20. Cooky Puss (1983) Pasting prank calls and garbled Steve Martin routines on to a delicious ESG-esque garage-funk of their own making, the Beasties’ first swing at hip-hop improbably got these former punk-rockers played at New York nightclubs such as Danceteria and Roxy’s. Meanwhile, a subsequent lawsuit against British Airways, which had sampled the B-side for an ad, paid for Ad-Rock’s first TR-808 drum-machine.
Result! 19. (You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!) (1986) Their first anthem so successfully lampooned the fratboy archetype that many mistook caricature for the truth (the group’s own offstage misbehaviour further blurred the distinction). From the numbskull riff to their palpable fury over their lost porno mags, Fight For Your Right remains stupidly brilliant pop – though the Beasties spent years trying to live it down.
18. Egg Man (1989) Inspired by Adam Yauch’s penchant for egging passersby (including the bouncer at New York nightclub Berlin, as chronicled on early thrasher Egg Raid On Mojo ), this tale of “drive-by egging” was lent tension by expert samples from the scores to Superfly, Jaws and Psycho. The ever-enterprising Yauch even considered marketing a Beasties-branded “egg gun” as merch.
View image in fullscreen Blond ambition ...
pictured in 1992. Photograph: Gie Knaeps/Getty Images 17. It Takes Time to Build (2004) Abandoning their usual polymorphous playfulness for a more austere tone, their sixth album, To the 5 Boroughs, fo.
