ALBUMS WE’RE THANKFUL FOR: Beastie Boys’ ‘Check Your Head’ Started Everything for Me

I’m thankful for Check Your Head by the Beastie Boys.

With this album the Beastie Boys masterfully defined their unique aesthetic. The way they dressed and shot their videos, the way they talked in interviews, and the blend of sounds they used were all so distinct and new to me that I had to wonder where they got their style from. What were their influences? For the first time, 14 year old me was inspired to not just find my favorite groups but to figure out what my favorite groups were listening to.

It may make more sense to say this about Paul’s Boutique, but I hadn’t heard that record yet in ’92. It was Check Your Head that led me to Paul’s, which then opened up the world of collecting funk, soul and hip-hop records, a passion that has truly defined my life.

Oh, and “So What Cha Want” is the best song of all time, so come at me. Thank you, Beastie Boys!

Casey Harris

Since his earliest days digging through his dad’s record closet, Casey has been obsessed with music. Raised on Bob Dylan and R.E.M., he embraced his destiny as a life long hip-hop head in 1992 when he heard the Beastie Boys’ song “So What Cha Want.” Today, he divides his musical attention equally between streaming the latest releases on Spotify and risking pulmonary infection digging through dusty records from the ’60s and ’70s. He makes hip-hop beats under the name deltarok and showcases his musical adventures on Instagram as @albumoperator. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and three children.