This week I was driving my younger daughter in the car when the radio DJ said the words I've been waiting to hear since watching the best YouTube music trailer ever: "Here's the first track off the new Beastie Boys album, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two - 'Make Some Noise!'"
I cranked it to 11 and started dancing, as much as is possible when you are also maintaining a 10 o'clock, 2 o'clock position on the steering wheel for safety and also checking your blind spots. There were the synthesizers, the beats, the indecipherable lyrics, the cowbell that have always marked the sound of MCA, King Ad-Rock, and Mike D. Delicious.
Finally my daughter said, "Can you turn it down? It's too wild." In fitting with her theatrical bent, her tastes run toward anything performed by the cast of Glee, in five part harmony.
"I can," I answered, and did, "but you should know that this is one of my favorite bands ever. One time when I saw them in concert…"
Wait.
I NEVER SAW THE BEASTIE BOYS IN CONCERT. How is that possible? Well, you know how it goes: They'd come to town for a show when I was traveling for work, or they were playing on a Monday night and it's nigh on impossible for me to stay up past 9 pm on a Monday anymore, or they'd be at a giant arena and I'd think, "Meh, I hate arenas, I'll catch them next time in a smaller venue." Only that never happened and now I don't even have the concert t-shirt.
In fact, if you compared the amount that I like the Beastie Boys music to the number of times I've seen them play I think this band, for me, would have the highest "Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda " ratio of any artist. (Note: Yes, Beastie Boys lyrics, once you make them out, are awfully misogynistic, and you know how that gets my dander up. So I use a song like "Girls" to warn my daughters to avoid the type of boy who wants one thing and one thing only from a girl: housework.)
Who's the top of the charts on your Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda list? The band you always meant to see, the next time they were in town? The one that just never seemed to tour when you had the cash to buy the tickets, and now they've retired? I'm just looking for a little Schadenfreude on a Friday, people, help me out. And in the meantime enjoy "Intergalactic" by the Beasties. Maybe we need to send this spaceship and the boxy robot back to Japan to see if they can't help with some cleanup.
Oh I love me some Beasties. They are definitely (and unfortunately) on my list, too!
ReplyDeleteTwo other favorites come to mind: REM and Wilco. I have seen both play several times (and once I even went to back-to-back REM concerts 2 nights in a row) but STILL I regret the few times that they played nearby and I didn't make it happen.