Probably the best song of the album.

Whack

En écoutant, j'ai vraiment eu une sensation étrange entre le j'aime et le j'aime pas. Certains sons sont dures à écouter et ont mal vieilli et pourtant d'autres sont cools, funs et modernes. Il y a des chansons vraiment trop particulière, c'est parfois étrange à écouter. Je ne pense pas réécouter tout l'album mais j'ai mis certaines chansons dans ma playlist. Note : 2 À réécouter : Non

not a huge fan.

can't lie i thought i was going to like this a lot more, but this thing drags on. it starts off super strong; "rhyming and stealing" as an intro works so well, high energy and fun. "she's crafty" is a cool beat, not sure about the lyrics, but the song overall works. "slow ride" is probably my favorite beat on the album, but the vocals are a little annoying, with some of the intonations they use on the call and response bit. "girls" is just hilarious, couldn't help but smile listening to it. "fight for your right" is a classic revolutionary hip hop song, and that guitar riff is fucking bad ass, the solo is dope too. after that it just goes downhill to me. "no sleep til brooklyn" has a cool ACDC sample on the refrain but other than that it doesn't do much for me. and that's pretty much the last song i can tolerate; from here it's just a no go for me unfortunately. so despite a strong first half or middle section, this was really difficult to go through. i think it's partly because the instrumentation doesn't really diversify much, all the beats kind of start to meld together. and the yelling vocal does get a little tiring after a while.

Heard Before? Well I haven't been living in a pit my whole life. Notes: - the beat switches on "The New Style" are still somehow exciting. - no shortage of inspired samples throughout the album. - "Paul Revere" made me laugh. - that said, Beastie Boys improved in every conceivable way after this. only "To the 5 Boroughs" is weaker. - the beats are as punchy and distinctive as ever BUT - of course, it needs to be said that no one should be writing incel anthems, even as satire. someone is always going to take it seriously and run with it. Verdict: For better and (mostly) worse, the ground zero of white rap. Listen Again? I don't think so. But I still enjoy later Beastie Boys.

Mid album

Not my cup of tea. Whiny yelling over sampled famous rock songs.

Likes: ridiculousness; high energy Dislikes: big fratboy energy; no sense of dynamics or chill; samples are so on-the-nose that it takes away from the song - if I want to hear Zeppelin, I’ll listen to Zeppelin Overall, disappointed by this one. Thought I’d really dig it as one of the first albums to combine punk and hiphop, but I just didn’t care for it. It’s a little to juvenile to warm up to if you’re hearing it for the first time in your 30s

A few ok songs. The Led Zeppelin sample was cool. It's just not great. Strangely enough I occasionally hear Tekashi 69 in some of the raw vocals, these guys definitely influenced his style. 1.5 outta 5

i dont even like the Beastie Boys (besides a few select songs)

I just don't like rap. And this was worse as it felt like being shouted at 2

Fine.

Boring repetitive

So much of this album is very outdated, with the corny, one-note flows, identical in just about every song in the album, couple with some weird lyrics (Think he said something about preferring underage girls in The New Style? Ick). On the bright side, the singles are great. Fight For Your Right and No Sleep Till Brooklyn both have such a rousing energy. Feels like in those two they actually get the rap/rock fusion correct, unlike the rest of the album. Those two songs do make me want to explore the rest of the Beastie Boys discography, I'm hoping they get it right on later releases. Favourite Song: No Sleep Till Brooklyn Worst Song: Girls

Some instrumental melodies were good but they were mostly just hootin and hollerin and I’m not a middle school boy so…

A few classic tracks, fun, fight for your right to party, but feels very high school teen angst, found myself wanting more hip-hop that spoke of struggle and social justice so then I put on a KRS one album

Wonderful album cover art.. but not a fan of the album.. too punky and edgy.. not my style

Feels blasphemous to say this all sounds like the same song. The only exceptions are the songs with guitars in the background. Everything else was kind of filler

Na mě asi moc ukřičené, ale doprovod se mi líbí.

its, alot of yelling. i only knew about brass money and no sleep til brooklyn going into this album. ive always been a huge fan of brass monkey but this is like 15 brass monkies in a row and it gets very annoying after a while. was pretty irritated while listening to it. half the songs i couldnt tell the different between. they might as well been all one song lol. that being said! Fight For Your Right - that one is so fun man. the guitar is super cool. probably the best song on the album aside from Brass Monkey. Im sick of their voices though :( 4/10

Obviously, Fight for Your Right is incredible. I liked the sample in Slow Ride. Girls was a unique song so added that too. Everything else I would never listen to again. It has too much energy which works for me if the music comes with a catchy melody but in this case it just sounded like annoying frat boys yelling for 45 minutes.

I liked the beats and the music and the singing was good but not my favorite. But still nice

A bit to punk for me

HIP HOP TÊTE DE SHNOCK!!!!!!!

Dette var slitsomt å høre på til tider! Noen av sangene her er virkelig grusomme (Girls, blant annet). You Gotta Fight For Your Right to Party er en ordentlig banger da. Rhymin and Stealing og. Og stjal Eminem dette albumcoveret for Kamikaze?? 🤔 2/5

Interesting to hear tracks that I recognise but most of the album felt like a school band shouting. Like the innovation given it was mid 80s and some of the production is cool. Unlikely to listen to again.

fighting for my right to kill dogs

I don't know... I am entertained for a little, and then it starts to become very repetitive. Fortunately or unfortunately, I have the other Beastie Boys album to donate this to, and that one was so much more dynamic, interesting, and attention keeping. This one was a little boring. However, the three huge hits were all GREAT, however was probably because of the heavy guitars, not the actual songs. Either the Beastie Boys or their producer must be big Led Zeppelin fans!

Not a fan. I was surprised that they had 2 alblums in the top 1001. I was even more surprised they came up so soon together.

Rap with metal backing tracks was a bit different back them so marks for innovation but still a bit same old.

Not a memorable listen for me after a few songs. I don't have a nostalgic connection to the Beastie Boys and this was my first time listening to them. Was fun for the first few tracks but very samey after that. Would not go back for the listen again though I did think it was fun for a once off!

Ei napannut, kuulosti joltain parodialevyltä.

It's fine. Listened a bit to Beastie Boys in the past and they have some songs i really like. However, this album didnt really hit me. Some fun songs but pretty repetitive? Very mood based album? Didnt really hit me this time.

Not for me

Huh. I thought I liked their stuff, but this one just doesn't work for me.

Kova on uho, mutta kun ei ne ossoo lauloo. Samalla ärsyttävällä äänellä ja nuotilla kaikki biisit.

nicht ganz gehört, war nicht in dem mood für das album, ab einem anderen tag bestimmt besser

Beastie Boys always sounds a little bit annoying to me. I don't think there was a single song that I really enjoyed. It still was listenable, so avoiding the 1/5.

me molesto un poco, las letras tampoco me gustaron, meh

Worse than expected. Guy can't get over how good his rhymes are and all the girls he gets as a result. Ridiculous lyrics and the songs all sound the same.

not my usual taste. good for what it is