At the start of Mike Dawson’s graphic novel/memoir Freddie & Me, a young Dawson sees Freddie Mercury in drag on his TV and laughs out loud. This is the start of his love affair with Queen and its flamboyant singer, and is something I’ve been thinking about in regards to the first time I really noticed the Beastie Boys. I was eleven years old when I saw “Intergalactic” on the Pepsi Chart Show with my family, and I was bewildered by these funny-looking dorks on our screen (obviously I didn’t know what “cool” was, ergo dorky). What is this? I was hooked. My dad brought me back Hello Nasty from the library not long afterwards and that was me from that point: hip-hop you don’t stop.
Remembering particular MCA lines is a little tricky for me, although when I start listening to their records, a bunch come flying out - “don’t smoke cheeba/can’t stand crack”, “never been dumped cos I’m known the most mackinest”, “get your hologram on off of Wolf Blitzer”, “LIKE MA BELL I GOT THE ILL COMMUNICATIONS” - but I feel this is purely because he was always one-third of a perfect unit. I remember reading the lyrics to Hello Nasty as a kid and seeing how these dense lines flowed from song to song, becoming one eternal sentence, no divisions drawn as to who was saying what and at what point. This is totally the point, because the Beasties were one of those perfect groups that you honestly couldn’t imagine any other way - everything was “us” and “we said”, not “he”. MCA, Ad-Rock and Mike D were thirds of a whole and I can’t bring myself to believe that one-third is no longer on this planet.
I’ll always be disappointed that I never saw the Beasties live, a dream I’ve held since seeing this MTV special of their 1999 Glasgow show. When it aired, this special made me think a whole lot about what going to gigs would be like - that they would always be in the round, that the performers would be in uniform and that the crowd would always be this hype. Obviously they weren’t always like that. But I still look at this in awe and wish I truly was there. Hell, it’s more than enough that it happened - it’s more than enough that we got Adam Yauch and it’s more than enough that we got the Beastie Boys.
[thx to the beautiful human being that uploaded this to youtube]
Glasgow subway, 1972
Glasgow subway is the easiest subway in the world, I imagine. “Oh, did you miss your stop? Nah, don’t worry, sit down, you’re just going round in a circle. You’ll get there soon enough, pal.” None of this change-here-for-the-Northern shite.
A week today... CODEINE DRUMS @ CCA, GLASGOW
reblog this folks! we gonna have a party.
I should be at this, so if any of you Tumblr people have never met me, I am very tall and friendly. Shake my hand! Don’t DJ Ironik me.
St Enoch Station, Glasgow - 1970s
Before and after the demolition of the station this area was used as a car park
So rad to know your city’s history.
