Beastie Boys was an eclectic New York musical group founded in 1981. They started playing Country, then they moved to hardcore punk in their first recordings, but later they began to experience like pioneers of hip hop and rap, becoming fundamental reference of the same. They have also released albums based on funk and jazz and it is not uncommon for their hip hop albums to include some rock or punk or some acoustic cuts. Also known are the activities of turntablism and musical production of its members. According to Mike D., Beastie means: Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence
The group was founded by Michael Diamond (Mike D), Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) and Adam Yauch (MCA) †. Although other musicians have been part of the group as Kate Schellenbach (drummer) and John Berry (guitarist), who were in training before recording their first album, hardcore punk "Pollywog Stew" on the independent punk label Ratcag Records in 1981 In 1983, they demonstrated their first flirtations with Hip Hop, in their EP "Cooky Puss". One of the tracks on that album, the semi-dub "Beastie Revolution," meant an unexpected windfall by winning a $ 40,000 lawsuit against British Airways for using the song without permission for an ad. In the year 2012 they were included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
His first 100% Rap album was produced by the legendary Rick Rubin. This was "Licensed To Ill" in 1986 (Def Jam Records), which became the first rap album to win multiplatinum, due in large part to the enormous popularity of their tracks "Fight For Your Right (To Party)", "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" (with the collaboration of thrash metal guitarist Slayer, Kerry King) and the more electro "Brass Monkey". The album was a revelation of teenage misconduct scattered by the lyrics and video clip of "Fight For Your Right" (number 11 in the UK), and a manifest use samples from any source, from Led Zeppelin to the theme of the TV show Mr .Ed. The paradox is that, although they won a lawsuit for illicit expropriation of one of their issues to the British airline (the Beastie Revolution case), they themselves would be one of the first victims in the hip hop world to be sued by the Sampled artists (in their case were sued by funk musician Jimmy Castor for the unlicensed use of his "Return Of Leroy" on the track "Hold It Now, Hit It!").
The tremendous success of his rapper debut resulted in successful but highly controversial tours that included strippers dancing in cages, MCA throwing jets of beer, while the "Volkswagen logo" dangling as a Mike-D collar prompted a "wave of juvenile delinquency" Attacking cars of the German company throughout England. At that time they had as a DJ a member of Original Concept and part of the stuff from Run-DMC to Wendell Fite aka "DJ Hurricane". Aside from the bad reputation they were gaining, which served to fuel their "Rock stars" status, the Beasties faced serious friction with their Def Jam label and especially with Russell Simmons for "unpaid contracts" and mismanagement of royalties , Which led them in early 1988 to retire from the record company which also housed stars of the increasingly popular hip hop world such as LL Cool J, Public Enemy and Slick Rick with whom they shared US, European and Japanese scenarios in The "Def Jam Tour" of 1987.
The stamp migration (to Capitol Records) and venue (from New York to Los Angeles) plus the new hip hop sound emerged bore fruit on the album "Paul's Boutique" released in 1989, still singled out as one of the most complex works Of the era of sampling, overflowing with funk and psychedelia everywhere. Different were also his lyrics that reflected an eclectic fixation of subjects in which they symbolized his vision of the life in the streets: of the novel "The Mechanical Orange" of Anthony Burguess to the "Three Hebrews" of the Old Testament. The production of this album was handled by The Dust Brothers, who by that time were becoming an appreciated production team for other stars such as Tone Loc, Young MC,