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July 22, 2009

PUZZLE #98 & quick thoughts on the Beasties

ACROSS LITE PUZZLE: [ THREE MCS AND ONE DJ] 
PROGRAM: [Across Lite]

PROGRAM: [Java]

PRINTOUT PUZZLE: [ THREE MCS AND ONE DJ]
PROGRAM: [Adobe Acrobat]

First things first: get well soon, MCA. For those that slept, the guy on the far right in above embedded video was just diagnosed with cancer. Yuck. And for the 1% of you who've never heard of the Beastie Boys, let alone the song alluded to in today's title, have no fear. This puzzle's doable without needing insider information.

What a band, huh? I mean, was there anything these guys couldn't do? (We're going to forget all the instrumental "jazz" records, BTW). I mean, sure they started off as what appeared to be a watered down Run-DMC clone with frat-boy humor. But have you listened to "Licensed to Ill" lately? The forward-thinking vision and bravado displayed on those tracks is nothing short of stunning. I know, I know, everybody's going to tell me that "Paul's Boutique" is their coup de grace. Everyone's going to say the kaleidoscopic Technicolor cool was all over "Boutique." And hell, I agree, that one's stellar. But I'll argue for "Licensed" over "Boutique" in three quick points.

  1. "Licensed" is as over-the-top/everything-and-the-kitchen-sink if not more so than the overly polished versions of the same "anything goes" songwriting displayed on "Boutique."
  2. "Licensed" has more songs. "Boutique" has more moments.
  3. And here's the one everybody conveniently forgets when talking about "Paul's Boutique:" it was supposed to be a Dust Brothers record until the Beasties staplegunned their schtick onto it.

But whatever. It's like arguing what's your favorite Beatles record. You really can't go wrong with any of them (except for "Beatles for Sale," that one not so much).

Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed this. New puzzle on Friday.

Posted at 08:58 AM in Medium |

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