Beastie Boys became the first successful white rap group. The group became known for its humorous rhymes, creative sampling, and partying attitude. Sampling involves incorporating sounds or music from other recordings. In 1987, the Beastie Boys’ first album, Licensed to Ill (1986), became the first rap album to reach number one on the United States pop albums chart. The Beastie Boys have won a number of Grammy Awards for their music. See Grammy Awards ; Rap music .
The Beastie Boys formed around 1981 in New York City. The group originally featured Michael “Mike D” Diamond (1966-…) on vocals, Adam “MCA” Yauch (1964-2012) on bass, Kate Schellenbach on drums, and John Berry on guitar. At first, the group played punk rock. Punk rock has a loud, fast, and energetic sound, and punk rockers bring an angry, rebellious attitude to their music. The group released its first EP, Polly Wog Stew, in 1982. EP stands for extended play and is a type of musical recording that includes several songs but is not considered a full-length album.
After Polly Wog Stew, Adam “Adrock” Horovitz (1966-…) replaced Berry as guitarist. In 1983, the Beastie Boys released their second EP, Cooky Puss, in which the group experimented with rap. The EP became popular at dance clubs in New York City and on college radio stations. Later in 1983, Schellenbach left the group, and Diamond took over on drums. Around this time, Diamond, Yauch, and Horovitz began trading off rap vocals, accompanied by a disc jockey (DJ). The DJ played pieces of music from records on two phonograph turntables at the same time. After this, the Beastie Boys mostly performed in a hip-hop style. See Hip-hop .
The Beastie Boys’ first album, Licensed to Ill, released in 1986, became a huge hit. It included the hit singles “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party),” “Brass Monkey,” and ”No Sleep Till Brooklyn.” The group released three other number-one albums: Ill Communication (1994), Hello Nasty (1998), and To the 5 Boroughs (2004). The Beastie Boys’ other studio albums include Paul’s Boutique (1989), Check Your Head (1992), the instrumental The Mix-Up (2007), and Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (2011).
The Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Yauch died of cancer in 2012.
