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We're Not Who You Think We Are

Certain Songs: The Beastie Boys – “Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun”

November 21, 2014 by Jim Connelly

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Album: Paul’s Boutique.

Year: 1989.

My favorite song on the long-simmering landmark Paul’s Boutique, “Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun” is a song that merges Beasties past with Beasties future.

On one hand, as a relatively straightforward song on an album that mixed and matched samples with the abandon of Jackson Pollock brushstrokes, it could have been at home on Licensed to Ill – right down to the “Mississippi Queen” mini-sample – which probably explains my instant attraction to it in 1989.  

On the other hand, it’s a song where the Adams Horovitz and Yauch played guitar and bass, presaging the rest of their career, where they would rap on top of homegrown funk jams.  So it felt more organic somehow than anything else on Paul’s Boutique, which was otherwise so revolutionary – even in the era of Prince Paul and the Bomb Squad  – it felt like the sounds of science fiction.

Official Video for “Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun”

My Certain Songs Playlist on Spotify

Every “Certain Song” Ever

Filed Under: Certain Songs, Hot Topics Tagged With: beastie boys, Looking Down The Barrel of a Gun, Paul's Botique

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Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2631: Talking Heads – “Road to Nowhere”
  • Certain Songs #2630: Talking Heads – “And She Was”
  • Certain Songs #2629: Talking Heads – “What A Day That Was (Los Angeles 12-1983)”
  • Certain Songs #2628: Talking Heads – “Slippery People (Los Angeles 12-1983)”
  • Certain Songs #2627: Talking Heads – “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)”

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