| "Girls" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Beastie Boys | ||||
| from the album Licensed to Ill | ||||
| B-side | "She's Crafty" | |||
| Released | May 6, 1987 | |||
| Recorded | 1986 | |||
| Genre | Comedy hip hop | |||
| Length | 2:14 | |||
| Label | Def Jam, Columbia | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Beastie Boys, Rick Rubin | |||
| Producer(s) | Rick Rubin | |||
| Beastie Boys singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Girls" is a song by American rap rock group the Beastie Boys, released in 1987 as the seventh and final single from their debut album Licensed to Ill .
The song is the shortest on the album, lasting just over two minutes long.
Lyrically, the song talks about the narrator (Ad-Rock)'s desire for women. He recalls an experience from two years before with a woman who had an interest in the narrator's bandmate MCA. MCA did not share her feelings and permitted the narrator to pursue her romantically. Ad-Rock takes the woman for a walk near a bay and asks her out but rejects his proposal. She moves to a far away location but in the present day the narrator sees her back in town showing interest in his other bandmate, Mike D.
The arrangement is supplied by a drum machine beat and a simple melody on an electronic keyboard. Mike D and MCA provide wordless backing vocals reminiscent of doo wop that occasionally break into giggles at the song's humorous lyrics and Ad-Rock's exaggerated delivery. The song is meant to mock misogynistic rappers.
In 2013, the toy company GoldieBlox used the song with alternative lyrics in a video of a Rube Goldberg machine made primarily out of traditional girls' toys. The group accused the company of copyright infringement, and stated that Adam Yauch's last will prevented the use of their music in advertising. In November 2013, GoldieBlox countersued the Beastie Boys and producer Rick Rubin, saying the use of the song was a parody. [1] [2] In March 2014, the Beastie Boys settled out of court, with GoldieBlox issuing a public apology and making a donation to a charity of the band's choice. [3]
| Chart (1987) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| New Zealand Singles Chart | 27 |
| UK Singles Chart [4] | 34 |
Beastie Boys were an American hip hop/rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1981. The group was composed of Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz, Adam "MCA" Yauch, and Michael "Mike D" Diamond. Beastie Boys were formed out of members of experimental hardcore punk band The Young Aborigines, which was formed in 1979, with Diamond on drums, Jeremy Shatan on bass guitar, John Berry on guitar, and Kate Schellenbach later joining on percussion. When Shatan left New York City in mid-1981, Yauch replaced him on bass and the resulting band was named Beastie Boys. Berry left shortly thereafter and was replaced by Horovitz.
Licensed to Ill is the debut studio album by the American hip hop group Beastie Boys. It was released on November 15, 1986, by Def Jam and Columbia Records. The album became the first rap LP to top the Billboard 200 chart, and was the second rap album to be certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It is one of Columbia Records' fastest-selling debut records to date and was certified Diamond by the RIAA in 2015 for shipping over ten million copies in the United States. The album received critical acclaim for its unique musical style, chemistry between the group members, and their stylized rapping. Since its release, Licensed to Ill has been ranked by critics as one of the greatest hip hop and debut albums of all time.
Frederick Jay Rubin is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records.
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"No Sleep till Brooklyn" is a song by the New York hip hop group the Beastie Boys, and the sixth single from their debut studio album, Licensed to Ill. One of their signature songs, it describes an exhaustive tour and all the events that make it tiresome, but also emphasizes their determination not to rest until they reach their home base of Brooklyn. "No Sleep till Brooklyn" was a popular concert favorite for the Beastie Boys and traditionally used as their closing song. Among other references to heavy metal, the title is a play on the Motörhead album No Sleep 'til Hammersmith. The song has been subject to several covers and parodies including "Stutter Rap " by Morris Minor and the Majors.
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"She's on It" is a song by American rap rock group Beastie Boys. It was released on September 12, 1985, as the fifth single from the soundtrack to the 1985 film Krush Groove. The song's guitar riff is a slightly slower version of the riff in Cheap Trick's 1978 song "Stiff Competition," which in turn was based on the riff in the Who's 1971 song "Won't Get Fooled Again." Despite failing to attract commercial success at the time of its initial release in 1985, a re-release in 1987 was more successful, becoming a top-10 hit on the UK Singles Chart and reaching the top 50 in Ireland, the Netherlands, and West Germany.
Mattel v. MCA Records, 296 F.3d 894, was a series of lawsuits between Mattel and MCA Records that resulted from the 1997 hit single "Barbie Girl" by Danish-Norwegian group Aqua. The case was ultimately dismissed.
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GoldieBlox is an American toy company that markets interactive toys designed for girls. GoldieBlox, which pairs a construction kit with a storybook, launched in 2012 as a prototype on Kickstarter. Its Kickstarter campaign led to more than $1 million in pre-orders placed in the first month. It went on to sell in retailers including Toys "R" Us and Amazon. None of the original construction kits or storybooks are still sold, with the company shifting its focus to crafting kits for girls.
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Brett Doar is a multi-disciplinary artist, engineer and contraptionist known for building Rube Goldberg machines and other interactive and kinetic devices. Doar is best known for his roles as a primary engineer for the Rube Goldberg machine in OK Go's "This Too Shall Pass" music video, lead engineer and creative director for "Red Bull Kluge," and creator of GoldieBlox's "Princess Machine". He lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
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