Maybe it's time to get into classical music?

Only if you're well into senility. Or have become tired of the music selections your chauffeur plays when he drives you around in the limousine.

My friend was playing his boom-box on the school bus and I was like, "Are they rapping to Led Zeppelin?" "Who is that? The Whatsie-Whos?" He made me a cassette tape and I enjoyed it for a few months. I thought it was funny. "I did it with a wiffle-ball bat!" Ha! Then I got over it. "Sabotage" is bad-ass, though. And the video is classic.

A wonderful piece in the New Yorker by Sasha Frere Jones.

There's actually a lot of great stuff on that album once you get past "Fight for your right." That has to be one of the most bizarre hits of all time -- it projects an image of the band that was almost totally at odds with their history and talent, and was nothing like the rest of the songs on the album.

Others may disagree, but that's how I felt about "Date Rape" on 40 Oz to Freedom.

Mets hitters are using Beastie Boys songs as their walk up music tonight.

Well, Repoz says he's a Primate, and I've always assumed Repoz knows just about every musician that has come from the New York area. Now, I suppose it's possible that Yauch is a Primate and someone else posted under (or shares) his name, but that seems more unlikely.


Ah, didn't know Repoz verified.

Others may disagree, but that's how I felt about "Date Rape" on 40 Oz to Freedom.

That's not a bad analogy, actually.

In pre-game Beasties were being played at MKE at SFO.

Maybe it's time to get into classical music?

Hell yes, find a good opera and check that #### out.

The easiest guys to get into classical music tend to be the heavy metal fans. I'm not one, but there's a lot of overlap.

When I was 16, I worked in a thing called a "music store", which was a building where cassettes and albums (these were media that held recordings of music) were sold. It remains the best job I ever had, by far. Thats where I became a music snob, and of course anything popular or on MTV was plebian and common. I can remember listening to "Cookie Puss" after "License to Ill" came out and thinking "Wait a second, these guys are cool". They were pretty much the soundtrack to my college years. Thanks, Adam.

Hell yes, find a good opera and check that #### out.

I think opera is actually pretty off-putting for someone exploring classical music for the first time. I'd go with some symphonies first. Beethoven #7, Brahms #3, Mahler #2 to start. I'm not the biggest fan of the Classic Period, so you'd have to go elsewhere for your Haydn and Mozart symphony recommendation.

As far as smaller, chamber works - Early music, you can't go wrong with Marin Marais or my namesake, Orlandus Lassus (diLasso, etc.) Schubert and Szymanowski for string quartets. Some people love their solo piano work, and here I would go for Brahms as well, with the dark horse of Charles Alkan.

That's at least a good start.

I have a feeling that whenever I make the breakthrough to enjoying classical music, it might involve marijuana.

I'm not the biggest fan of the Classic Period, so you'd have to go elsewhere for your Haydn and Mozart symphony recommendation.

I listen mostly to rock and folk music, but I love Haydn's Symphony No.94.

I think opera is actually pretty off-putting for someone exploring classical music for the first time. I'd go with some symphonies first. Beethoven #7, Brahms #3, Mahler #2 to start. I'm not the biggest fan of the Classic Period, so you'd have to go elsewhere for your Haydn and Mozart symphony recommendation.


Honestly, I wouldn't recommmend absolute music for a beginner in most cases. Program music, stuff like Ma Vlast or the Symphonie fantastique or the Manfred Symphony or various symphonic poems are very useful in that they provide a context for someone dipping their toe into a new sound world. It's generally easier for a beginner to relate to "this is the part where Sarka and the rest of the rebel women slit the throats of the sleeping drunk men" rather than "here's where Mahler finally gets to the E-flat major chord he's been teasing for an hour."

I see your point, Dan, but I simply disagree, philosophically. I think the pressure of "Here's the program, you should see this happening" is difficult because it is STILL subjective. I prefer initial exposure being absolute music, which at least to me seems to have fewer constraints on the listener.

Well I'm as cool as a cucumber in a bowl of hot sauce
You've got the rhyme and reason but no cause
Well if you're hot to trot you think you're slicker than grease
I've got news for you crews you'll be sucking like a leech

I'm really just so sad about MCA's passing. There was so much joy and fun in his art. Thanks Adam.

Hell yes, find a good opera and check that #### out.

I dig classical music but can't stand opera for the most part.

The easiest guys to get into classical music tend to be the heavy metal fans. I'm not one, but there's a lot of overlap.

I think it's due mostly to the guitarists in metal/hard rock. The classically influenced styles of guys from Blackmore to Rhoads, to Malmsteen, et al likely led listeners to Bach, Mozart, etc.

Ahhh, Bach! I'm partial to the fugue.

/ro'reilly

WERS in Boston was playing Cookie Puss in the '79 or '80. Wiki says it was recorded in '83, and while that may be true, there was a tape of it that is a bit different from that recording. The bass was much fuzzier, and much deeper, and slower. Somehoe, ERS had it, and played it a lot.

I have a feeling that whenever I make the breakthrough to enjoying classical music, it might involve marijuana.

You're allowed to do that. Well, actually you aren't, but I'll give you a pass just this once.
Try a Beethoven Piano concerto. Try Wozzeck. Debussy sacred and profane danses. The list is long.

I think Run-DMC might have had the rock beats in rap before the Beasties, but there's no doubt that the Beastie Boys greatly expanded the audience for rap.