10 Songs You Know From The First SECOND
7. Sabotage - Beastie Boys
When the Beastie Boys first burst onto the scene, no one really took them seriously. As the genres of hip hop were just starting to be born with Run-DMC and Public Enemy, these three buds from New York just sounded like a bunch of frat kids who just happened to fall into superstardom. Some rap fans may have fallen out of touch with the Beasties, but Sabotage announced them as a musical force to be reckoned with.
As opposed to the obvious sampling you heard on some of the group's early demos, the opening of this song has one of the dirtiest bass tones you will hear on a hip hop track. Once that gets you going, the electric guitars stabs coming from Ad Rock make you feel like some intense sh*t is about to unfold, before the first scream throws you into the song.
The Beasties had been flirting with the rock hybrid sound for a while at this point, but this was where they completely grew out of their goofball roles and into one of the most prominent forces in hip hop history. The golden age of sampling and brass monkey may have been fun at the time, but those stoner dreams were stomped out the second that bass tone hits you.