A Short History of the Beastie Boys

Adam Yauch and Mike Diamond were in a hardcore punk band called Young and the Useless where they played bass and drums. In 1983, the band played a show with the Replacements and Husker Du and had grown to like the reggae punk sound of Bad Brains. Adam Horovitz joined and they changed their name to the Beastie Boys. The newly named band went on to play some private house parties in the New York area. But then the three of them made a crucial decision. They packed their instruments away. The decision was based on their experiences of the many block parties which were sweeping the city.

The first evidence of their new direction came in the form of a hip-hop single, 'Cookie Puss'. It was made from a spoof phone call, some beats and a part of a Steve Martin comedy skit. The b-side was a simple reggae track which they had thrown down. Strangely though, British Airways got wind of the b-side and it featured on their TV ad without permission from the three former punksters. They sued and found themselves with enough money to devote all their time to music.

They were introduced to Rick Rubin who had set up Def Jam Records along with Russell Simmons. Simmons was a hip-hop fan, Rubins a rock fan. This fitted in perfectly with where the Beastie Boys were at and led them to a single called 'Rock Hard' which used samples taken from ' Back In Black' by AC/DC. Then came an album called 'Licensed To Ill in 1986. The album was the first result of the rhyming talents of the Beastie Boys and the production skills of Rubin. He was a DJ and he also had a fine contacts book. Two of the songs on the album were written by Run DMC and Slayer guitarist, Kerry King, provided a guitar solo for the famous track 'Fight For Your Right'. The song made the Beastie Boys international stars. Yet many of their hip-hop peers did not take too kindly to these white middle class boys and a rock-fan producer stepping all over their (commercial and artistic) patch.

They followed their debut with the album 'Paul's Boutique'. It came out three years later and was on a different label. The rhymes are what stand out from this point on. They carefully and cleverly began to interweave cultural references and relentlessly dropped phrases influenced by the likes of Sweet, right through, to Public Enemy. The music was montage, all cut-up and pasted together courtesy of the Dust Brothers. The release was commercially less successful that its predecessor, but it was a better album.

Then by the time 1992's 'Check Your Head' was released the band had once again picked up their instruments. They put out 'Ill Communication' shortly after Kurt Cobain's death and almost overnight the Beastie Boys were once again on the pop music agenda for disaffected grunge kids. There were guitars strewn all over the album just like grunge but with one very important difference. This time the guitars sounded fun.

The Beastie Boys perfected their rock - hip-hop crossover sound with 1998's 'Hello Nasty'. The album had a more electro-funk feel and tracks like 'Intergalactic' and 'Body Movin' were innovative and fresh. The tracks are all over the place in terms of style, mainly due to the presence of DJ Mix Master Mike, Money Mark, and Eric Bobo. But the styles all hang together somehow. Probably because of the Beastie Boys' sense of timing, spot-on lyrically patter, and most of all, sense of the vibe.