Licensed to Ill by Beastie Boys

Licensed to Ill, the Beastie Boys' debut, came out on Def Jam and Columbia on November 15, 1986, and it hit like a brick through a plate-glass window. Rick Rubin produced it, and he welded hip-hop beats to heavy metal guitars and punk-rock sneer, creating a sound that was loud, obnoxious and completely irresistible.

They trade rhymes like brats passing a stolen bottle around, finishing each other's lines and yelling over the top. "Fight for Your Right" is a frat-house anthem with a metal guitar riff the size of a house, "Brass Monkey" is a lurching party chant, "Girls" is a bratty, bouncing singalong, and "Paul Revere" struts over a slow, booming beat. "She's Crafty", "Rhymin and Stealin", "Time to Get Ill" and "The New Style" keep the swagger going.

No rap LP had ever reached the top of the Billboard 200 before this one; it was only the second rap album to go platinum, and one of the fastest-selling debuts in Columbia's history. It was certified Diamond in 2015 for shipping ten million copies in the US. Critics praised the chemistry and style, and it's now ranked among the greatest hip-hop albums ever made. But creative differences with Rubin meant it would be their only album for Def Jam: they jumped to Capitol for Paul's Boutique in 1989.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.