The Formative Years

Beastie Boys

My first exposure to Beastie Boys was via a birthday present I received as a prepubescent in form of the Licensed to Ill vinyl album, which constituted first hip-hop vinyl album I owned. 

It was not long after that I discovered what I thought was a hardcore punk band with the same name via a copy of the New York Trash compilation. I shared my curious discovery with an elder scenester only to be corrected that it was indeed the same band – a fact that blew my mind. 

Listening to their Polly Wog Stew 7” started a lifelong interest in Beastie Boy’s creative cosmos and I explored their evolution from their early rudimentary punk days to the incorporation of rap into their sets, their Def Jam Rick Rubin years in the mid-'80s, the move to Capitol Records and the recording of their fantastic Paul’s Boutique album. Just when I thought I had them figured out, they released an album that again upped the ante in terms of existing almost exclusively of eclectic samples.

Next up was Check Your Head, which took an interesting deliberate detour into territory where the band started playing instruments, incorporate jazz and funk elements along with a tribute to their early hardcore punk roots, and saw them found their own label Grand Royal Records.

Ill Communication followed in 1994 and while being another great album, it was around the time that I lost interest due to them getting extensive air play on MTV as in the year that punk broke, jocks got into alternative music via the mainstream success of bands like Nirvana, which was something my teenage rebellion could not tolerate.

I only recently dedicated time visiting their output from 1996 onwards and was richly rewarded:

Hello Nasty added another string to their bow with bombastic beats and more experimental sounds; To the 5 Boroughs saw them taking the helm as producers, followed by the instrumental album The Mix-Up. 

“Hot Sauce Committee” became an instant favourite with the melange of playing and sampling obscure records as they were playing.

2018 saw the release of the memoir, i.e. Beastie Boys Book, which is a gem and highly recommended as it documents their journey from starting as a hardcore punk band that started to infiltrate mainstream culture via hip hop and rap rock, to then subversively mix elements of funk, electro and jazz to trailblaze create their very own lane and thereby created the foundation for alternative hip hop and alternative rock in equal measure.