 |
Hey there. i don't know about milarepa but classes
have been killing me lately! here is my paper
though. Its really long!!Beastie Boys discuss
tenets of Buddhism in their songs "The Update"
and
"Bodhisattva Vow" and the effect of this has
changed the message of their music
from negative to positive. Starting of as hard
core punk rockers in the early
1980s the Beastie (Boys Entering Anarchists States
Toward Inner Excellence)
Boys were on a path toward destruction. With
humorous yet unsettling lyrics
such as The sheriff's after me for what I did to
his daughter I did it like this, I
did it like that I did it with a whiffleball bat
and You tried to get slick you bust a
little chuckle You're gonna get smacked with my
gold finger knuckle, parents
were outraged at what their kids were listening to
and idolizing.
Now almost 20 years and 5 hot albums later we
still get the same old
side-splitting rhymes but without the emphasis on
degrading women, partying
and doing drugs. Now instead of hearing Shed drop
to her knees if wed just
say please were pleased to hear, the disrespect of
women has got to be
through, to all the mothers and the sisters and
the wives and friends I want to
offer my love and respect to the end. Some might
attribute the change to
maturation but I do not feel that is all that has
happened.
After a couple trips to Nepal and Katmandu Yauch,
the oldest if the
Beastie Boys began to study Buddhist Philosophy;
this is what he had to say
about it, Most of the teachings that I've read
about almost seem set up to
distract the other side of your brain in order to
give your heart center a chance
to open up..., and It's just seeing things from a
different perspective. There
was a time when we would joke around and say
things that were disrespectful of
women and think that it was funny, or that it
wouldn't hurt anybody, or that it
would be taken with a grain of salt. Then it
became clear that wasn't the case,
and we had to go through the process of taking a
step back and realizing how
those things affect other people. -Adam Yauch
(Tricycle,96)
There is much more than age occurring here, its
almost as if he is just
now acquiring morals. It is the idea of Buddhism,
not only being a religion, but
a way of life an anyone who comes across it and
studies it, is opened up to a
whole new way of thinking, a compassion for all
living things that is put forth in
daily life. Yauch wants to get this point across
and awaken as many minds as he
can. He believes when you have this knowledge of
the way things can be, you
want to share it with everyone, so that it can
happen, and everyone can achieve
its peacefulness. Adam Yauch sees the opportunity
he has to spread the
message, through his words and he is doing just
that. He knows that the young
westerners follow his lead as they would any idol.
So instead of writing about,
getting drunk and trashing hotel rooms, he writes
beautiful awakening poetry
on respecting Mother Earth, awakening his mind and
praising the Buddhas. The
Beastie Boys give respect to Martin Luther King
rather than cheeba . We are
involved in a single process, whatever affects one
affects all indirectly. We are all
linked in the great chain of humanity." --MLK, Jr.
This was a quote that I found
in one of the articles written by Mike Diamond of
the Beastie Boys. They often
are found quoting and thanking Martin Luther King
Jr., and it is clearly obvious
that each one of them respects him. "I know we can
fix it and it's not too late I
give respect to King and his nonviolent ways, I
dream and I hope and I won't
forget Some day I'm visit on a Free Tibet."
(lyrics from "The Update")
Ill Communication is an album that reflects, both
musically and lyrically, a
belief in the importance of a holistic view of our
world. On "All right Here This,"
there's a sample of a didgeridoo (an Australian
wind instrument that's a cross
between a cornucopia and a shampoohorn) while on
both "Shambala" and
"Boddhisatava Vow" you hear the three tone chant
of the Tibetan Monks, a
religious chant where the larynx is split in
three, a pretty impressive feat. The
Beastie Boys have also donated money to non-profit
organizations in order to
help the fight to free Tibet. The way I look at
it, one million Tibetans have
been killed by the Chinese and one million kids
will come on this tour. If we can
touch those kids, it'll be worth he effort. If
everyone would really listen to the
lyrics they would see the depth and meaning put
into these amazing songs. The
Bodhisattva Vow means striving for enlightenment
to better help all other
sentient beings attain enlightenment. That's an
important issue--the objective of
that Vow. Being enlightened is the best way to
benefit all other beings--from
that point you are able to help more. (Yaugh.
Spin, 95) Yauch's rhymes are
the most spiritual, conscious and
thought-provoking of the three, but that is not
to say that the others havent changed their style
as well. The pseudo-gangster
lyrics and trite party themes that pervaded their
early days have long since
departed from their music in favor of a
respectable work ethic that includes
social activism, humorous and clever lyrics, and a
large menu of eloquent
samples and innovative grooves that draw
inspiration from blues, jazz, funk, old
school hip-hop and anything else that suits them.
As for our other Beastie Boys, Mike D. has become
an astute businessman
and an outspoken leader with a hilarious tendency
to create disputes with other
musicians, writers and unsuspecting squares. Here
is an example of his
outspokenness when trying to make a very
substantial point. Nevertheless, we
were (and still are) serious about our attempt to
encourage a heightened level
of genuine respect amongst everybody in order to
create a safer and better
environment. Why? Because it's no fucking fun to
see some girl, or anyone for
that matter, catch a bad one (whether it's in
front of the stage or anywhere
else). Everyone should be able to enjoy the show
without feeling threatened,
either physically or verbally. So leave the
jockism, the sexism, the racism, the
homophobic provincialism and all the other "isms"
to henchmen like Newt
Gingrinch and Rush Limblah (well, not all the
"izm," but you know what we
mean). Diamond does have a point here, although it
is hard to find underneath
the angry exterior. Along with Adam Horowitz,
Diamond has a knack for
offending people, while still making them laugh.
While the defendant is busy
being confused and pissed off these two Beastie
Boys come across as having
not changed a bit. Well, you could say their
personalities are still the same, as
well as their crazy skills at rhyming, but the
ones who listen can tell they have
definitely grown into men who deserve much
respect.
The Beastie Boys album sales have not declined
since the change
of their music, to the contrary their new Album
Hello Nasty has become a huge
hit among both old fans and new. The sound is a
bit different but the skills are
still there and that funky rhyming that attracts
so many people from ages 12 to
30 is still there. Their audience has always had a
wide range, from blacks to
whites, hip-hop lovers to moshing rockers and
spanning among college frat boys
to teeny-bopper girls who love to scream at how
cute Adrock is. I need not
say that the Beastie Boys will be forever loved
among the college crowd, and as
for myself, I have been an avid fan for five years
now and I plan on staying one
as long as I live.
So how have you been anyway? >Hey Tiff, how is the
research paper going? is it > finished? can I see
it? Where have you and >Milarepa been
lately....?
|
|
