About Beastie Boys

From fighting for their right to party to fighting for Tibet, the Beastie Boys seem to have grown into Beastie men over the years. Originally a 4 piece punk band (their original drummer would go on to join the rock group Luscious Jackson) who even supported The Misfits, the Boys morphed into a 3 piece rap group after Rick Rubin signed on in the early 80s. In 1986, the classic Licensed to Ill was released and would go on to become the best selling rap album of the 80s and the first rap album to go to #1 on Billbaord’s album charts. Tours with LL Cool J, Run DMC and Public Enemy would follow. The album had a large rock/rap style, with samples from many rock bands, including Creedence Clearwater Revival and The Steve Miller Band. This was well before the later nu-metal/rock/rap bands like Korn and Limp Bizkit. The album was sample heavy overall, featuring pieces from TV shows as well as R&B crooner Barry White and classic rapper Kurtis Blow. They would follow up with Paul’s Boutique, called the Pet Sounds (the classic Beach Boys album) or Dark Side of the Moon (the Pink Floyd album) of hip hop. The album was again incredibly sample heavy, taking from James Brown, Afrika Bambaataa, Jean Knight, Elvis Costello, John Williams and the Jaws soundtrack, Isaac Hayes, Parliament/Funkadelic, The Jackson 5, Alice Cooper, Jimi Hendrix, The Isley Brothers, country legend Johnny Cash, and many, many more. Though critically acclaimed, the album did not see the commercial success of Licensed to Ill. The Beasties would return to #1 with Licensed to Ill, driven by “Sabotage.” The video directed by Spike Jonze, who also directed videos for Weezer, Fatboy Slim and R.E.M., received heavy airplay on MTV. The Beasties would grow and become much more political following the September 11th attacks in New York City, releasing protest songs and playing at the Tibetan Freedom Concerts. In 2004, another #1 album, To the 5 Boroughs, was released. The Grammy winning, all instrumental album, The Mix-Up, followed in 2007.