Ep567: Beastie Boys’ License to Ill at 40 with Ben Merlis

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Author Ben Merlis traces the Beastie Boys’ wild leap from young hardcore punks to rap’s first number-one album, revealing the rare records, recordings and scrapped ideas behind License to Ill.

Pick up “License To Ill at 40” book here

Topics Include:

  • How a short 2017 article landed Ben Merlis this book deal
  • Why the Beasties’ punk-to-rap story fits Ben’s two obsessions perfectly
  • The process of writing the book
  • Pollywog Stew: an unknown pressing run
  • How a Black Flag show sparked the Beastie Boys’ hardcore beginnings
  • The Upper Broadway loft where they formed, demoed and played first
  • Lucky, well-connected teens, and why young genres are meritocracies
  • Scrapping an EP, crank-calling Carvel, and stumbling into Cookie Puss
  • Downtown dance-punk, and sets that switched from hardcore to rapping
  • Def Jam’s surprising origins as Rick Rubin’s punk label
  • Meeting Rubin over a bubble machine; Kate Schellenbach gets pushed out
  • Rubin, Dr. Dre, Hurricane: were the Beastie Boys’ DJs really members?
  • Rock Hard & Beastie Groove
  • Def Jam’s collectible burgundy-sleeve era, and how to spot them
  • British Airways steals Beastie Revolution and pays out $40,000
  • The settlement money buys an 808 instead of a Rickenbacker
  • No band cooperation, then a surprise interview with Mike D
  • The grief behind the jokes: losing parents young
  • Counting the White Castle references on License to Ill
  • Opening for Madonna at $500 a night with fifteen minutes’ material
  • Recording License to Ill, and pinning down its real release date
  • Fight for Your Right: written last-minute on Palladium cocktail napkins
  • MTV, race and radio: how they scored rap’s first number one
  • The album’s shockingly offensive working title, and why CBS killed it
  • The crashing-plane cover, Led Zeppelin worship and uncleared samples
  • A runaway tour, alienated fans and a messy split from Def Jam
  • Rubin blocks their movie, royalties stop, and lawsuits follow
  • Legacy: everything dope and whack about the 80s in one album
  • Rare pressings: tour show vinyl, blank Spanish LP, “Licensed to Kill”
  • French seven-inch box sets, Peruvian covers and a Japanese laserdisc

High resolution version of this podcast is available at: www.Patreon.com/VinylGuide

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