Check Your Head

I like the boys but I especially like when they lean more into dub and less into dumb lyrics. So this!

Excellent pick! (What !? Not in the original list?)

Yes. I was just listening to this last week! This is where they really started to expand their sound and display their musicianship. Wish more people followed this model for how to combine rap and rock than what came to eventually dominate.

Legendary band, amazing album.

It's appalling that this isn't in the main list. These guys introduced hip-hop to the rock enthusiasts. The racial barrier breaking, genius sample use and pioneering of that bridge between rock and hip-hop screams in this album. Perhaps not their best or most iconic, but still a great album!

It's 1993. I'm sixteen, I'm in Seattle for three days with rock journalist Youri. The reason I'm there is pretty incredible. I took part in a contest organized by a French rock magazine, and I won the first prize: a plane trip to Seattle to be there as Youri interviews a famous rock band from that American city. Who that band was and what happened during the interview is a story for another time, kiddies... But seeing the artwork of Beastie Boys' *Check Your Head* instantly reminds me of my short time in Seattle, for reasons I'm about to reveal now... One day before the interview, or something like that, we visited the place, and *of course*, we went to an independent record store. I think the one we went to must have been Wall Of Sound -- checking the Seattle map today, that shop was far closer to the hotel than Easy Street Records, for instance -- but I can't ascertain this 33 years later (has it been that long?). Anyway, long story short, we enter the record store, and as I dig the shelves, I find a copy of Beastie Boys' *Check Your Head*, released a year before. "Is that one any good?" I ask Youri. The latter has just grabbed a CD of The Birthday Party (I now realize copies of albums by Nick Cave's first band are still pretty hard to find in France, where we were both from, so I get why Youri jumped on that one instead...). Seeing *Check Your Head* in my hands, Youri answers: "It's awesome! And given your tastes, you are going to love this one for sure!". This CD was thus my entry point into the Beasties' discography, and I still own it to this day, along with all their other albums up to *Hello Nasty* (bought later on). I got confirmation from a real music critic -- right from the horse's mouth, so to speak -- that what I was about to buy that day would stay with me for a long time. From the talks we had had on the plane and at the hotel, Youri already knew the different sorts of music I loved, so it was pretty easy for him to deduce I could become a Beastie Boys listener. Broadly speaking, I was sort of transitioning from rap to indie-rock, but I also knew I would stay a hip hop fan on the side no matter what -- at least for the cream on the cake in that genre. Interestingly, *Check Your Head* kind of mirrors that personal transition I went through. But to explain all this, and to understand how that album was pivotal for the rap band's career, we need to go back a decade before its release in 1992... First a hardcore-punk outfit like so many others in New York after Bad Brains and Minor Threat made waves in the early eighties, Beastie Boys then branched out to rap -- a brawl-inducing, 100% "fun" and rowdy sort of hip hop. Now comprising MCA, Mike D, and Adrock, and helped by the ever-savvy and connected Rick Rubin, Beastie Boys quickly hit the charts (and public consciousness) with their Run-DMC-adjacent eighties-rap classic *Licensed To Ill*'. Were they taken seriously? Not necessarily. Did they help place rap in the map and broaden its target audience? You can bet your basketball cap and golden chains they did! Then, three years later, the gang spawned another masterpiece with *Paul's Boutique* (also rightly included in the original list). Saying the Dust Brothers-produced record was "samples-heavy" was not merely an incomplete description, it was the understatement of year 1989! But even more importantly, *Paul Boutique*'s sheer extravagance, cool tones, and stylistic adventurousness shrewdly foretold the creative explosion of rap music during the nineties' "golden age ". This record had attracted praise from all the serious hip hop players, being labelled as the "Sgt. Pepper" for the genre -- and it was so groundbreaking that no one in their right mind could accuse the three white New Yorkers of "cultural appropriation" this time around. The Beasties were not merely considered as followers by the larger hip hop world anymore. They were pointing the way towards the future... So what could Beastie Boys do in 1992, then, three years after *Paul's Boutique*? Would they be able to break new ground? Well, many people thought the hype would peter out, and they were dead wrong. And it's all because of *Check Your Head*, and then *Ill Communications* two years later -- two albums which, for all intents and purposes, share the same twofold artistic objective: to further broaden the stylistic scope, and to infuse 100% organic tones in the process -- helped by the fact that the three rappers were now playing live instruments in a majority of the tracks. At a time of nascent crossover rap-rock endeavors, the Beasties were prophets again. But doing so, they still stayed themselves: rowdy, fun, provocative, lyrically creative -- and this even if the influence of "conscious rap" was also now allowing them to start exploring emotions and topics they had not tackled up to that point. A perfect formula for growth. For a lot of listeners, *Ill Communications* is a refinement over *Check Your Head*, and I do agree that *Ill Communications* has more hits than its elder brother (hits like "Sabotage", "Root Down", or "Sure Shot"). Yet for me the two records are perfect equals in terms of their ambition, scope and sense of adventure. So I'm happy the two albums exist as they are, and I think the Beasties indeed needed two LPs to fully explore the many-hued turf they wanted to explore at this point of their career. It's just that the results feel a bit rawer in *Check Your Head*, that's all. Of course my personal history with the band's discography plays a huge part here, I'm not gonna lie. But maybe that "subjectivity" can also distract us from charts numbers shenanigans so as to only focus on the music and how groundbreaking it was. Full disclaimer now: I can't adress all my favorite tracks in this record, if only because this review is too long already. Just as for *Ill Communications*, three main streaks run throughout the album: abrasive rap songs unafraid of distortions and driven urban tones, like the absolute banger "So Whatcha Want?" ; punk rock numbers hearkening back to the Beasties early hardcore days, like that unfaithful cover of Sly Stone's "Time For Livin'" (and also, in a league very close to that, see the hard rock / funk clash that "Gratitude" is) ; and finally, cool-cat funk jazz instrumentals -- ones that are cinematic as fuck, to the point where you can easily picture in your head the types of scenes from postmodern blaxploitation films those tracks could illustrate. This is where the three boys show all sorts of finesse and precise touch as instrument players, as exemplified in "Groove Holmes" or the Buddhism-inspired closer "Namasté", filled with so many smooooooth tones. In each instrumental or near-instrumental, Money Mark plays a pivotal part adding his lush keyboard sauce to the recipe -- when he's not adding to the sheer mess when the boys go a bit wilder on their drums, bass and guitar. And for all the rap tracks, Mario Caldato Jr. also brings a one-of-a-kind expertise that helped the outfit find ways to shed a new light on their hip hop chops. *Paul's Boutique 2* this record is decidedly not. Once in a while, different influences mingle in a single off-kilter groove, like in the darkly psychedelic, ecology-minded gem "Something's Got To Give" -- a delirious druggy trip I can never grow tired of. Other times, the stylistic hairpin curves are very clear from one track to the next instead, and they keep on feeding the overall dynamics instead of losing the thread, miraculously. With *Check Your Head*, Beastie Boys created a whole that is far more than the sum of the parts, and they do this with a flair that never forgets simple and immediate musical pleasures, in a messy-yet-also-fully-celebratory fashion. What is celebrated here is a sense of community and inclusion -- the stylistic dirges perfectly exemplifying that communal concern, also illustrated by the collage of photographs in the album's inside sleeve. Here again, the Beastie Boys were taking a page out of the Sly And The Family Stone book. But as they did so, they didn't merely look into the past. They also embraced the future, both for themselves and the different music styles they played, influencing future *pot-pourri* luminaries such as Beck, Soul Coughing or Gorillaz. How many supposedly messy and "derivative" albums, mostly focusing on "fun stuff", can boast of that, huh? Ask Youri or the 48-year-old music fan I am today: not many. 4.5/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums, rounded up to 5. 9.5/10 for more general purposes (5 + 4.5) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 81 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 103 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 207 ---- Émile, j'ai vu ta dernière réponse. J'essaie de trouver le temps de te laisser la mienne dans les jours qui viennent

