Music ArtistsAs the first white rap group of any importance, the Beastie Boys received the scorn of critics and strident hip-hop musicians, who accused them of cultural pirating, especially since they began as a hardcore punk group in 1981. But the Beasties weren't pirating -- they treated rap as part of a post-punk musical underground, where the do-it-yourself aesthetics of hip-hop and punk weren't that far apart. Of course, the exaggerated b-boy and frat-boy parodies of their unexpected hit debut album, Licensed to Ill, didn't help their cause. For much of the mid-'80s, the Beastie Boys were considered as macho clowns, and while their ambitious, Dust Brothers-produced second album, Paul's Boutique, dismissed that theory, it was ignored by both the public and the press at the time. In retrospect, it was one of the first albums to predict the genre-bending, self-referential pop kaleidoscope of '90s pop. The Beasties refined their eclectic approach with 1992's Check Your Head, where they played their own instruments. Check Your Head brought the Beasties back to the top of the charts, and within a few years, they were considered one of the most influential and ambitious groups of the '90s, cultivating a musical community not only through their music, but with their record label, Grand Royal, and their magazine of the same name. It was remarkable turn of events for a group that demonstrated no significant musical talent on their first records. All three members of the Beastie Boys -- Mike D (born Mike Diamond, November 20, 1966), MCA (born Adam Yauch, August 5, 1965), and Ad-Rock (born Adam Horovitz, October 31, 1967) -- came from wealthy middle-class Jewish families in New York and had become involved in the city's punk underground when they were teenagers in the early '80s. Diamond and Yauch formed the Beastie Boys with drummer Kate Schellenbach and guitarist John Berry in 1981, and the group began playing underground clubs around New York. The following year, the Beasties released the 7" EP Pollywog Stew on the indie Rat Cage to little attention. That year, the band met Horovitz, who had formed the hardcore group the Young and the Useless. By early 1983, Schellenbach and Berry had left the group -- they would later join Luscious Jackson and Thwig, respectively -- and Horovitz had joined the Beasties. The revamped group released the rap record "Cookie Puss" as a 12" single later in 1983. Based on a prank phone call the group made to Carvel Ice Cream, the single became an underground hit in New York. By early 1984, however, they had abandoned punk and turned their attention to rap. In 1984, the Beasties joined forces with producer Rick Rubin, a heavy metal and hip-hop fan who had recently founded Def Jam Records with fellow New York University student Russell Simmons. Def Jam officially signed the Beastie Boys in 1985, and that year they had a hit single from the soundtrack to Krush Groove with "She's on It," a rap track that sampled AC/DC's "Back in Black" and suggested the approach of the group's forthcoming debut album. The Beasties received their first significant national exposure later in 1985, when they opened for Madonna on her Virgin Tour. The trio taunted the audience with profanity and were generally poorly received. One other major tour, as the openers for Run-D.M.C.'s ill-fated Raisin' Hell trek, followed before Licensed to Ill was released late in 1986. An amalgam of street beats, metal riffs, b-boy jokes, and satire, Licensed to Ill was interpreted as a mindless, obnoxious party record by many critics and conservative action groups, but that didn't stop the album from becoming the fastest-selling debut in Columbia Records' history, moving over 750,000 copies in its first six weeks. Much of that success was due to the single "Fight for Your Right (To Party)," which became a massive crossover success. In fact, Licensed to Ill became the biggest-selling rap album of the '80s, which generated much criticism from certain hip-hop fans who believed that the Beasties were merely cultural pirates. On the other side of the coin, the group was being attacked from the right, who claimed their lyrics were violent and sexist and that their concerts -- which featured female audience members dancing in go-go cages and a giant inflatable penis, similar to what the Stones used in their mid-'70s concerts -- caused even more outrage. Throughout their 1987 tour, they were plagued with arrests and lawsuits, and were accused of inciting crime. While much of the Beasties' exaggeratedly obnoxious behavior started out as a joke, it became a self-parody by the end of 1987, so it wasn't a surprise that the group decided to revamp their sound and image during the next two years. During 1988, they became involved in a bitter lawsuit with Def Jam and Rick Rubin, who claimed he was responsible for the group's success and threatened to release outtakes as their second album. The group finally broke away by the end of the year and relocated to California, where they signed with Capitol Records. While in California, they met the production team the Dust Brothers, and they convinced the duo to use their prospective debut album as the basis for the Beasties' second album, Paul's Boutique. Densely layered with interweaving samples and pop culture references, the retro-funk-psychedelia of Paul's Boutique was entirely different than Licensed to Ill, and many observers weren't quite sure what to make of it. Several publications gave it rave reviews, but when it failed to produce a single bigger than the number 36 "Hey Ladies," it was quickly forgotten about. Despite its poor commercial performance, Paul's Boutique gained a cult following, and its cut-and-paste sample techniques would later be hailed as visionary, especially after the Dust Brothers altered the approach for Beck's acclaimed 1996 album, Odelay. Still, the record was declared a disaster in the early '90s, but that didn't prevent the Beasties from building their own studio and founding their own record label, Grand Royal, for their next record, Check Your Head. Alternating between old-school hip-hop, raw amateurish funk, and hardcore punk, Check Your Head was a less accomplished than Paul's Boutique, yet it was just as diverse. Furthermore, the burgeoning cult around the Beasties made the album a surprise Top 10 hit upon its spring 1992 release. "Jimmy James," "Pass the Mic," and "So Whatcha Want" were bigger hits on college and alternative rock radio than they were on rap radio, and the group suddenly became hip again. Early in 1994, they collected their early punk recordings on the compilation Some Old Bullshit, which was followed in June by their fourth album, Ill Communication. Essentially an extension of Check Your Head, the record debuted at number one upon its release, and the singles "Sabotage" and "Sure Shot" helped send it to double-platinum status. During the summer of 1994, they co-headlined the fourth Lollapalooza festival with the Smashing Pumpkins. That same year, Grand Royal became a full-fledged record label as it released Luscious Jackson's acclaimed debut album, Natural Ingredients. The Beasties' Grand Royal magazine was also launched that year. Over the next few years, the Beasties remained quiet as they concentrated on political causes and their record label. In 1996, they released the hardcore EP Aglio e Olio and the instrumental soul-jazz and funk collection, The In Sound From Way Out! Also that year, Adam Yauch organized a two-day festival to raise awareness and money about Tibet's plight against the Chinese government; the festival went on to become an annual event. The Beastie Boys' long-awaited fifth LP, Hello Nasty, finally appeared during the summer of 1998.
