History YMMV / BeastieBoys

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: While the Beasties insist that ''Licensed To Ill'' was a StealthParody, some still take the material seriously and wonder if the official explanation is a ParodyRetcon (the boys ''were'' big partiers at the time, and were known to perform with a giant inflatable penis onstage). We might never know for sure.

* GrowingTheBeard: ''Music/PaulsBoutique''. (And in MCA's case at the time, literally.)

** The video for "Fight For Your Right". Arguably the funniest music video ever made.

** "Paul Revere" tells us the absolutely true and not at all fictional story of how the Beastie Boys met. Ad-Rock was on a horse running from the sheriff, got held up at gunpoint by MCA (who just wanted his beer), and led him to a saloon that in turn was held up by Mike D., whom they both proceeded to assist.

*** Oddly, that's not even the ''only'' song they wrote on the topic - their early HardcorePunk song "Egg Raid On Mojo", which receives a {{callback}} in "Egg Man", is about the band throwing eggs at a bouncer for never letting them into the club.

* HilariousInHindsight: As of ''Hot Sauce Committee'', [[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} the Beastie Boys have eight albums]].

* MisaimedFandom: While a lot of their songs (especially their earlier material) were meant as a parody, quite a few people wound up taking them seriously. For example, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)" was meant as a spoof of party songs but ironically became a big hit among the people they were making fun of. Of course, there are some who know it's a parody [[MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales and use it as a party song anyway]].

* SignatureSong: Originally "Fight For Your Right", now it's probably "Sabotage" and "Intergalactic". Maybe "Hey Ladies."

* SoOkayItsAverage: ''To The 5 Boroughs'' met this reception from fans, although quite a few critics loved it.

*** Oddly, that's not even the ''only'' song they wrote on the topic - their early HardcorePunk song "Egg Raid On Mojo", which receives a {{callback}} in "Egg Man", is about the band throwing eggs at a bouncer for not letting them in the club.

* MisaimedFandom: While a lot of their songs (especially their earlier material) were meant as a parody, quite a few people wound up taking them seriously. For example, "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party!)" was meant as a spoof of party songs but ironically became a big hit among the people they were making fun of.

* FaceOfTheBand: Highly averted, as MCA, Mike D, and Ad-Rock, are all equally prominent as band vocalists. They do not even appear in their new videos, "Fight For Your Right Revisited" and "Make Some Noise" (an edited version of the former). They actually do appear at the end of "Fight For Your Right Revisited" as [[spoiler:the cops who arrested the past and future version of the group]].

* [[MaturityIsSeriousBusiness Immaturity Is Serious Business]]

* SophomoreSlump: {{Averted|Trope}}.

* SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped: The "Fight For Your Right Revisited" video is sort of a very late subtle apology for their early days. In the video, [[spoiler:the past Beastie Boys, all played by actors, are confronted by what would be the future versions of themselves if they had stayed the same. The Future!Beasties are played by separate actors. Prior to this, the Past!Beasties had gone on a drunken rampage. When Future!Beasties challenge Past!Beasties to a dance-off, the Future!Beasties [[StealthPun end it quickly with a literal pissing contest]] before all the Beasties are hauled off by cops (played by the real Beasties).]]

'''Spock:''' (''subtly bobbing his head'') ''Yes, Doctor, it would seem to be.

** Back in the [=80s=], when the boys were picking up steam, a fairly popular novelty song called "Star Trekkin'" came out. The B-Side, which used the same beat and cadence as Star Trekkin', albeit modified to be a mockery of ''Licensed to Ill's'' beats, was a massive TakeThat towards the boys' style of rapping, calling them disgraces to rap and hacks. Through the years, though, the boys consistently put in references to Franchise/StarTrek - and come the reboot, Kirk's a fan of the boys themselves.

* EarWorm: "Shadrach" has a very infectious beat.

---> At some point after ''Ill Communication'' came out, Mike got hit in the head by a large foreign object and lost all of his memory. As it started coming back he believed that he was a country singer named Country Mike. The psychologists told us that if we didn't play along with Mike's fantasy, he could be in grave danger. Finally he came back to his senses. This song ("Railroad Blues") is one of the many that we made during that tragic period of time.

--> We became obsessed with throwing eggs at people. The Beasties were staying at the Mondrian hotel, on the ninth floor. Summer was starting and every day all these people would line up in front of the Comedy Store across the street. It was just open season. Eventually they got a very diplomatic letter from the hotel management, like “We’ve had some reports of things falling out of your window. If there’s a problem with your window, please let us know.” Then we started driving around in limos, throwing eggs at people. That’s how we came up with the song “Egg Man.”

** In 1999, the Boys recorded a full-length country album called ''Country Mike's Greatest Hits'' as a Christmas present for friends and family. MCA's commentary in the liner notes is priceless:

** By the time the Boys were touring in their 40s they had substituted some of the more misogynistic lyrics of the ''Licensed to Ill'' era to better reflect where they were in life, which led to the alteration of the line "MCA's in the back 'cause he's skeezing with a whore" (in "No Sleep Till Brooklyn") to "MCA's in the back with the mahjong board."