Beastie Boys biography
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from Brooklyn, New York City. The group consists of Mike D (Michael Diamond) (vocals, drums), MCA (Adam Yauch) (vocals, bass), and Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz) (vocals, guitar).
The Beastie Boys began as hardcore punk band in 1979, first appearing on the compilation cassette New York Thrash before releasing their first EP, Polly Wog Stew, in 1982. After achieving moderate local success with the 1983 release of their experimental hip hop 12" Cooky Puss, they made the transition to hip hop in 1984 and a string of successful 12" singles followed by their debut album Licensed to Ill in 1986 which received international critical acclaim and commercial success. As of 2010, they have sold 22 million albums in the United States and 40 million albums worldwide.
They are one of the longest lived hip hop acts worldwide and continue to enjoy commercial and critical success in 2011, nearly 25 years after the release of their debut album. The group has been selected as part of the 2012 induction class into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, after being eligible since 2007. In 2009, the group released digitally remastered deluxe editions of their albums Paul's Boutique, Check Your Head, Ill Communication and Hello Nasty. Their eighth studio album, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, was released on May 3, 2011, and received positive reviews.
History
Early years (1979-1983)
The Beastie Boys came together in 1979 as a hardcore punk band. A teenaged Adam Yauch had the idea to start an NY-Hard Core band after seeing Black Flag play their first NY show at Peppermint Lounge on March 14, 1981, and approached friends John Berry, Kate Schellenbach, and Michael Diamond (who were all in another band called The Young Aborigines), asking them to join him. The name "Beastie Boys" was suggested by original guitarist John Berry. The letters B.E.A.S.T.I.E. stand for "Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence", but this was a backronym, as it was decided what the letters stood for after the band's name had been chosen. The band's original line-up consisted of Adam Yauch on bass, Kate Schellenbach on drums, John Berry on guitar, and Michael Diamond on vocals. Their first gig was at Berry's loft at 100th Street and Broadway on Yauch's 17th birthday, August 5, 1981.
The band quickly earned support slots for Bad Brains, the Dead Kennedys, the Misfits and Reagan Youth at venues such as CBGB, A7, Trudy Hellers Place and Max's Kansas City, playing at the latter venue on its closing night. In November of that same year, the Beastie Boys recorded the 7" EP Polly Wog Stew at 171A studios, an early recorded example of New York hardcore.
On Friday, November 13, 1982, the Beastie Boys, consisting of band members John Berry, Michael Diamond (Mike D), Adam Yauch (MCA) (a.k.a. Nathanial Hörnblowér), and Kate Schellenbach (later of Luscious Jackson), played Philip Pucci's birthday for the purposes of his short concert film of the Beastie Boys, Philip Pucci's "Beastie". Pucci held the concert in Bard College's Preston Drama Dance Department Theatre. This performance marked the Beastie Boys' first on screen appearance in a published motion picture. Pucci's concept for "Beastie" was to distribute a mixture of both a half dozen 16mm Bell and Howell Filmo cameras, and 16mm Bolex cameras to audience members and ask that they capture the Beastie Boys performance from the audience's own point of view while a master sync sound camera filmed from the balcony of the abandoned theater where the performance was held. The opening band for that performance was "The Young and the Useless", which featured Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) as their lead singer. A one minute clip of "Beastie" was subsequently excerpted and licensed by the Beastie Boys for use in the "Egg Raid on Mojo" segment of the "Skills to Pay the Bills" long form home video released by Capitol Records. "Skills to Pay the Bills" later went on to earn the Recording Industry Association of America's (R.I.A.A.) gold sales award for selling more than 500,000 copies.
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