Althouse: "[T]he Beastie Boys were an incredibly energetic band that brought joy to a lot of people."

May 5, 2012

"[T]he Beastie Boys were an incredibly energetic band that brought joy to a lot of people."

"This is a real loss to music," says Jaltcoh (my son), with quotes from obits and videos of songs. Here's the 2009 announcement from Adam "MCA" Yauch — "It's not funny... it's dead serious" — saying he has cancer.

21 comments:

bagoh20 said...: Who invited Cancer to the damned party anyhow? That asshole is really getting on my nerves.; 5/5/12, 11:33 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Oh bullshit. He pulled a Steve Jobs a long time ago - going vegetarian, spiritual, supporting Tibet, and using "Eastern" medicine (as though there is such a thing) - ensuring his band was no longer any good, his health sucked, and both would die before their time.

As much as I like them - before they got nutty and started listening to their female members - this was, both, fitting and inevitable.

Like Glenn Reynolds' argument, today, that the right is "winning" by electing a cultist (Romney) through discussing a stupid distraction (dog eating) I say, in the long run, you can't win for losing - just as you can't appear smart while being stupid. The Beasties tried to do both and it burned them. Sorry, but that's the way it goes.

And considering they went NewAge, yeah, it can be seen as funny as hell.; 5/5/12, 11:37 AM
Saint Croix said...: Wow, what a loss.

The Beastie Boys concert show is the best doc I've ever seen in my life. Yauch directed it. Watch it, it's brilliant.; 5/5/12, 11:42 AM
madAsHell said...: Can you be nearly 50 years old, and still proclaim to be a Beastie Boy??

It reminds of a story I heard about some 70 year old guy claiming he couldn't get any satisfaction.; 5/5/12, 11:55 AM
Clyde said...: Not really my taste in music, although I did like "You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Party."; 5/5/12, 11:57 AM
Wince said...: madAsHell said...
Can you be nearly 50 years old, and still proclaim to be a Beastie Boy??

Ask the Beach Boys.

Never thought of it, but was the name Beastie Boys a play on the Beach Boys?; 5/5/12, 12:17 PM
Alex said...: I like their video for "Sabotage".; 5/5/12, 12:20 PM
Alex said...: Always leave it to Crack to poop all over a thread. So Crackuns did someone piss over your corn flakes this morning?; 5/5/12, 12:24 PM
Once written, twice... said...: Crack Emcee, you are an idiot. Next you are going to tell us that Mozart was really shit because of the New Ageism that he was pushing in the Magic Flute.; 5/5/12, 12:40 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Alex,

Always leave it to Crack to poop all over a thread. So Crackuns did someone piss over your corn flakes this morning?

No. I've thought this way about the BBs for some time, starting when they decided putting lyrics about the book of Revelations, and other "spiritual" tripe, in their music. Then came the other cliche'd outward manifestations of the NewAge (vegetarianism, support for Tibet, etc.) and the inevitable downward spiral in the quality of their output - all symbols their minds had stopped working independently and they'd entered the cult realm - resulting in something there was absolutely no way I could enjoy any longer. Especially when I considered the influence they had on others, less likely to be thinking for themselves than I.

Each BB release was like entering Whole Foods with a beat - and lyrics that grew wackier and weaker with each year and album. Madonna did the same thing with Kabbalah - she actually tried to rhyme "Pilate" and "latte," causing a cringe throughout the Rap world that insured she'd never be welcomed again, anywhere, but amongst gays who didn't know any better.

Anyway, this was inevitable. They fucked up. They should've stayed men, drinking beer and blowing blunts, and shaking up the establishment. Instead, they became metrosexuals, and they're paying for it.

Sad, but no big loss creatively - it was over for them years ago.; 5/5/12, 12:51 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: Jay Retread,

Crack Emcee, you are an idiot. Next you are going to tell us that Mozart was really shit because of the New Ageism that he was pushing in the Magic Flute.