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Long before the white trash rap of Eminem there was The Beastie Boys - Skinny, white boys with a rebel yell and a license to ill. They were the prototype punk-rap outfit, despite being nice, middle class Jewish boys from Manhattan. Long before skateboarding was hip, the band developed a line of skatewear as well as setting up their own magazine and record label. But what DID their mothers make of the naked women in cages at their live shows? And those VW logo medallions weren't stolen were they? Ah well, clearly the lads weren't cut out for careers in accountancy, dentistry or the law although during their careers they'd have a few brushes with the authorities...
The Beastie Boys (the name stands for Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence) were formed in New York in 1981 by school chums Mike D (born Mike Diamond, November 20, 1966) and Ad-Rock (born Adam Horovitz, October 31, 1967). They began playing underground clubs before releasing their debut EP Pollywog Stew on an indie label in 1981. Later that year they met Adam "MCA" Yauch (born 15 August, 1967) and the trio was formed. The Beasties released their debut proper, Cookie Puss, in 1983 - A song based on a prank phone call which became an underground hit in New York.
By 1984 the Beasties had joined forces with producer Rick Rubin, a heavy metal and hip hop fan who had formed Def Jam Records with fellow New York university student Russell Simmons. The Beasties eventually signed to Def Jam in 1985 and that year had a hit with the AC/DC sampling, She's On It, taken from the soundtrack to hip hop flick, Krush Groove.
The Beasties received major national exposure in the US in 1985 when they opened for Madonna on her Like A Virgin tour. Their debut album, License To Ill was released in 1986. Crammed full of Led Zeppelin and AC/DC sampling heavy metal riffs and brattish, in-yer-face raps, tracks like Fight For Your Right (To Party) and No Sleep Til Brooklyn epitomised the feel-good, don't give a F...K attitude of the band. Seen as mindless and obnoxious by the tabloids, the bands' attendant punk sneers elevated them to public enemy numbers one, two and three. The British press particularly had an axe to grind, producing daily (alleged) tales of loutishness and squalor resulting in a sorry piece of Daily Mirror journalism which accused the trio of mocking a group of terminally ill children in Montrose, Switzerland. "Our first impressions of the UK weren't great," says Adam Horowitz now with a certain understatement. Of course the tabloid hysteria resulted in the album shifting 750,000 copies in its first six weeks to become the fastest selling debut in Columbia Records history. Whether it was accusations of sexism or inflatable penises on stage (predicting the career of Rik Waller by some 15 years), the band were controversy magnets.
Much of their exaggeratedly obnoxious behaviour was clearly a joke but by the end of 1987 it had become self parody.
After a lengthy lawsuit with Def Jam in 1988 during which Rick Rubin claimed he was responsible for the group's success, the band signed to Capitol Records at the end of the year and relocated to California where they met production team the Dust Brothers who worked on the band's second album, Paul's Boutique.
Bypassing the confrontational rap of their debut and using samples of The Beatles and Curtis Mayfield, the album was a retro-funk, psychedelic kaleidoscope of sounds. The album's only minor hit was Hey Ladies and while largely forgotten at the time, the album has now been hailed as a minor masterpiece and an influence on artists such as Beck. Undeterred by the album's poor reception, the band went on to build their own recording studio and form their own label, Grand Royal for their next album, Check Your Head. Released in 1992 the album mixed live instrumentation with supple funk on Pass The Mic and Jimmy James. Early in 1994 the band collected their early punk recordings on the compilation, Same Old Bullshit, which was followed in June by their fourth album, Ill Communication. Hailed as the group's most mature album to date, the LP debuted at No. 1 in the US charts.
During the summer of 1994 the band's Grand Royal label became a fully fledged operation, issuing releases from Luscious Jackson and BIS. Their Grand Royal magazine was also launched but over the next few years the band kept a low profile. Adam Yauch became a buddhist, organising a two day festival to raise awareness about Tibet's plight. In 1996 the band released hardcore EP Aglio e Olio and the well received, retro jazz and funk instrumental album, The In Sound From Way Out.
1998 single Intergalactic (featuring a bizarre Power Rangers style vid) led the way for the band's next album, Hello Nasty - An uncompromising 23 track opus featuring the hit singles Body Movin' and Remote Control.
The ensuing six years have been relatively quiet for the Beasties, except for a side project from Adam Horovitz, BS2000.
Their brand new album, To The 5 Boroughs, released in June 2004 addresses the state of New York post 9/11 and features the band's trademark hardcore hip-hop beats and the decidedly old skool single, Ch-Check It Out. "It's impossible to have a dialogue about New York that isn't some way influenced by what happened on September 11 but I think this album is our most full-on hip hop album in years."
And it gives further proof that skinny, white, middle class Jewish boys can indeed cut the rap mustard...
