Check Your Head

2009 reissue on 2 180-gram vinyl records in a gatefold cover. The Beasties got back to the top of their game on their third album, 1992's "Check Your Head." Playing their own instruments for the first time, the Beastie Boys expanded their sound from frat party rap to funk and punk! They hadn't abandoned rap, but it was no longer the core of their act. Plus they kept experimenting with sampling pop-cultural references, setting the stage for the big changes in music to follow in the next 20 years. "Check Your Head" broke the Billboard 200 Top 10 on the backs of songs such as "Pass the Mic," "Finger Lickin' Good" and "So What-Cha Want."