THIS MONTH IN POP
JULY 1989
THIS MONTH, THE CD TRIUMPHS OVER VINYL, THE MONKEES REFORM AND THE BEASTIE BOYS RELEASE THEIR FOLLOW-UP TO LICENSED TO ILL…
STEVEO’ BRIEN
© Alamy
25
Few bands have ever performed such an abrupt about-turn between their first and second albums as the Beastie Boys did in 1989. That first LP, 1986’s Licensed To Ill, was a brash and often puerile mash-up of hard rock and frat boy rap, not helped, of course, by their tendency to perform onstage alongside a 20-foot inflatable penis and girls dancing in cages.