Capitol 28599
Producers: Beastie Boys and Mario Coldator Jr.
Track listing: Sure Shot / Tough Guys / B-Boys Makin’ with the Freak Freak / Bobo on the Corner / Root Down / Sabotage / Get It Together / Sabrosa / The Update / Futterman’s Rule / Allright Hear This / Eugene’s Lament / Flute Loop / Do It / Ricky’s Theme / Heart Attack Man / The Scoop / Shambala / Bodhisattva Vow / Transitions
June 18, 1994
1 week
In 1986, the Beastie Boys became the first rap act to top the album chart with Licensed to Ill. Paul’s Boutique, the group’s 1989 followup, was hailed by critics but failed to match the commercial knockout of the debut album, as it stalled at number 14. Check Your Head, released in 1992, struck a balance between critical and commercial appeal, debuting and peaking at number 10 and selling more than a million copies. Still, many wrote off the trio as one-hit wonders who would never match the commercial success of Licensed to Ill.
That all changed with the release of Ill Communication. The album features the Beasties dabbling in everything from hardcore punk and hip-hop to funk jams. The Beasties’ Mike D (Diamond) notes that the musical climate had changed to the group’s advantage. “Increasingly, there are a number of bands that incorporate different styles into what they do,” he says. “There’s an audience for everything from hip-hop to the rare groove funky shit to hardcore. There are actually kids now that have grown up on all those kinds of music, like we have.”
The Beastie Boys, whose ranks also include bassist MCA (Adam Yauch) and guitarist Adrock (Adam Horovitz), recorded Ill Communication in record time. “Seven months is a world’s record for us,” says Mike D. “We worked on Check Your Head for a long time and we learned how to make records, and touring taught us a lot about playing together.”
As had been the case with Check Your Head, Ill Communication features a mix of samples and live instrumentation. Material sampled on the set includes “everything from Richard Pryor to the Keychains,” says Mike D.
On the live instrument side, the Middle Eastern-flavored “Eugene’s Lament” features the Beasties’ pal Eugene Gore on violin. Other tracks include keyboardist Money Mark and percussionist Eric Bobo, for whom the track “Bobo on the Corner” is named. The latter two instrumentalists played with the band on the tour in support of Check Your Head.
“When we started playing instruments for Check Your Head, a lot of that was based on the music that inspired it — whether it was the Meters or the J.B.’s, it was the stuff that we had been sampling. As soon as we started to do that, we realized we could still play hardcore, too,” says Mike D. “With this album it was just a matter of getting even more out there”
Capitol issued a white-label 12-inch of “Get It Together,” which features a guest appearance by Q-Tip of Tribe Called Quest, to clubs in early April. A second track, “Sabotage,” went to college and modern rock radio in mid-May. The combination of working the two tracks at different formats was enough to push Ill Communication to the top in its first week, making the Beastie Boys, who were already the first rap act to have topped the album chart, the first to do it twice.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of June 18, 1994
1. Ill Communication, Beastie Boys
2. The Sign, Ace of Base
3. The Crow, Soundtrack
4. Not a Moment Too Soon, Tim McGraw
5. Above the Rim, Soundtrack