A 'Beast'ly good hits album

It's been 24 years since the Beastie Boys began their assault on the music scene. Throughout their career, the Beastie Boys have completely altered the face of music with their unique mix of hip-hop, punk and rock. First hitting the mainstream with 1986's License to Ill, the Beastie Boys were labeled as immature party boys. However, this didn't stop License from becoming the first hip-hop album to reach the top spot on the Billboard Pop Charts, where it stayed for five weeks and became the best-selling rap album of the 1980s.\nThe Beastie Boys were also the first significant white rap group to hit the scene and, along with groups like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, paved the way for the emergence of rap rock in the mid 1990s. The band's 1989 release, Paul's Boutique, was incredibly influential and pushed the limits of sampling to a new extreme. Not just an influential band, the Beasties Boys are also a successful one, with four of their six major studio releases reaching No.1 on the Billboards Top 200. \nThe Boys' newest release, Solid Gold Hits, is a celebration of the 20-plus years the band has been together. This album provides a concise musical summary of their entire career and includes such hits as "No Sleep Till Brooklyn," "Sabotage" and "Intergalactic." The most remarkable aspect of the Solid Gold Hits collection is that although the beats, sampling and music style of the band has evolved and changed over their 20-plus year career, the vocal styling and phrasing of the band has remained almost untouched. The Boys are all now in their forties, but they're still producing their signature quirky, simile-filled rhymes that they've been doing since they were in their early twenties. \nSolid Gold Hits can also be purchased as a CD/DVD package. The accompanying DVD includes music videos for each of the 15 songs on the album. It is great being able to watch the band as they've aged throughout the years. Plus, these videos reminded me how ridiculously funny these guys are (the "Fight for Your Right" video is particularly hilarious). One downside of the Solid Gold Hits package is there is no CD booklet, which would have been a nice inclusion. \nSolid Gold Hits is the perfect buy for new listeners or casual fans of the Beastie Boys. The album is a perfect 15-song collection; of some of the band's best and most popular work. Every album the band has ever released since 1986 is represented with at least two songs on this greatest hits collection, even their most recent studio release, 2004's To The 5 Boroughs is included. However, for real die-hard Beastie fans, Solid Gold Hits is pretty much a waste (except for the music videos). The Beastie Boys' 1999's comprehensive two-disc anthology, The Sounds of Science, is a much better choice for the more avid listener.