Year Released: 1985

Notable Songs: “Hold It Now, Hit It”, “Paul Revere”, “The New Style”, You Gotta Fight For Your Right (To Party!)”, “Brass Monkey”, “No Sleep Til’ Brooklyn”, “Girls”

Album MVP: “No Sleep Til Brooklyn”

Why I Loved It: To refute how significant this Beastie Boys debut studio effort was to the music and culture of hip hop is unequivocally  poppycock. Where you think the Beastie Boys stand in the realm of all-time great rappers or rap crews is one thing, but their influence to the genre is simply undeniable. I mean literally, even if you loathe their music (translation: you’re a hater) you can’t reject their standing. However, effect on the culture by itself doesn’t make for an amazing album. What saved the Beastie Boys and more specifically Licensed to Ill from eventually falling into anonymity was their originality, something too many hip hop artists lacked back then and almost all day today. No one sounded like the Beastie Boys and many of the lyrics and tracks on this album made everyone want to party. For teenagers and young adults there’s worse things in the world, #amirite?   “No Sleep til Brooklyn” was some of the hardest shit and sickest beats I’ve ever heard in my life.  I’m giving so much love to the Beasties and they deserve it, but major props to Rick Rubin and the label he co-founded with Russell Simmons, Def Jam for this musical gift.  This was my first real test of rap and metal fused into one and I’ll never stop loving this classic.  Oddly enough, I didn’t remain a huge Beastie Boys fan.  In my opinion, one that I’m sure isn’t shared by the majority, they later became more serious-minded with their music and I think their music suffered. Again, I’m probably in the minority with that thought.

Regardless, License to Ill is a must-have for any music collection and it’s not only one of the best rap albums of the 80’s, it’s one of the best of all-time, period.

Commercial Success:  Before 1987, saying few rap acts ever hit the mainstream so successfully with their debut album would be doing the Beastie Boys a disservice, because the reality is NO ONE ever did like the three white boys from New York City.  Licensed to Ill became the first rap album ever, debut or not to reach the top of the Billboard Top 200. License to Ill ended Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet seven week run at the top of the charts and parked themselves at number-one for seven weeks of their own before finally getting supplanted by U2’s The Joshua Tree. It’s sold an astonishing 10 million copies in the United States alone. Seven tracks from this historic album were released as singles, with “You Gotta Fight For Your Right (to Party!)” being the most commercially successful, hitting number-seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and finishing’ 1987 on the year-end chart at No. 98.  “Brass Monkey” also charted on mainstream Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 48. “The New Style” got as high as No. 20 on the Billboard U.S. Dance Music chart while both “Hold it Now” and “Paul Revere” reached No. 41 on the same chart.  “No Sleep til Brooklyn” didn’t chart in American but reached No. 14 in the U.K.

Fun Facts: From Moshcam.com: “Yes Licensed To Ill was their debut record, but a year earlier the Beastie Boys were touring with Madonna, and there’s no way that slot would be filled by a no-name-punk-rap-group. Still, you might be thinking that it’s not quite a fitting match-up. And you’re right, it didn’t work. Madonna fans were bewildered by the pairing, and the trio spent most of the tour being heckled and booed off stage. Not that they cared, especially Ad-Rock who made out with Madonna in a backstage bathroom.

Licensed To Ill wasn’t the title they had in mind. In fact, the working album name was Don’t Be A Faggot. Needless to say, attitudes around homophobia were a lot different in the 80’s, and so were the Beastie Boys. Their outlooks changed over time, from converting to buddhism and producing protest and gender equality songs. With pressure from the record label, the band eventually landed on Licence To Ill – which was a pun on the James Bond film, License To Kill.”

I guess “Pass The Dutchie” was my informal introduction to world of smoking the funny stuff.  At 11-years old I was hardly an expert on lyrical song meanings (nor am I now), but I strongly recall great debate on what this tune was really about.

The facts are that a “Dutchie” is a Jamaican cooking pot.  While in the realm of music that’s stupid and irrelevant, I later learned the term was subbed in for what was originally “Kutchie”, which’s indeed a pot containing weed.  As it turns out a group called The Mighty Diamonds originally recorded a song called “Pass The Kutchie” with a much lower beat and clearly about getting high.  The song was received with little fanfare.

