So why is Black Eyed Peas’ Monkey Business on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
I might have expected that “My Humps” would be the most popular song on Monkey Business – at least by way of Spotify’s number of plays – but instead it’s “Pump It” (about 652 million for “Pump It” versus 356 million for “My Humps” as of this writing).
While “My Humps” certainly gets me… spinning, I suppose you could say, I’m crazy about “Pump It,” which takes Dick Dale and His Del-Tones’ iconic instrumental surf guitar song, “Miserlou,” and injects it with propulsive hip-hop stylings in only the way that the BEP crew – which includes the dynamic pair of will.i.am and Fergie – can.*
* For more Dick Dale and crew, see: Dick Dale and his Del-Tones – Greatest Hits 1961-1976, #927 of the best 1,000 albums ever.
“Miserlou” truly is unique in music history in taking on multiple lives during successive generations. Pulp Fiction brought Dick Dale and “Miserlou” to a new generation to, and Black Eyed Peas brought it into the hip-hop generation on Monkey Business circa 2005.
I find Black Eyed Peas to be a colossally talented musical outfit that often works best when they’re relatively restrained. And so it is with the gentle, sweet, but nonetheless super catchy “Gone Going,” which is my favorite Monkey Business track at the moment.
That being said, I still completely dig the high energy and crazy fun “My Style,” a collab between BEP and Justin Timberlake, which for many years would have easily been my number one Monkey Business cut.
Lord have mercy, indeed!
Which brings us ‘round the horn – a phrase that my stepfather would use when we would somehow end up taking the long way home – to “My Humps,” which seemed impossible to get away from for a spell back in the mid-2000s.
My thoughts, as of this late date in 2024, are that it’s a really strong and effective club track, though not one that I’m particularly looking for at… let’s say my old-ish age these days.
“Union” is a really fun deep cut, with a great bouncing rhythm and a bit of a Caribbean feel.
Some stats & info about Black Eyed Peas – Monkey Business
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Dance Music, Pop Music, Hip Hop
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 2.5 out of 5 stars (!?)
- When was Monkey Business released? 2005
- My ranking, the one you’re reading right now – #255 out of 1,000
Black Eyed Peas’ Monkey Business on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Black Eyed Peas’ Monkey Business that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
I know that you like my style.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective review of what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.