Ep567: Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill at 40 with Ben Merlis

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 Licensed to Ill.
Pick up "Licensed 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 Licensed 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
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