Members:
Mike D (Michael Diamond)
MCA (Adam Yauch)
Ad Rock (Adam Horovitz)
Influenced by Run DMC and Schoolly D, the Beastie Boys changed from a [Punk Rock]? outfit to a hip hop three-man crew. Produced by Rick Rubin, they invaded the mainstream with their metal-tinged, slammin' hip hop. Their debut album Licensed to ill came out in 1986. Their second album was Paul's Boutique, produced mainly by the [Dust Brothers]?. This extremely sample-heavy oeuvre is one of the best hip hop albums ever. The follow-up Check Your Head was not quite as brilliant, but with its introduction of instrumentals and punk songs added to both the Beastie's creative range as re-claiming their status as the link between hip hop and rock.
The name of the band harks back to their punk days, when Beastie stood for for Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Inner Excellence - even though Kate Schellenbach (now Luscious Jackson) played with the band.
The Beastie Boys are supposedly the first ones to use to word 'mullet' to describe a hair style.
1986 - Licensed to ill
1989 - Paul's boutique
1994 - Ill communication
1992 - Check your head
1998 - Hello nasty
1999 - Anthology: The sounds of science