You Gotta Fight (For Your Right to Party) by The Beastie Boys
Older generations may remember where they were when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. I recall the first time I saw this video and heard this song. A silly and immature comparison? Perhaps, but whenever I hear the song and/or view this video, I gleefully tap into the catharsis that these juvenile nitwits (or so I thought at the time) allowed me to live vicariously through. Take that, moon landing!
I'll be brutally honest-I was a good kid. I didn't smoke, didn't drink until the summer before college, didn't curse around my parents, didn't get in trouble in school. I annoyed myself with my choirboy tendencies. I wanted to be a bad ass, but the pragmatism of isolation (living six miles out of town with no means of transport until I got my driver's license) and the fear that my dad would send me to a reformatory (overactive imagination, perhaps) kept me toeing the line.
While there were other rebels of rock who I could have affixed my enthusiasm towards, no one hit like The Beastie Boys when they released Licensed to Ill. I first heard and saw them on MTV while visiting cousins and it wasn't long after that where I purchased the cassette and wore it out listening to the asinine rapping of these guys-out of earshot from my parents, of course. I could shout the refrain from their songs inside my head, silently fighting for my right to party, such as it was for an awkward 14 year old.
The amazing thing about The Beastie Boys was that they didn't fade away into obscurity and tabloid fodder. I can't imagine anyone listening back in 1986 or 1987 would have seen the day where they were considered pioneers in hip hop or leading human rights activists, but fortunately they grew and matured. They turned out to be deserving of my emulation when all was said and done.
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