Who would have thought that a punk band thrown together for its bass player's 17th birthday party would evolve into one of the most influential and groundbreaking successes of its time? Certainly not the then-teenage Beastie Boys, yet the band's 25-year-and-counting career has logged 40 million in sales, two Grammy awards, the MTV Video Vanguard Lifetime Achievement award, four #1 albums--including the first hip hop album ever to top the Billboard 200, the band's 1986 debut full length, Licensed To Ill, and countless sold out world tours, magazine covers and TV appearances.
Yet it was in 1981 that Beastie Boys--then consisting of Adam Yauch (a/k/a MCA) on bass, drummer Kate Schellenbach (later of Luscious Jackson), guitarist John Berry (of Big Fat Love), and Mike Diamond (a/k/a Mike D) on the mic--debuted at Yauch's birthday party. By 1982, the band had played its first public gigs opening for the likes of Bad Brains and Reagan Youth at venues including CBGB, A7, and--by a hair--Max's Kansas City, where they played on the last night of the club's existence.
Beastie Boys' debut EP, the Pollywog Stew vinyl 7" was released that year. Recorded at Jerry Williams' 171A, the same place as Bad Brains' legendary ROIR sessions, it is also the first ever release on Dave Parsons' Ratcage Records, a tiny hardcore label operated from an East Village storefront of the same name. The band's first foray into hip hop, the Cooky Puss 12" (also on Ratcage), followed in 1983, with Young & The Useless guitarist Adam Horovitz (a/k/a Adrock) replacing John Berry. "Cooky Puss" would be the first B Boys record to receive play at NYC clubs like Danceteria as the band played its first shows outside the city.
The Mike D/MCA/Adrock Beastie Boys lineup debuted in 1984 with the "Rock Hard"/"Beastie Groove" 12." Produced by Rick Rubin a/k/a DJ Double R, hired by the group as their DJ because he owned a bubble machine, it is the second record to come out on Def Jam. The three hone their skills opening for the likes of Kurtis Blow, spitting rhymes from the DJ booth at the legendary Disco Fever, and even sharing a bill with the Disco Three the night they announce their name change to the Fat Boys.
The "She's On It"/ "Slow And Low" 12" (the first Def Jam/Columbia joint release) followed in 1985. Beastie Boys support Madonna on the entire North American "Virgin Tour." Another 12", "Hold It Now, Hit It" makes waves at urban radio as the Boys support Run-DMC, Whodini, LL Cool J and the Timex Social Club on the groundbreaking Raising Hell tour, where many of those listeners learn that Beastie Boys are white (giving rise to the quote "I never knew you guys were a bunch of Joeys."). The "Paul Revere" / "The New Style" 12" hit not long after.
Licensed To Ill dropped in fall 1986 and became the first Beastie Boys album--and the first Rap album ever--to go #1. Fueled by "Fight For Your Right," "No Sleep Til Brooklyn," "Brass Monkey" and "Posse In Effect," it remained at #1 for seven weeks and simultaneously reached #2 on the urban chart, becoming the fastest selling debut to date for Columbia and the first hip hop record to break 5 million.
1989's Paul's Boutique saw Beastie Boys resurface with a new deal (Capitol), a new home (Los Angeles) and a new array of styles. Produced by Beastie Boys and the Dust Brothers, Paul's Boutique laid down the blueprint for a generation of emergent genres and went over the collective head of a nation. The likes of "Shake Your Rump," "Lookin' Down The Barrel Of A Gun," "Car Thief," Shadrach," and the hip hop "suite" "B-Boy Bouillabaisse" contained lyrical and musical references too plentiful and diverse for the average mind to compute in one sitting. Nevertheless, Paul's Boutique elevates Beastie Boys to a new level of critical respect: thumbs up from Robert Christgau, four stars from Rolling Stone, and the classic quote hailing it as the "Pet Sounds or Dark Side Of The Moon of Hip Hop" depending on which magazine you're reading.
Check Your Head (Grand Royal / Capitol), released in 1992, heralded the return of live instrumentation into the B Boys mix. With Mike D on drums, Yauch on bass and Adrock on guitar, Check Your Head's creation would commence in Adam Horovitz's Hollywood apartment before being temporarily aborted following repeated threats from a downstairs neighbor. The band then relocated to its own G-Son studios (with the parquet floor) in Atwater Village, CA. Produced by the band and Mario Caldato Jr. (who first worked with B Boys as engineer on Paul's Boutique), Check Your Head would yield a watershed of new B Boys staples, including "So Whatcha' Want," "Pass The Mic," "Gratitude" and "Jimmy James." With the assistance of Keyboard Money Mark and assorted percussionists, Beastie Boys returned to the touring circuit and Check Your Head hit double platinum.
By 1993, the G-Son complex constructed for the recording of Check Your Head had expanded to house the band's record company, Grand Royal. The label's first independent release, Luscious Jackson's In Search Of Manny, and the first issue of Grand Royal magazine debuted that same year. Originally conceived as a newsletter to answer fan correspondence, the magazine soon took on a life of its own. Co-edited by Beastie Boys and friends, the Fall/Winter 1993 debut issue featured a Bruce Lee cover story, original artwork by George Clinton, interviews with Q-Tip, Coxsone Dodd, Kareem Abdul Jabbar and more. Subsequent cover subjects include Lee "Scratch" Perry, the history of the Moog synthesizer, and Miami Bass.
In the summer of 1994, Ill Communication (Grand Royal/Capitol), also produced by the band and Mario Caldato Jr., entered the charts #1 as the band was out slaying 'em nationwide on Lollapalooza. The album's first video, "Sabotage," directed by Spike Jonze, inadvertently gave rise to international scandal when top honors at the year's MTV Video Music Awards went to R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts" and Yauch's intoxicated uncle, Nathanial Hornblower, stormed the Radio City Music Hall stage in protest. A drained wineskin was later discovered on the premises.
Royalties from two songs on Ill Communication --"Shambala" and "Bodhisattva Vow"--were donated to found the Milarepa Fund, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness and activism regarding the injustices perpetrated on native Tibetans by Chinese occupational government and military forces. In May 1994, Beastie Boys played three shows--one each in New York, Los Angeles and Washington DC--donating proceeds to Milarepa. These shows would pave the way for the Tibetan Freedom Concert series, which would stage some of the most significant benefit shows of the decade.
Ill Communication was supported by Beastie Boys' first arena headline tour since the '80s: The Quadraphonic Joystick Action arena tour, which sold out NYC's Madison Square Garden and Chicago's Rosemont Horizon in half an hour each, Massachusetts' Worcester Centrum in approximately 20 minutes, and Detroit's Cobo Arena in nine. One dollar from each ticket sold on the tour was donated through Milarepa to local charities in each city on the tour. The band continued to expand its touring universe with treks through South America and Southeast Asia. Following the tour's co