Fantastic Beastie Boys Resource
Saturday, May 5, 2012 at 11:27AMHow many times have you heard a Beastie Boys song and heard a lyric that made you go "What the hell did that mean?"
The A-V Club has thoughtfully provided a list of references made in Beastie Boys songs. For example:
Brass Monkey (“Brass Monkey,” Licensed To Ill)
The world sang along with “Brass Monkey” without knowing precisely what the song was championing. Depending on who you’re talking to, it’s either a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor, consumed to the top of the label and then re-filled with orange juice, or simply a cocktail made with rum, vodka, and orange juice. Either way, “double R foots the bill most definitely”—that’d be Rick Rubin.
Hyman, Dick (“Root Down,” Ill Communication)
Jazz pianist Dick Hyman’s long career includes work on several Woody Allen films. The line “electric like Dick Hyman” references his electronic recordings, which include albums such as Moog: The Electric Eclectics Of Dick Hyman, whose “The Moog And Me” was sampled prominently on the Beck song “Sissyneck.”
Oh, Sadaharu (“Hey Ladies,” Paul’s Boutique)
Sadaharu Oh played for the Yomiuri Giants from 1959 to 1980, amassing 2,786 hits, 868 of which were home runs—an international record for a professional career.
Go through 170 or so references here.
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Reader Comments (1)
Brass Monkey was a premixed cocktail sold in liquor stores made by Heublein-
http://books.google.com/books?id=F0AEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16-IA3&dq=%22brass+monkey%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4eSzT9bvGsjc6QGDn8mjDQ&ved=0CEgQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22brass%20monkey%22&f=false
That's why they had a "case in the place." Liquor store products get sold in cases, not malt liquor.
The OJ & malt liquor thing didn't exist until well after the song.