Songs Influential to Dist1nc7ive Stories: Slow and Low – Beastie Boys, from Licensed to Ill. Back in high school, Hannah left a self-recorded cassette tape in my car after a night of hanging out. It wasn’t a mix tape because it was just two albums. Side A: License to Ill (but with Fight for Your Right (to Party) cut out, she was sick of it), side B: Violent Femmes self-titled debut. By this point in my life, the small towns (I mean small… 200-300 people) I had lived in were super-remote and radio was comprised of a couple of country, and a couple of top-40 stations. So, outside MTV (which we did not have because: no cable), I would never hear songs like these. Even MTV probably wasn’t playing anything besides Fight For Your Right (to Party). So Hannah, thank you. Sorry I never gave it back.

I’m sure I listened to Hannah’s Tape over and over for months, maybe more. In the end, I knew 80% of the songs by heart (and can still sing along today, Many, Many years later). There are so many unique songs from both bands, but the one I like the most is Slow and Low, which (I did not know this back then) is really a RUN DMC original.

Here’s the Beastie Boys version.

My favorite part is at 1:13:

Strong as a ox – fresh out the box
The crowd is so live – they’re coming in flocks
And when we go on – the crowd goes off
It’s all hard rock – there’s nothing soft

I’d listen to that verse over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.

And over.

The big hits and stings are just badass, from just after the cold open. Beastie Boys just drip in attitude, as they rotate through their lineup, rap-shouting their lyrics. Honestly, what’s not to like?

I could only hope to ever produce anything so awesome, but the fun is in the effort.