Check your head is the album on which the Beastie Boys became a lo-fi, alt-rock groove band and rap was no longer the main focus of their music. It's the predecessor of Ill Communication on which this style had grown to perfection. This album is not as great as Ill Communication or Paul's Boutique or as groundbreaking as Licensed to Ill. Still it's a good album with several good tracks and one of their best in "So What'cha Want".

Not the strongest Beastie Boys album, in my opinion

I think my personal love of Beastie Boys peaked at Paul's Boutique, but they were always evolving, which I respect, and this is also a great album.

Pretty good Boyz! 4/5

There isn’t a need for me to listen to 4 Beastie Boys albums before I die, I think we could narrow it down to a couple at most, but this one was good.

Rating: 8/10 Best songs: Gratitude, Pass the mic, Something’s got to give

Not their best but still solid

There were already 3 Beastie Boys albums (which is already too many) and this was not good. It just didn't felt limp and lame. My personal rating: 2/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Good tunes on here but it’s not a mystery to me why this wasn’t included with the other 3 Beastie Boys albums already included

I'm sure there is someone somewhere that wants to yell at me for an hour about why this is the greatest Beastie Boys album or something

Another Beasite Boys albums? Oh go one then.

Beastie boys have only gotten better and more impressive as the years go by. Paul’s boutique struggled when released but is now considered a great album. Check your head is another album of impressive artistic ability. Maybe less for the lyricism and more for the production and range of instrumentals and how they were played. This was the blueprint for some later productions for years. This may not have had as many rap hits as their previous albums but this was a solid listen. 7.1/10

Alternative rock, hip-hop, rap rock, punk-rap, progressive rap. Largo, repetitivo... Me ha aburrido. Un 2.

Fourth Beastie Boys album, alright sure man why not. Not their best work. Just kinda more of the same, but this time without any of the singles I recognize. Meh, not a fan.

I was excited for a Beastie Boys album I hadn’t heard before, but this one left me wanting. Feels more like a demos/outtakes collection with how scattered and lacking in energy the whole effort feels. Main highlight was hearing the outfit’s full-band forays into full-on punk, just disappointed this one didn’t give the classic Beastie Boys energy that’s rife throughout the rest of their catalog.

I just cant really enjoy beastie boys 1