"Sabotage" (Beastie Boys)

"Sabotage" from Ill Communication (1994) embodies why the Beastie Boys were/are pop culture icons.  Not only did they take elements of hardcore and rap and meld them into something completely vital and fresh, but they also dreamed up the premise for the track's iconic video, which gives props to 70s cop show cheesiness in all its low-budget glory.
I can't listen to this track without immediately thinking to myself: "Starring Nathan Wind as Cochese."
A bit of history: "Sabotage" began its life as an instrumental jam.  As producer Mario Caldato, Jr., reminisced to Sound on Sound in August 2013, Adam "MCA" Yauch (R.I.P.) was fooling around with his Superfuzz effects pedal when he came up with the song's bass riff.  Long story short, the rest of the band (including percussionist Eric Bobo and keyboardist Mark "Money Mark" Nishita) heard what MCA was putting down and joined him in jamming.  After they'd gotten the hang of the groove and did some quick arranging, they committed the song to tape.
But as Caldato points out, the Beasties were wary of the track at first.
"When we first played it back, the guys were saying, 'It sounds too rock. We don't really want to go down that route'."
After all, they'd spent 7 years trying to distance themselves from the frat boy rap-rock of 1987's Licensed to Ill.
So the track sat around for awhile and almost got shelved, until Adam "Ad Rock" Horovitz called up Caldato one day, saying that he had an idea for lyrics.
Caldato recalled that Horovitz came over to his house in L.A. and cut his vocals in a single afternoon using a handheld mic.
"It was perfect.  He had done his homework, and he was screaming it with the exact amount of energy and attitude needed."