Hey Ladies

[dave790]

I'm not sure when exactly it happened, but at some point in the last few years Hey Ladies has become one of my favourite and most-played Beastie jams. I keep imagining what it must have been like to hear at the time, being a fan and having waited three years for new music (I was born in '89 by the by). I probably wouldn't have known what to think - does anyone have any recollections?

It's just so damn funky and the vocal interplay is some of their best ever. And obviously, it just heralds this whole new sound. It's a million miles away from LTI and - despite my love for that album - all the better for it.

I have some other questions that I've been thinking on recently: why was it never (to my knowledge) performed live? I know Yauch (I think?) was confused as to why it was the first single off Paul's in the Anthology booklet, but they obviously liked the track enough to include it on both best of's...

And, although I say it was never performed live, did it not make any of those small, very infrequent clubs show set-lists in 1989 around the time of its release?

One of those songs I painfully imagine them revisiting (along with Shadrach) when I imagine what recent set-lists may have been like had the unthinkable not happened

Hope everyone is well by the way - I miss this place but always remember with affection the brilliant fans...

ps - and how can I not mention the video!

[Uru-Nitro]

I've just read in Beastiemania there is a BS remix of Hey Ladies... how cool it would be to listen that!!!

[Sir SkratchaLot]

I remember when the video came out being like "what the hell is this disco stuff?" I just don't think I was cool enough to realize what they were doing. I wouldn't say I didn't like it, but it was so far from what I expecting based on License to Ill that I think it went over my head.

You also have to remember that disco was still kind of hated in the mainstream at that point in time. The Beasties were just ahead of their time with the throw-back to that era. I'm pretty sure that track was all I heard from Paul's Boutique. It wasn't until after Check Your Head came out that I started listening to Paul's Boutique and by that time it made a lot more sense to me.

Headz really weren't ready.

[pesto pizza]

I remember it well and l was'nt pleased, hey ladies was only liked by a few girls l knew at the time.In 89 l was trying to tell everyone how good "pauls boutique" was and people were saying but "hey ladies is shit".
I was thinking why the hell is'nt shake your rump the lead single? (The B side wins again - PE)
When the video for shake your rump was released on yo! Mtv, then my friends knew what l was talking about and gave "pauls boutique" a chance and then two of them bought the album and loved it.
I love hey ladies now but only up until about 3 years ago because l know if shake your rump or shadrach was the lead single that would have been a different summer for the beasties in 1989 and for me.

[dave790]

Great stuff! Yes I'd love to think that I would have 'gotten it' straight away. But I definitely would have been bewildered. Even when listening to the Anthology - which was the first time I heard Hey Ladies - it didn't do much for me. I agree that Shake Your Rump and Shadrach were more immediate, and probably better choices as singles. That said, I love how Hey Ladies was the first song dropped, and I wonder who's decision it was.

While the Beasties gained more control over their output than most (partly due to the 'failure' of Paul's), I remember Yauch complaining on here that Capitol were pushing for Triple Trouble to be the second single off TT5B, when the band really wanted An Open Letter to NYC. I still think it would have been a better follow up to Check It Out, which was by all accounts a hit. In the end, it came at the end of the campaign and only in Europe / the UK I believe (also bizarre).

Anyway, I digress... Thanks for your recollections.

[abbott]

I do listen to PB but typical push the next button and skip HL

Liked a lot as a kid and still like it but I played it enough I guess

[Mister-Gerard]

In '89, I waited so impatiently for the release of the new album and I could read in the Melody Maker that they worked with 3 normal and unknown guys.
I loved LTI and when Hey Ladies came out, I was not expecting that at all. But the samplings were so great, the dynamics in rapping so brilliant and the video, mmmm perfect : the suits (they got more suits than Jacoby & Meyers), the sequences in the disco and near the pool, the cowbell. And indeed no live performance.
As a musician, I am always stunned by the mix of styles (Love American style...) on PB.
Beasties always surprised me.