Do you think that any artists outside of other hip hop artists have respect for the Beastie Boys?

I would think so, partly because they're not a pure hip hop artist, and they appeal to a degree to the alternative crowd, so they're more likely to appeal to non-hip hop artists than would most hip hop artists. But rock has become more diverse and fragmented in recent years, so I'd agree that across-the-board appeal within rock is an issue for all recent artists, including Beastie Boys. That's another reason why I think Prince would rank very high among recent artists: he would come as close as anyone to appealing to all kinds of rock artists.

Absolutely. One of the most striking things about the Beastie Boys is that they brought a lot of communities together. I went to see them in Chicago the week Licensed To Ill hit number one, and I was amazed to see a show where hip-hop fans, metal fans, and alternative fans were all into the same band. That was pretty unheard of at the time. Now, obviously most of those people weren't artists, but I think that interest was reflected in the artists of the time as well. And if anything their subsequent releases were more embraced by the alternative community than by the hip-hip community.

When I saw Blondie last year, they did "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)" in their set, and obviously this was before Adam Yauch's death.

And Brown is widely considered by many to be the greatest live performer in rock history. And the man who invented funk.

I think you're right, Brian. I would add other names such as U2, Nirvana, Radiohead and Run-DMC, not to mention MJ and The Clash, who began to have greater musical impact in the late 70s.

I included U2, and Eric mentioned MJ earlier. The others also have high musical impact, but of them, Radiohead is the best example of an artist with a long period of musical impact. For the rest, the period was pretty brief.


Agreed on the first, but the second is influence, not musical impact.

On the other hand, I don't want to overstate the division between hip hop artists and other rock artists. There are examples to the contrary: Run-DMC and Aerosmith teaming up for "Walk This Way", KRS-One appearing on REM's "Radio Song", Chuck D doing "Bring the Noise" with Anthrax and appearing on Sonic Youth's "Kool Thing". I believe Public Enemy also toured with Sonic Youth. Also, Sinead O'Connor publicly mentioned that she liked rap in the late '80s.

Most older artists that I knew hated rap, as do most older people in general. Some artists may nor say it publicly, but I have a feeling that some of them would, like Ted Nugent.

"I can't stand rap. People who can't sing do rap. You can sing rebellion as well as talk it. Hitler would have been in a rap band." - John Entwistle

"Rap is short for crap." - Gregg Allman

They sound like close minded and bitter old fogies.

Legendary guitarist KEITH RICHARDS despises gangsta rap, and hopes it passes like another silly trend.

The veteran performer, known for his wild ways and legendary tolerance for substances, is convinced rap's roots lie with BO DIDDLEY and older Jamaican styles.

Richards, currently touring on the ROLLING STONES' FORTY LICKS bus, explains, "I think of (gangsta rap) like the hula hoop, as a fad. With the baseball caps and the baggy pants - I just got bored with what they were saying.

"And all those fingers pointing at you all the time! If I think about rap, which is basically talking over a beat, right, I think of Bo Diddley, to begin with, and then, where I really thought it reached masterpieces was in Jamaica with BIG YOUTH and I-ROY, when they were saying something and had some really incredible sounds.

"American rap has never really got on my radar screen, man. I mean, I know my brothers, right, and this is really not the best angle on them. They're all talking about the same thing and it's a wasted opportunity."

However, the MAIN OFFENDER album-maker concedes there are some interesting points in the gangsta culture.

He adds, "I don't really like to put a record on and listen to somebody talking to me, unless it's LENNY BRUCE or TONY HANCOCK.

"But I did get interested when they started shooting each other. That's more like it, y'know? Wipe each other out!"

"It's not music, it's a disease" - Mitch Miller, on rock 'n' roll in the mid-50-'s.

""His (Elvis Presley) kind of music is deplorable, a rancid smelling aphrodisiac" - Frank Sinatra, 1956.

Hmmm. Old artists seeing their style of music losing its relevance in the face of a newer style. Sounds like massive insecurity on the part of Miller, Sinatra, Richards, Allman and Entwistle.

This happens with every generation - artists come along, like Frank Sinatra in the 1940's, who blew away the conventions of the earlier generation and he didn't care about what tired old music he was replacing, he just rode the wave and thought it'd last forever. But the bobby soxers he appealed to grew up, started families and stopped caring so much about all music, not just his, and the next generation didn't care about him at all, they wanted their own sounds and their own stars and they found someone younger, more exciting and more attuned to their own lives. Invariably the older discarded acts get bitter and defensive about their fading prominence and start lashing out against what took their place, unable and unwilling to understand it musically and too stupid or shortsighted to realize the exact same cultural movement that propelled them to fame is taking place again with someone else as the recipient of the attention.

But Musical Impact isn't about what the older generation thinks. Greg Allman and John Entwistle were completely irrelevant as artists by the time rap was current, fans of Run-D.M.C., Public Enemy and The Beastie Boys had no clue who the hell Allman or Entwistle even were. Sinatra and Mitch Miller were not contemporaries of Presley and Berry and Domino, not in the same field as they were and therefore their rants were laughed at, just as their music was laughed at by the rock audience. What matters is an artist's contemporaries, that's where the impact is felt. Other artists competing against them for sales, airplay and acclaim yet still being knocked out by what someone else was doing. All of this other stuff - no matter who it is doing the complaining - is just the inevitable insecure reactions of yesterday's stars who are today's nobodies in the current musical kingdom.

Yeah, so? I still don't see any of those names, with the possible exception of Prince, exceeding either The Who or Led Zeppelin in musical impact.



We can't favor the artists that get praise and respect over the artists that get called crap? Are you for real?



Personally, I think Jimmy Page was jealous of Pete Townshend. Just read this 1975 interview. And Jimmy Page cried so much about looking like he was opening for The Who in 2000 that he backed out of a four night stand Madison Square Garden double bill in 2000. Robert Plant didn't give a shit in 2002.



I'll think on it.

Can't be an actual opinion based on an artist's tastes, eh?

"I only like heavy metal when I'm the one that's playing it. It's a bit like smelling your own farts." - John Entwistle

^ That quote is awesome.