Beastie Boys Check Your Head CD

The Beastie Boys: Adrock (vocals, guitar); MCA (vocals, bass); Mike D (vocals, drums).
Additional personnel: Mark Ramos Nishita (keyboards); Sian Harwood (background vocals), Biz Markie.
Recorded at G-Son Studios, Atwater Village, California.
Check Your Head brought the Beastie Boys crashing back into the charts and into public consciousness, but that was only partially due to the album itself -- much of its initial success was due to the cult audience that Paul's Boutique cultivated in the years since its initial flop release, a group of fans whose minds were so thoroughly blown by that record, they couldn't wait to see what came next, and this helped the record debut in the Top Ten upon its April 1992 release. This audience, perhaps somewhat unsurprisingly, was a collegiate Gen-X audience raised on Licensed to Ill and ready for the Beastie Boys to guide them through college. As it happened, the Beasties had repositioned themselves as a lo-fi, alt-rock groove band. They had not abandoned rap, but it was no longer the foundation of their music, it was simply the most prominent in a thick pop-culture gumbo where old school rap sat comfortably with soul-jazz, hardcore punk, white-trash metal, arena rock, Bob Dylan, bossa nova, spacy pop, and hard, dirty funk. What they did abandon was the psychedelic samples of Paul's Boutique, turning toward primitive grooves they played themselves, augmented by keyboardist Money Mark and co-producer Mario Caldato, Jr.. This all means that music was the message and the rhymes, which had been pushed toward the forefront on both Licensed to Ill and Paul's Boutique, have been considerably de-emphasized (only four songs -- "Jimmy James," "Pass the Mic," "Finger Lickin' Good," and "So What'cha Want" -- could hold their own lyrically among their previous work). This is not a detriment, because the focus is not on the words, it's on the music, mood, and even the newfound neo-hippie political consciousness. And Check Your Head is certainly a record that's greater than the sum of its parts -- individually, nearly all the tracks are good (the instrumentals sound good on their subsequent soul-jazz collection, The in Sound From Way Out), but it's the context and variety of styles that give Check Your Head its identity. It's how the old school raps give way to fuzz-toned rockers, furious punk, and cheerfully gritty, jazzy jams. As much as Paul's Boutique, this is a whirlwind tour through the Beasties' pop-culture obsessions, but instead of spinning into Technicolor fantasies, it's earth-bound D.I.Y. that makes it all seem equally accessible -- which is a big reason why it turned out to be an alt-rock touchstone of the '90s, something that both set trends and predicted them. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Some albums define an era, a place, a certain time in one's life; they exist as soundtracks for our memories, bringing that extra scent of poignancy to them. CHECK YOUR HEAD practically defined the summer of 1992 for those who were wary of the mainstreaming of rap and somewhat bored by the insurgency of grunge. By holding their heads firmly outside of any particular musical genre, MCA, Adrock & Mike D. created their own space; distorted, fuzzy, peppered with the swagger of punk and the rootsy earthiness of early-'70s soul-jazz, and layered with ten years of hip-hop know-how.
From the opening chords of "Jimmy James," it's clear that the Beastie Boys would have a chance to permanently shed the label of "fratboy rappers" that LICENSED TO ILL had forced upon them. Lo-fi, garagy, guitar-riff-loaded tracks like "Pass Da Mic" and "Gratitude" made it clear that the Beastie Boys could be taken as serious musical forces, even innovators. Yet they could still call back on their silly selves for romps like "Professor Booty" and "Funky Boss." One of the best albums of the 90's, CHECK YOUR HEAD is a turning point for a band and the genesis of a new musical hybrid.Rolling Stone (6/25/92, p.41) - 3.5 Stars - Very Good - "...their most unconventional outing to date...Beneath the seeming chaos, the Beastie Boys have created a harmonious playground out of their musical fantasies..."
Spin (9/99, p.124) - Ranked #12 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."
Spin (12/92, p.67) - Ranked #4 in Spin's list of the `20 Best Albums Of The Year' - "...after the critically acclaimed yet commercially distraught PAUL'S BOUTIQUE, who knew the Beaties would come back samplin', riffin', dissin', and jammin' on instruments they decided to play themsleves..."
Spin (5/92, p.76) - Highly Recommended - "...Thick, deep, textured and varied....an aural joyride..."
Entertainment Weekly (p.55) - "The trio pushed their rhymes to byzantine new heights and stretched out with Hammond-and-bongos funk jams." -- Grade: A
Alternative Press (7/95, p.81) - Ranked #23 in AP's list of the `Top 99 Of '85-'95' - "...reinvented rap, sampling, and hip-hop's parameters, incorporating their posse as near-equals, picking up instruments themselves, and...making an album that's hard to turn off....That's the true mark of a classic..."
Option (July-Aug/92, p.89) - "...a deft blend of samples, noise and live instrumentation...stoopid, fun, loud...the Beasties know exactly what they're doing..."
Village Voice (3/2/93, p.5) - Ranked #5 in the Village Voice's list of the 40 Best Albums Of 1992.
Q (Magazine) (p.134) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "[A]stonishing, like stumbling into a jam session mixed from on high by an invisible scratch DJ....They ping-ponged between hardcore punk and hip-hop..."
Pitchfork (Website) - "[I]t proved that the Beasties could find a new tack on their sonic workmanship without needing a Rick Rubin or some Dust Brothers to guide them."