Fight For Your Right

This week's edition of Retro Friday features a fun Friday song by the Beastie Boys, "Fight For Your Right."

I love the Beastie Boys. They are a big part of some great memories in my life, and now I've even exposed my teenage kids to the Beastie Boys, and they love them as well!

The Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from Brooklyn, New York. The group consists of Mike D (Michael Diamond) on vocals and drums, MCA (Adam Yauch) on vocals and bass, and Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz) on vocals and guitar.

The Beastie Boys began as hardcore punk band in 1979, first appearing on the compilation cassette New York Thrash, before they released their first EP, Polly Wog Stew, in 1982. After achieving a fair amount of local success with the 1983 release of their experimental hip hop 12" Cooky Puss, they made the transition to hip hop in 1984. This transition was then followed by a string of successful 12" singles, and then in 1986 they released their debut album Licensed to Ill, which was welcomed with international critical acclaim and commercial success. As of 2010, they have sold 22 million albums in the United States and 40 million albums worldwide.

(Dude ... and check out the Claddagh Ring in this pic!!)


They are one of the longest lived hip hop acts worldwide and continue to enjoy success in 2011, nearly 25 years after the release of their debut album. The group has been selected as part of the 2012 induction class into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, after being eligible since 2007. In 2009, the group released a digitally remastered deluxe edition of several of their albums including: Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication and Hello Nasty. Their eighth studio album, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, was released on May 3, 2011, and has also received positive reviews.

One of my favorite Beastie Boys songs, although there are many, is Fight For Your Right. Can you think of a better party anthem than this?


"(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party!)" was released as the fourth single off their debut album Licensed to Ill, in 1986. It is one of their best-known songs, and it reached #7 on the Billboard 100, and was later named one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The Beastie Boys also included this ever popular track on their hits album, The Sounds of Science in 1999, and Solid Gold Hits in 2005.

Ironically, the song was written by band friend Tom "Tommy Triphammer" Cushman (who appears in the video), and it was intended to be a parody of party and attitude songs, such as "Smokin' in the Boys Room" and "I Wanna Rock". However, the intended irony was lost on most listeners. Mike D commented that, "The only thing that upsets me is that we might have reinforced certain values of some people in our audience when our own values were actually totally different. There were tons of guys singing along to 'Fight for Your Right' who were oblivious to the fact it was a total goof on them."

The music video is definitely a memorable piece of the 1980's as well! Many elements of the music video for "Fight for Your Right" appear to be influenced from George A. Romero's zombie horror movie "Dawn of the Dead." In the movie "Dawn of the Dead," a biker gang infiltrates a shopping mall and attacks the zombies with (amongst other things) pies-in-the-face. At one point a biker even smashes a television set with a sledge-hammer, just like MCA in this video. There are also numerous cameos in this video, including an unknown at the time Tabitha Soren, Def Jam label mate LL Cool J, members of the punk band Murphy's Law, as well as the Beastie Boys' producer, Rick Rubin, who was shown wearing a Slayer shirt, who were also signed to Def Jam at the time.

Okay, and here it is for your listening pleasure ... "Fight For Your Right!"



Hey ... while I've got you here ... this is the final push for my campaign to be the "Biggest Fan of the Big East." Voting ends on March 5th. Please swing by my "Biggest Fan of the Big East" profile and vote, and vote often!! Thank you!!



Oh, and you can catch my debut on TNNDN radio last night on YouTube, too!



Cheers & GO IRISH!