If Mozart, or Sir Issac Newton, or any of those guys in the past knew what we know now, and were still pumping it, yeah, I'd say they were shit for deceiving their fellow men. (I don't blame people who don't know any better for not knowing any better - they were doing the best they could with what they had. NewAgers are actively REJECTING what we know.) If those guys (MOzart, etc.) were doing that and, like the BBs, the quality of their work suffered also, I'd feel the same way I do about MCA's death, which is a bit of shock but not much surprise.

Death - creative and otherwise - is where NewAge leads.

Also (here's some more pissing) why don't you guys admit you only liked the BBs because they're white? Most of you don't know shit about Rap (Ann's son admits he doesn't like it) so you wouldn't recognize the deterioration in their work because you don't even know what makes Rap good. But you know racial identity bullshit so let's all gather 'round the white guys and declare what giants they are against all criticism.

Like I said, all cliche's and typical bullshit behavior, resulting in the inevitable death of thought and anything else attached to it.

Fucking losers.; 5/5/12, 1:03 PM
harrogate said...: Crack, you use the words "New Age" like an inverse rorshach blot. It really doesn't *seem* to have much of a function beyond applying it to Stuff Crack Doesn't Like. I emphasize seem, however, because one does see a kind of focus in your quasi-rants. You think you know what Real Manliness® is all about. Put all this together and it explains why your posts manage to be extra cartoonish and extra sad all at the same time.

Still, of this:

"Also (here's some more pissing) why don't you guys admit you only liked the BBs because they're white? Most of you don't know shit about Rap (Ann's son admits he doesn't like it) so you wouldn't recognize the deterioration in their work because you don't even know what makes Rap good. But you know racial identity bullshit so let's all gather 'round the white guys and declare what giants they are against all criticism."

I'll give the slow clap. It'll leave a mark.; 5/5/12, 1:20 PM
madAsHell said...: Crack has a point.

While I believe most of us accept the ten commandments, others will try to pursue mysticism so they can live in harmony with Gaia...or some such nonsense. When what they really want to say is "I'm better than you, and my poop doesn't stink!!"; 5/5/12, 2:02 PM
yashu said...: So very young-- really sad. RIP.

Don't give a whit if they're om-sayin' white boys, IMO Paul's Boutique is one of the GREAT hip-hop albums.; 5/5/12, 2:08 PM
dbp said...: As a non follower of rap, I'll have to take Crack's word for it that the Beastie Boys' output has declined in quality. Plenty of bands see the quality and creativity of their output drop after an album or two.

Occam's Razor would suggest that this is caused by something obvious like running out of ideas rather than mysticism.; 5/5/12, 2:20 PM
Saint Croix said...: Crack has a point.

Oh bullshit. Crack is obsessed with New Age ever since it destroyed his marriage. Now he's blaming cancer on New Age. He blames bad music on New Age. According to Crack, it's "fitting" that Adam Yauch died. It's "funny as hell."

Of course this is in horribly bad taste. But let's overlook Crack's contempt for Yauch's family, friends, and fans. As music criticism, this is ridiculous.

Then came the other cliche'd outward manifestations of the NewAge (vegetarianism, support for Tibet, etc.) and the inevitable downward spiral in the quality of their output - all symbols their minds had stopped working independently and they'd entered the cult realm

Oh, stop, you're blinding me with science. I would think an atheist would be embarrassed with such a superstitious review of an artist's work.

You see "symbols" and "outward manifestations" of the New Age. He stopped eating meat so his music has to suck? This isn't music criticism, it's bigotry.

resulting in something there was absolutely no way I could enjoy any longer.

Well, let's all eat a steak and shoot a Buddhist so Crack can enjoy the Beastie Boys again. For fuck's sake.; 5/5/12, 3:50 PM
Lyle said...: This is a shame. F'ing cancer and death.

Crack is not totally off base probably. This is almost what all musicians go though over a long career. They go off all over the place as the years add up, kind of like Picasso. I actually liked their later popish/electro stuff better than their old school rap.

I enjoyed them. They're pop icons. Were they musical geniuses.. probably not.

