Sure Shot

Infobox Single
Name=Sure Shot


Artist=Beastie Boys
from Album=Ill Communication
Released= May 31, 1994
Format=Vinyl, maxi single, CD, Cassette
Recorded=1994 at G-Son Studios, Atwater Village; Tin Pan Alley, New York City
Genre=Hip Hop
Length= 3:20
Label=Grand Royal, Capitol Records
Writer=Beastie Boys/DJ Hurricane/Mario Caldato, Jr./Jeremy Steig (flute sample)
Producer=Beastie Boys and Mario Caldato, Jr.
Chart position=* #27 (UK Singles Chart)
* #48 (Hot Dance Single Sales)
Last single="Get It Together" (1994)
This single="Sure Shot" (1994)
Next single="Root Down" (1995)
Misc = Audiosample
Upper caption = Audio sample
Audio file = Sure Shot by the Beastie Boys.ogg

"Sure Shot" is a single from the Beastie Boys' 1994 album "Ill Communication". The single was released a few days after the release of the album, on May 31st, 1994 (see 1994 in music). The CD and cassette maxi single (with a total of 7 tracks) features three remixes of the title track, one by Large Professor, one by Mike Nardone and Dred Scott, and a third by The Prunes.

It also features 3 new songs, "Mullet Head" (a punk rock style song; the title is a reference to the much-ridiculed mullet hair-style), "Son Of Neck Bone" (an instrumental track) and "The Vibes", a more traditional rap song in the manner of "Sure Shot".

The driving force of the track "Sure Shot" is the flute riff (sampled from Jeremy Steig's "Howlin' For Judy") and hardcore beat. In the booklet for the Beastie Boys Anthology, "The Sounds of Science" (1999), Adrock writes of the "Sure Shot":

The Beastie Boys had laid down most of the song, and had put together many of the lyrics, but they were missing a chorus (or hook) for the song. They called DJ Hurricane over the phone to see if he had any ideas, and out of his sleep,Fact|date=January 2008 over the phone, Hurricane improvised the chorusFact|date=January 2008 which would become:

:"Because you can't, you won't, and you don't stop":"When you can't, you won't, and you don't stop":"You know you can't, you won't, and you don't stop": [name of a Beastie Boy] ".... come and rock the Sure Shot" "Sure Shot" was one of the songs deemed inappropriate to play by Clear Channel Communications in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks; the refrain "Sure Shot" in the song was considered inappropriate, since it could recall the passenger planes flying into the WTC.

Trivia

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three is referenced in the song.

References