at a glance...

Hometown: Brooklyn, NY
Formed: 1981

Personnel:
Mike D (Mike Diamond)
MCA (Adam Yauch)
Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz)
with:
"Money" Mark Ramos Nishita -dg. clav, organ, wurlitzer, and master carpenter

Bands in the family :
Luscious Jackson, A Tribe Called Quest, BS2000, Money Mark, UNKLE, DFL

Notes:
Formed in New York City in 1981 by Mike Diamond and Adam Yauch, with drummer Kate Schellenbach and guitarist John Berry, The Beastie Boys began as straight-ahead punk rock band, joining the burgeoining underground club scene. In 1983, Schellenbach and Berry left, and Adam Horovitz joined; one year later they joined forces with aspiring record moguls Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons and their fledgling Def Jam Records. Their debut album, License to Ill, was released in 1986, and the mix of heavy metal riffs, punk attitude, and hip hop sensibility made the album an overnight sensation and the best-selling rap album of the 1980's. After a three-year hiatus, the Beasties took a monstrous leap forward artistically with Paul's Boutique, a groundbreaking masterpiece that introduced the world to the inimitable production style of The Dust Brothers. In 1992, the band formed their own record label, Grand Royal, built their own studio, G-Son, and picked up their instruments again to record Check Your Head, which catapulted them back into the spotlight. Followed (relatively) closely by 1994's Ill Communication, and a massive world tour, it would be another four years before the release of a full length album of new material, 1998's Hello Nasty. The Beastie Boys are also the founders of the Tibetan Freedom Concert, The Milarepa Foundation (dedicated to raising awareness and money in an effort to end Chinese oppression of Tibet and its people), Grand Royal Magazine, and X-Large Clothing.

Links:
Beastie Boys Mothership
We Love The Beastie Boys

On the first day, the great Beastie created License To Ill. And it was good. On the second day, the great Beastie created Paul's Boutique. Paul was speechless with gratitude, and it was good. On the third day, the great Beastie created Check Your Head. And it was really good. Gone were the rude, misogynist, drinking anthems of the first album. Gone were the psychedelic, kitsch-karoaoke tunes of the second. And gone was the limited production quality of both. Out with the synthetic, old school hip-hop beats! Out with the cheesy drum machines! In with the live instruments! Aww yeah!!!

After two albums of being those silly Jewish rappers from Manhattan, the Beastie Boys broke through with a phenomenal Molotov cocktail which secured their status as true genre-smashers and innovators. They apparently grew tired of all the canned samples, and dug up the old instruments from the attic, where they'd been gathering dust since their days as a teenage punk band. And the Boys could really play them! This virtual Beastie rebirth brought on the age of Ill Communication and Hello Nasty as well. The old Beastie schtick of "hip-hop meets rock meets psychedelia" expanded to include funk, jazz, dub, hardcore punk, Santana- style jams, sleazy Blaxploitation soundtracks, and fatter beats. As MCA throws out, "If you can feel what I'm feeling, then it's a musical masterpiece..."

I feel it.