I was several years behind in becoming a Beastie Boys fan. Not as late as the focus of this post might first lead you to believe, but certainly not around the time of their debut, License To Ill. That album came out while I was in middle school, and though super-popular, I felt the Beasties were totally juvenile. Clearly I wasn’t like all the other boys.

So it wasn’t until the release of Check Your Head in 1992 that I did just that. Now a college-radio DJ, the Beastie Boys finally clicked with me for some reason. The guitar in “So What’cha Want” is what first hooked me, and I’m sure I must have also read some well-spoken interviews with Mike D (Michael Diamond), MCA (Adam Yauch), and Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz) at the time, which made me respect the men behind the Boys even more. (Plus they signed Luscious Jackson as the first act on their Grand Royal label, earning bonus cool points.)

Two years later came the brilliant-in-parts Ill Communication (“Sure Shot,” “Sabotage”), but then Hello Nasty arrived in 1998. With my on-air gig now a few years behind me, Hello Nasty became my favorite Beastie Boys album. Now instead of picking and choosing individual tracks, I listened to it from beginning to end multiple times. It’s a much more cohesive set than the trio’s previous albums, likely assisted by the addition of Mix Master Mike to the Beasties’ lineup. (Go ahead and give me heat that the critically acclaimed Paul’s Boutique isn’t my number-one, but I came to that album much later. Know that I do have big love for “Hey Ladies” though.)

The first single from Hello Nasty, “Intergalactic,” encapsulates everything I came around to adoring about the Beastie Boys. Inventive rhymes, great beats (this one, quite danceable), and a sense of humor (all too rare in rap) — really, what everyone else loved about the Brooklyn trio from the start. Plus, the Boys are pretty cute to boot.

In August 1998, “Intergalactic” topped out at #28 on the Billboard Hot 100, with the song climbing much higher over on the Modern Rock chart, where it topped out at #4 for two weeks a month later. The song was the Beasties’ best-ever showing until 2004’s “Ch-Ch-Check It Out” hit #1, making them the first hip-hop group to reach that peak. But with “Intergalactic” back in the summer of 1998, it was always time to let the beat… drop:

Last year, the Beastie Boys issued expanded, remastered editions of Paul’s Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication, and Hello Nasty. Each features tons of bonus content, including previously unreleased B-sides and other rarities. And just yesterday, news broke that the Beastie Boys might be back in the studio working again on their delayed album (Hot Sauce Committee, Pt. 1) with a now-healthy MCA.

Purchase Beastie Boys – “Intergalactic” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.