delancey
05-15-2012, 07:14 AM
"Three Idiots Create a Masterpiece" - almost solved.
There is no such review in Rolling Stone. DrunkenMantis (http://bbs.beastieboys.com/member.php?u=37098) was in the right direction.
Here's the real story-
In the December 30 1986 issue of the Village Voice newspaper (NYC) Robert Christgau's column ran this review-(from robertchristgau.com)
Christgau's Consumer Guide
Though it's not entirely apparent from the reviews below, the annual year-end upswing is finally kicking in. Looking over this month's undecideds, I even find some obscure American undergrounders balanced twixt B plus and A minus. There's a small batch of Africans to be heard from, too. So be of good cheer, noel noel.
THE BEASTIE BOYS: Licensed to Ill (Def Jam) The wisecracking arrogance of this record is the only rock and roll attitude that means diddley right now. With the mainstream claimed by sincere craftspeople and the great tradition of Elvis Presley, Esquerita, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Sex Pistols, and Madonna sucked into a cultural vacuum by nitwit anarchists and bohemian sourpusses, three white jerkoffs and their crazed producer are set to go platinum-plus with "black" music that's radically original, childishly simple, hard to play, and accessible to anybody with two ears and an ass. Drinking, robbing, rhyming, and pillaging, busting open your locker and breaking your glasses, the Beasites don't just thumb their noses at redeeming social importance--they pull out their jammies and shoot it in the cookie puss. If you don't like the joke, you might as well put your money where your funnybone is and send a check to the PMRC. [Original grade: A] A PLUS********************************************** **
Somewhere in the issue, maybe on the cover or table of contents, someone wrote "Three Jerks Make a Masterpiece."
So there's actually no such headline for this review either. (Christgau's Column was headlined as "Christgau's Consumer Guide.") The Voice calls it a "coverline" in a 1998 piece that Dan Charnas located.
This headline got printed elsewhere as the Village Voice is primarily a NYC newspaper that few would see beyond the river. Other reporters (LA Times) repeated this headline in early 1987. Somehow it morphed into being "Three Idiots Create a Masterpiece" in Rolling Stone.
(Rolling Stone loving the Beastie Boys in 1986? My bullshit detector went off the charts.)
Up to one of you fans to go to your library and dig out the issue to see if it really says "Three Jerks Make a Masterpiece." In 1998, the Voice said it did, so it's probably there.
Many "reporters" are actually just "repeaters" so don't believe everything that you read.
There is no such review in Rolling Stone. DrunkenMantis (http://bbs.beastieboys.com/member.php?u=37098) was in the right direction.
Here's the real story-
In the December 30 1986 issue of the Village Voice newspaper (NYC) Robert Christgau's column ran this review-(from robertchristgau.com)
Christgau's Consumer Guide
Though it's not entirely apparent from the reviews below, the annual year-end upswing is finally kicking in. Looking over this month's undecideds, I even find some obscure American undergrounders balanced twixt B plus and A minus. There's a small batch of Africans to be heard from, too. So be of good cheer, noel noel.
THE BEASTIE BOYS: Licensed to Ill (Def Jam) The wisecracking arrogance of this record is the only rock and roll attitude that means diddley right now. With the mainstream claimed by sincere craftspeople and the great tradition of Elvis Presley, Esquerita, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Sex Pistols, and Madonna sucked into a cultural vacuum by nitwit anarchists and bohemian sourpusses, three white jerkoffs and their crazed producer are set to go platinum-plus with "black" music that's radically original, childishly simple, hard to play, and accessible to anybody with two ears and an ass. Drinking, robbing, rhyming, and pillaging, busting open your locker and breaking your glasses, the Beasites don't just thumb their noses at redeeming social importance--they pull out their jammies and shoot it in the cookie puss. If you don't like the joke, you might as well put your money where your funnybone is and send a check to the PMRC. [Original grade: A] A PLUS********************************************** **
Somewhere in the issue, maybe on the cover or table of contents, someone wrote "Three Jerks Make a Masterpiece."
So there's actually no such headline for this review either. (Christgau's Column was headlined as "Christgau's Consumer Guide.") The Voice calls it a "coverline" in a 1998 piece that Dan Charnas located.
This headline got printed elsewhere as the Village Voice is primarily a NYC newspaper that few would see beyond the river. Other reporters (LA Times) repeated this headline in early 1987. Somehow it morphed into being "Three Idiots Create a Masterpiece" in Rolling Stone.
(Rolling Stone loving the Beastie Boys in 1986? My bullshit detector went off the charts.)
Up to one of you fans to go to your library and dig out the issue to see if it really says "Three Jerks Make a Masterpiece." In 1998, the Voice said it did, so it's probably there.
Many "reporters" are actually just "repeaters" so don't believe everything that you read.