Beastie Boys

The name of the band harks back to the band's 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.

Influenced by Run DMC and Schoolly D, the Beastie Boys changed from a punk rock outfit to a three-man hip hop 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 and their single "Fight for your right (to party)", became a big hit. The Beastie Boys are supposedly the first to use the word "mullet" to describe this hair style.

The group, initially known as immature machos, matured with their second album, Paul's Boutique, produced mainly by the Dust Brothers. This extremely sample-heavy oeuvre is still considered one of the best hip hop albums ever.

The follow-up, Check Your Head, introduced of instrumental and punk songs, which added to both the Beastie's creative range and re-claimed their status as the link between hip hop and rock. This was continued in Ill Communication, which contained the hit-single "Sabotage".

After several years of silence, their 1998 album Hello Nasty (hit-single "Intergalactic") saw a return to more "old-school" hip-hop.

One Beastie Boys single, "Rock Hard," has been removed from print and is considered a rare collector's item. The group released this as a single in 1985, and it quickly went out of print. The song was to reappear on their 1999 The Sounds of Science anthology, but they had to cut it after AC/DC refused permission to use a sample from the song "Back in Black." Beastie Boys member Mike D reportedly talked to the band personally on the phone: "AC/DC could not get with the sample concept. They were just like, ‘Nothing against you guys, but we just don’t endorse sampling.’"

The Beastie Boys, who currently own the record label Grand Royal[?], are well-known representants of the Free Tibet[?] movement.