And Tibet should be free if it wants to be free.; 5/5/12, 4:41 PM
Christopher J Feola said...: As an entrepreneur, I'm always looking for new and unusual ideas. Here's today's: We can open up Crack's brain as an amusement park! I mean, check out this New Agey thing from MCA: "Yauch was a founder of the Milarepa Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness and activism regarding the injustices perpetrated on native Tibetans by Chinese occupational government and military forces." Opposing ChiComms? He MUST be a new ager, like that fucking MacArthur.; 5/5/12, 5:45 PM
Christopher J Feola said...: "why don't you guys admit you only liked the BBs because they're white?"

Crack, have you actually listened to any rap? Let me enlighten you, since clearly you don't know anything on the subject. Here's a quote from the greatest rapper of all time, noted white guy Chuck D:

"Adam and the Boys put us on our first tour 25 years and 79 tours ago," he tweeted. "They were essential to our beginning, middle and today. Adam especially was unbelievable in our support from then 'til now, even allowing me to induct them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"I consider myself a strong man and my father says be prepared to lose many in your post-50 path of life. Still, I'm a bit teary-eyed leaving this plane. R.I.P. Adam aka MCA."

I'm sure "Fight for your right to party" and "Ice, Ice Baby" are the only rap songs you know, so you might want to read up on Paul's Boutique and it's influence on pretty much everyone.; 5/5/12, 5:53 PM
Christopher J Feola said...: RIP, MCA. You'll be missed.

An MCA rhyme from 2011's Hot Sauce Committee Part II:

Pass me the scalpel, I’ll make an incision
I’ll cut off the part of your brain that does the bitching
Put it in formaldehyde and put it in the shelf
And you can show it to your friends and say “that’s my old self”; 5/5/12, 5:57 PM
The Crack Emcee said...: harrogate,

Crack, you use the words "New Age" like an inverse rorshach blot. It really doesn't *seem* to have much of a function beyond applying it to Stuff Crack Doesn't Like. I emphasize seem, however, because one does see a kind of focus in your quasi-rants.

There is. I don't label everything - or even just stuff I don't like - as NewAge. You talk as though you never heard of the NewAge Movement. What is it? Why is it? I know, and I don't like it. The Beasties slipped into it years ago and lost their edge. Because it's so enamored with "peace" and other bullshit hippie cliche's, it was inevitable, along with the adoption of interests in Eastern medicine, Tibet (there's more to that issue than the propaganda lets on) and other worthless endeavors. I, too, wish dying young, avoidable, deaths wasn't part of it but, as Steve Jobs showed, it is. You guys can dismiss what I say but the evidence is clear.

yashu,

IMO Paul's Boutique is one of the GREAT hip-hop albums.

It was, but that was before the change.

madAsHell,

Crack has a point.

While I believe most of us accept the ten commandments, others will try to pursue mysticism so they can live in harmony with Gaia...or some such nonsense. When what they really want to say is "I'm better than you, and my poop doesn't stink!!"

Exactly. There's a great moment in the latest John Edwards trial when his former assistant says Edwards' NewAge mistress, Reille Hunter, claimed her hotel room had "bad energy," which the assistant took to mean it wasn't expensive enough for Hunter's tastes. Very "spiritual."

Saint Croix,

Crack is obsessed with New Age ever since it destroyed his marriage.

Oh yeah, I was totally into it before that happened. Man, some of you guys can be stupid.

Lyle,

Crack is not totally off base probably. This is almost what all musicians go though over a long career,...And Tibet should be free if it wants to be free.

This wasn't after they'd lost their abilities but just before they met Money Mark and started doing instrumentals. And Tibet wants to be free alright - free to go back to a system where the monks are treated like gods and everyone else is treated like a slave. Sorry, but I'll pass.

Christopher J Feola,

Here's a quote from the greatest rapper of all time, noted white guy Chuck D,...

His friend just died. What do you expect him to say?

This is just like the whole Romney thing:

I'm a conservative, so I'm supposed to get in line and vote for the cultist when you all know stopping cultism is more important to me.

Not going to happen. And MCA went there, just as Steve Jobs did. Sorry, guys, but my sympathy is limited when it comes to this subject. Just don't do it.; 5/5/12, 7:10 PM