Check Your Head
by Beastie Boys

Check Your Head by Beastie Boys
Year: 1992
Release date: 1992-04-21
Overall rank: 923rd   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 464 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top 20 albums of 1992 (18th)
Award Top albums of of the 1990s (173rd)
Award Top 1,000 albums of all time (923rd)

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Beastie Boys bestography

Check Your Head is ranked 4th best out of 16 albums by Beastie Boys on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Beastie Boys is Paul's Boutique which is ranked number 250 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 6,348.

Beastie Boys album bestography « Higher ranked (752nd)
Ill Communication
This album (923rd)
Check Your Head
Lower ranked (923rd) »
Check Your Head

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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Check Your Head track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 79 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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#
Track
Rating/Comments
7.
Track pick (890 - 124 votes)
Average Rating: 89 (124 votes)Comments: View 1

Track pick (1000 - 100 votes) Top-rated track as rated by BestEverAlbums.com members.

Check Your Head rankings

Check Your Head rankings summary
Overall rank: 923rd | 1990s rank: 173rd | 1992 rank: 18th  Overall chart history
(Calculated from aggregate positions across 60,000 charts (2 million album rankings). (Last updated: 5 hours ago).

Check Your Head collection

Check Your Head ratings

Average Rating: 
78/100 (from 464 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 464 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
80/100
 !
07/12/2026 20:11 liquidbottle  Ratings distribution  77582/100
 
60/100
 !
07/01/2026 18:15 Olli  Ratings distribution  7,56562/100
 
50/100
 !
06/22/2026 03:21 brent13  Ratings distribution  2,14367/100
 
85/100
 !
06/22/2026 00:55 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  15,23370/100
 
85/100
 !
05/20/2026 19:12 joyofdivision  Ratings distribution  23991/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album is rated in the top 2% of all albums on BestEverAlbums.com. This album has a Bayesian average rating of 78.2/100, a mean average of 77.0/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 78.3/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.1.


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Check Your Head comments

Showing latest 10 comments | Show all 24 comments |
Most Helpful First | Newest First | Positive Sentiment First | Longest Comments First
(Only showing comments with -2 votes or higher. You can alter this threshold from your profile page. Manage Profile)

Rating:  
75/100
From 07/22/2023 19:21 | #298277
Quite ahead of its time, some beats sound like they're from outer space, but it's inconsitent and too long.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 10/26/2022 09:52 | #290810
Album Rating: 78.29
(1,331/17)

1.Jimmy James. 81
2.Funky Boss. 74
3.Pass The Mic. 85
4.Gratitude. 89
5.Lighten Up. 72
6.Finger Lickin' Good. 74
7.So What'cha Want. 84
8.The Biz Vs The Nuge. N/A
9.Time For Livin'. 88
10.Something's Got To Give. 77
11.The Blue Nun. N/A
12.Stand Together. 72
13.POW. 68
14.The Maestro. 75
15.Groove Holmes. 72
16.Live At P.J.'s. 79
17.Mark On The Bus. N/A
18.Professor Booty. 73
19.In 3's. 87
20.Namaste. 81
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (0 helpful | 2 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 07/14/2022 20:10 | #287425
Voltou com um apegada mais crua, mais banda de rock. Muito bom!
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
85/100
From 12/20/2020 04:51 | #262964
If the songs could keep up with the musicianship, this would be a top-tier album. They're jammin' though.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -1 votes (0 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
My favorite Beastie Boys album. It's probably the most aggressive of theirs.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (2 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
From 11/22/2017 19:43 | #201858
One of the best albums of the 90s.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
60/100
From 11/08/2016 20:20 | #178139
This isn't an album you listen to if you want the usual Boys' stuff in the realm of Licensed to Ill; it's them with raw rapping power, and proof after the extensive sampling they had done before that yeah, they can play instruments and yeah, they're pretty damn good at it. For the most part, they fool people into thinking they're just acting like regular hip-hop artists showing off supreme sonic ability and hip-hop beats, but occasionally they poke their intelligence and wit through. They're made all the better for it.

Key Cuts: So What'cha Want, Pass the Mic, Gratitude
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | -2 votes (1 helpful | 3 unhelpful)
Rating:  
90/100
Most of my memories of this album are of college, dancing in some hot, sweaty basement with a sticky, beer-soaked floor. You'd think those wouldn't be fond memories, but they are, kind of. Check Your Head was, for me, the bridge between rock, funk, and rap that gave me a fuller understanding of where hip hop came from and why anyone would listen to it (because it's frigging great to dance to). I liked the Beastie Boys before Check Your Head, but this was the album where you could really begin to appreciate their musicianship and creativity in ways that seemed less mature on previous recordings. My only complaint is that some of the tracks, such as the incredibly funny and funky "Professor Booty," feel like fragments that leave me longing for what might have been if they had somehow been fully fleshed out. At the same time, it is the fragmentary nature of Check Your Head that makes much of it so rewarding.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (3 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
Sometimes I think it's musical masterpiece and sometimes I feel like it let's throw everything against the wall and see what sticks.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +2 votes (3 helpful | 1 unhelpful)
From 04/10/2016 21:31 | #163608
Intense and laid back at the same time

A-
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (1 helpful | 1 unhelpful)

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