Beastie Boys biography

Rubin produced the Beasties' first full-length album, and what a debut it proved to be. 'Licensed to Ill' (1986) was an enormous success, the highest selling rap LP of the decade and the first of its genre to reach the Billboard number 1 spot, but more than that it was to prove that hip hop could be commercially viable. At the time, it was the fastest selling LP under the CBS records umbrella, and Def Jam In addition, the hit single 'Fight for Your Right' blended the heavy metal guitars, punk attitude and rap lyrics that was to be Rubin's 'Rapcore' calling card, as well as giving a generation of angry young teenagers something to turn up to eleven in their bedrooms. It was hard to argue with the reviewer in The Times: 'The Beastie Boys could not care less about anything other than their own brash hip-hop music, and Licensed to Ill is an exhilarating mix of heavy drum tracks, metal guitar riffs and narcissistic chants guaranteed to offend parents...the cocky Beastie Boys rampage, without apology, over the competition.'

That the anarchic sensibilities and hard-living attitude and image carried through into their live shows did their popularity no harm either. Not content with having female members of the crowd writhing in cages during their shows, or the now seemingly clichéd move of spraying the first few rows in Budweiser at every given opportunity, the Beastie Boys decided to go one step further and really annoy all the Mums and Dads by installing a 20-foot-tall motorised penis on stage - the reviewer from The Times clearly had it right when he called them 'cocky'. Learning lessons from the Rolling Stones before them - indeed, the Stones had first had the bright idea of a massive phallus on stage in the 70s on one of their American tours - the 'no such thing as bad publicity' maxim held true. Being more than a little bit naughty on the course of their world tour led to lifetime bans from Holiday Inn and Eastern Airlines, for a start. 'Beasties Go Bonkers' was the Sun headline in 1987 referring to their '24 hours of sickening mayhem' at Montreux, and a GBH arrest came for Adrock after crowd violence at their Liverpool gig.

The Beastie Boys even managed to cop the blame for the fashionable theft of Volkswagen badges to wear as medallions, one British magistrate laying the blame squarely at their door when fining a young ne'er do well for nicking one of the badges. (Frankly, I think the far greater crime was their espousal of shiny tracksuits and pork pie hats, but what do I know - if they did that today they'd be dubbed 'The Chavvy Boys' and largely ignored, probably). Further controversy ensued when the Daily Mirror alleged that the band had not merely declined some leukaemia sufferers autographs, but had called them 'f.cking cripples' to boot. The Boys' denial of these claims fell on deaf ears, as the same paper later called for them to be deported. Still, as MCA said in an interview at the time, '...it's like Johnny Rotten: you yell at a few people, then you're number one.'

Their fanbase firmly established, the band had less need to shock by the release of their second album, and although their lyrics continued to be as controversial and provocative as before, 'Paul's Boutique' (Capitol, 1989) saw them leave behind the muscular guitar riffs and adopt more sampling, scratching and funk grooves over which to ply their rap trades. Having parted ways with Rick Rubin, they had the Dust Brothers and Matt Dike taking over production, and the sample-rich mix, strange collection of eclectic sounds, long and short tracks cheek by jowl, and innovative studio techniques such as splicing fast-talking lyrics from the three protagonists together, led Rolling Stone to later dub the album 'the Pet Sounds/Dark Side of the Moon of hip hop'. However, sales were not to match up to its predecessor, and is so often the case, critical acclaim did not necessarily equate to commercial success.

The band took time out to catch their breath and consider their next move, and after a three year break, having set up their own studio (G Son) and label (Grand Royal) they returned with 'Check Your Head' in 1992. It was certainly a statement that the album cover photo was of the three boys sat on the kerb with guitars, as for the first time since their early EP releases, they had reverted to actually playing instruments on the tracks as well as providing vocals - adding keyboardist and percussionist Money Mark to their number. However, the vast array of samples was still present, and this is still a distinctly Beastie Boys album. It sold well, double platinum in the US, and contained popular singles such as 'So Whatcha Want' and 'Pass the Mic'.

The band expanded their business interests into print publishing, with Grand Royal Magazine's first edition coming out in 1993. A wide-ranging mag covering aspects of pop, hip hop and street culture, the band co-edited the magazine with their friend Spike Jonze, who was later to go on to direct memorable pop promos (e.g. Fatboy Slim's 'Praise You') and feature films such as 'Being John Malkovich'. Jonze was also the director of the Beastie's next video promo, 'Sabotage', a gloriously funny send-up of 1970s cop-shows, all munching donuts, driving through piles of cardboard boxes and repeated sliding across car-bonnets. Released in 1994, it heralded the release of their next album, 'Ill Communication', which was to debut at number one in the US charts.

They headlined Lollapalooza in 1994, and used their income and high profile to support the Milarepa Fund, campaigning over human rights issues in Tibet (Yauch had also recently discovered Buddhism). A sell-out arena tour followed in the US the year after, as well as tours of South America and South-East Asia. The next full length album release (as they had released two shorter, EP-style collections of early punk and instrumental jazz/funk respectively) was the 1997 release 'Hello Nasty'. It sold well, but gained snipes from some sections of the press who thought the band had committed the unthinkable sin of starting to take themselves a bit too seriously.

A Greatest Hits compilation, 'Sounds of Science', followed in 1999, but the band's serious/political side was galvanised by the September 11th attacks in 2001. They organised and headlined concerts in aid of various charities in their beloved New York, and as the 'War on Terror' took shape, they added their names to the many US artists who objected to events being perpetrated in the Middle East - even releasing a protest song, 'In a World Gone Mad' as a download on a number of websites. The irony of 'the band that everybody loved to hate' and disapprove of in the 1980s having now become one of the loudest voices of social protest and criticism of the status quo was huge, but then Buddha would probably have said something along the lines of 'what goes around, comes around'.

'To the Five Boroughs' was released in 2004, and as well as scoring single chart success with 'Ch-Check it Out' provoked controversy over...wait, let me guess...provocative foul language? Two fingers up at the establishment? Anarchy and rebellion? Um, no...spyware. Anti-piracy spyware installing itself on home PCs. Rock, and to no extent whatsoever, roll.

Their next album release, 2007's 'The Mix up', is to be an all instrumental effort, and will again feature the boys dusting off their guitars and giving them a bit of a post-punk thrashing. A rather immodest mail-out to fans in May 2001 stated that the album '...spits hot fire - hot shit! It's official!' and as if to prove just how hot their shit really is, the band will be performing at a number of this summer's major European festivals, taking in, among others, Roskilde (Denmark), Bestival (Isle of Wight) and a Live Earth gig at the new Wembley stadium in July. Check them out if you get the chance - like them or loathe them (and all those who liked them in their heyday are now probably telling their kids to turn the music down), they will always defend, to the death, your right to party.

• Beastie Boys Discography