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Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence
As 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 (b. Mike Diamond, November 20, 1966), MCA (b. Adam Yauch, August
5, 1965), and Ad-Rock (b. 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 seven-inch EP
Polly Wog 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
twelve-inch 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, and by
early 1984, 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 his 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 firs 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 License to Ill was released
late in 1986. An amalgam of street beats, metal riffs, B-boy jokes and satire,
License 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, License To Ill became the biggest-selling rap album of the '80s, which
generated much criticism for 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 they 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 License 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 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. ~ Stephen
Thomas Erlrewine, All-Music Guide
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