Awesome...they...shot that...

The Beastie Boys dropped onto the scene when I was in seventh grade with just about the dumbest hits of the mid 80's - the kind of stuff that should have put them solidly on the career path to frat boy drunkenness and one-hit wonder status. Even the concert reviews from their first tour don't exactly suggest any sort of future career for the Boys.

Today I offer you a bit of a video tour of the Boys's career...

From their debut License to Ill album:

• "Fight For Your Right"
• Performing on Joan Rivers's show - 1987
• A great time capsule of "She's Crafty"
• A sign of videos to come - "No Sleep Till Brooklyn"

Sample-heavy Paul's Boutique was a massive step forward and one of the first great albums of the 90's:

• "Hey Ladies"
• "Shake Your Rump"

The Boys switched direction a bit on Check Your Head...

• "Gratitude"
• "So What'cha Want"
• MTv crap and "Jimmy James"
• For my money, the absolutely classic Beasties song and video - "Pass the Mic"

By the time that Ill Communication dropped in 199, the Beasties pretty much ruled the world, with their last two albums debuting at #1 on the charts...

• "Sure Shot"
• Their most well-known video - "Sabotage"
• "Root Down"
• The Beasties revisit "Sabrosa" at Voodofest

Four years later we got the most eclectic Beasties yet with Hello Nasty with a number of world music samples and influences and - luckily - some good old school Beasties rapping...

• "Body Movin" live
• "Body Movin'"
• "Intergalactic"
• "Three MC's and One DJ"

To hold us over, the Beasties let out Sounds of Sience which had a few new songs but was mostly a greatest hits and rarities collection...

• "Alive (Moby Remix)"
• And the old-school "She's On It

We had six long years before they dropped To the 5 Boroughs, and they were bringing some angry, politically angry words on this one...

• "An Open Letter to NYC"
• "Ch-Check It Out"
• "Right Right Now Now"
• "Rhyme the Rhyme Well"
• "Triple Trouble" - one of their biggest videos with Sasquatch

And a few odds and sods from other projects that the Boys have been a part of...

• Mike D commercial for Crown Royal records
• Ben Stiller cameo in their newsestconcert film
• VH1's tribute to Run DMC
• Beastie Boys vs. Backstreet Boys - Celebrity Death Match

So, bow down