1992 in Albums: Check Your Head, by Beastie Boys

Genre-hopping insanity from the best pals in rap

Check Your Head — Beastie Boys

We, as a society, do not spend enough time discussing the sheer weirdness of the Beastie Boys.

Like, what are they? Are they rappers? Are they an alt-rock band? Are they an early nu-metal band? None of these descriptors feels entirely accurate.

The Beastie’s genre-defying nature was actually a problem for them in the early 90s. They had burst into the mainstream with the shouty fratboy anthems of License to Ill, but their follow-up record, Paul’s Boutique, was much more esoteric. Critics loved it, the public hated it, and the label dropped them.

The Boys moved to L.A., where they reconnected with their punk roots, and a vision started to emerge for the third album. It would be entirely instrumental. No rapping. And it wouldn’t use samples. No, wait, it would use sample, but they would sample themselves by recording themselves playing live and then remixing it.

Check Your Head ended up sounding nothing like this, of course. The opening track. ‘Jimmy James’, samples no fewer than seven Hendrix tracks, while the Boys return on the mic with their unique style that involves shouting the last word of every…