Musical Youth, a group of kids between the ages of 11 and 16 were given the song with the lyric switched to “Dutchie” and a quicker tempo—and the rest was history.

There’s more to the song and how the group was ultimately screwed, but this is a countdown of my favorite 80’s tunes—not a VH-1 episode of Behind The Music.

I probably didn’t know a third of the lyrics, but I couldn’t stop mumbling along anyway.

How does it feel when you got no food?

Chart Success:  Their only hit in America, “Pass the Dutchie” reached number-ten on the Billboard Top 100 and remained on the charts for 18 weeks. It finished 1983 ranked 91^st on the Billboard Top 100.

Great Lyrics:  I’m not sure there’s a song in this countdown with lyrics that make less sense.  To me, that’s glorious.  #WhySoSerious

“It was a cool and lovely breezy afternoon
(How does it feel when you’ve got no food?)
You could feel it ’cause it was the month of June
(How does it feel when you’ve got no food?)
So I left my gate and went out for a walk
(How does it feel when you’ve got no food?)
As I pass the dreadlocks’ camp I heard them say
(How does it feel when you’ve got no food?)”

Fun Fact: Many don’t know this, but “Pass The Dutchie” was one of the more historical videos in pop culture history. It’s actually the first black act to be on MTV regularly, beating Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” by a few weeks (thanks Songfacts.com for this stat).

Year Released: 1982

Notable Songs: “Rosanna”, “Make Believe”, “Africa”, “I Won’t Hold Back”, “Waiting For Your Love”

Album MVP: “Africa”

Why I Loved It: It’s hard to put into words how much I love the single “Africa.”  Let me put it to you this way – last year on this very blog I ran a countdown of my Favorite 100 Songs of the 80s.  “Africa” came in at number two. I’ll go one further by saying it’s not only my second-favorite song of the 80s… it’s my second-favorite song ever.  In my countdown I described Africa as “the most delightfully catchy and polished tune of the decade I can think of, and trust me I spent countless hours thinking of this list. Africa is as good as it gets when it comes to tunage from this era, especially  when it comes to the uncontainable chorus that’s transformed into one of the most  renowned drunken sing-along jams known to man (or woman).” It’s one of the few songs I’ve heard that’s even better today it was originally. “Rosanna” was such a cool song and made me wish I could find a girl to love with the same name. That also made my Favorite 100 Songs of the 80’s countdown last year, coming in at No. 45. The tune was written for Rosanna Arquette by Toto keyboardist Steve Pocaro but unfortunately for him that relationship didn’t last. Truth be told, these were the only two songs I really loved from the album, but they’re a pair of the most enjoyable songs of the era and at least for me, ever.

Commercial Success: Their fourth studio effort, aptly titled IV was their biggest and best album ever.  The album reached four on the Billboard Top 200 and spawned two of the biggest singles of 1982. “Africa” was the group’s first and only number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100, ending the three week run of “Down Under” by Men at Work. It finished 24^th on the 1983 year-end Billboard chart.  “Rosanna” narrowly missed hitting the top of the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number-two and staying there for five consecutive weeks.  Damn you, Survivor (“Eye of the Tiger”) and Human League (“Don’t You Want Me”) for cockblocking “Rosanna” from the top spot. It finished ’82 ranked 14^th on the year-end chart. “I Won’t Hold You Back” gave Toto their third top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.  “Make Believe” clawed its way to No. 30 on the chart. Toto went on to receive Grammy nominations in 1983 because of this album, including both Record of the Year and Album of the Year.

Fun Facts: From Songfacts.com: “Toto were top studio musicians before forming the group, and known as some of the best in the business. Lukather told Rock’s Backpages: “A lot of people categorize us as ‘that ‘Africa’ or ‘Rosanna’ band,’ and I hate that shit. We have a lot more substance than that. Don’t get me wrong – those songs have been great to us, but you really don’t understand the depth of the band if that’s all you know.

‘We could be the most misunderstood band in rock history. We consist of some of the most recorded musicians in the business. And yet we take hits for that. [laughs] Ashlee Simpson and all these phony-baloney singers sell millions of records, but everybody knows that’s bogus. Some folks go on the road, and they might as well be miming. My son toured with Lindsay Lohan four years ago. The whole band was playing live, she was lipsynching. She couldn’t sing a lick. Some poor guy had to Pro Tools that every night’.”