35 Facts About Beastie Boys

1.

Beastie Boys were an American rap rock group from New York City, formed in 1981.

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2.

Beastie Boys were formed out of members of experimental hardcore punk band the Young Aborigines in 1978, with Diamond as vocalist, Jeremy Shatan on bass guitar, John Berry on guitar, and Kate Schellenbach on drums.

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3.

Beastie Boys have sold 20 million records in the United States and had seven platinum-selling albums from 1986 to 2004.

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4.

Beastie Boys formed in July 1981 when the Young Aborigines bassist Jeremy Shatan left New York City for the summer and the remaining members Michael Diamond, John Berry and Kate Schellenbach formed a new hardcore punk band with Adam Yauch.

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5.

In November 1982, Beastie Boys recorded the 7-inch EP Polly Wog Stew at 171A studios, an early recorded example of New York hardcore.

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6.

Beastie Boys was charged with assault causing grievous bodily harm.

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7.

In 1988, Beastie Boys appeared in Tougher Than Leather, a film directed by Rubin as a star vehicle for Run-D.

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8.

Beastie Boys signed an eclectic roster of artists to their Grand Royal label, including Luscious Jackson, Sean Lennon, and Australian artist Ben Lee.

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9.

Beastie Boys published Grand Royal Magazine, with the first edition in 1993 featuring a cover story on Bruce Lee, artwork by George Clinton, and interviews with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and A Tribe Called Quest's MC Q-Tip.

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10.

Beastie Boys headlined at Lollapalooza—an American travelling music festival—in 1994, together with The Smashing Pumpkins.

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11.

In 1995, the popularity of Beastie Boys was underlined when tickets for an arena tour went on sale in the US and Madison Square Garden and Chicago's Rosemont Horizon sold out within 30 minutes.

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12.

Beastie Boys toured South America and Southeast Asia for the first time.

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13.

In 1992, Beastie Boys decided to sample portions of the sound recording of "Choir" by James Newton in various renditions of their song "Pass the Mic".

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14.

Pursuant to their license from ECM Records, Beastie Boys digitally sampled the opening six seconds of Newton's sound recording of "Choir", and repeated this six-second sample as a background element throughout their song.

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15.

Beastie Boys began work on the album Hello Nasty at the G-Son studios, Los Angeles in 1995, but continued to produce and record it in New York City after Yauch moved to Manhattan in 1996.

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16.

Beastie Boys won two Grammy Awards in 1999, receiving the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album for Hello Nasty as well as the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "Intergalactic".

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17.

Beastie Boys used both appearances at the Video Music Awards to make politically charged speeches of considerable length to the sizable MTV audiences.

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18.

Beastie Boys was one of the first bands who made MP3 downloads available on their website.

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19.

Beastie Boys released The Sounds of Science, a two-CD anthology of their works in 1999.

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20.

In 2000, Beastie Boys had planned to co-headline the "Rhyme and Reason Tour" with Rage Against the Machine and Busta Rhymes, but the tour was canceled when drummer Mike D sustained a serious injury due to a bicycle accident.

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21.

Beastie Boys headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.

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22.

In late October 2010, Beastie Boys sent out two emails regarding the status of Hot Sauce Committee Pts.

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23.

In what can only be described as a bizarre coincidence, following an exhaustive re-sequence marathon, Beastie Boys have verified that their new Hot Sauce Committee Part 2 will be composed of the same 16 tracks originally slated for inclusion on Hot Sauce Committee Part 1.

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24.

Mike D told Rolling Stone that Beastie Boys had recorded new music in late 2011, but did not say if these recordings would be released.

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25.

Beastie Boys said that Beastie Boys would likely disband due to the death of MCA, though he was open to making new music with Ad-Rock and that "Yauch would genuinely want us to try whatever crazy thing we wanted but never got around to".

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26.

Beastie Boys was credited with naming the band Beastie Boys and played guitar on the first EP.

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27.

In June 2014, Beastie Boys won a lawsuit against Monster Energy for using their music in a commercial without permission.

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28.

In October 2018, Mike D and Ad-Rock released a memoir, Beastie Boys Book, recounting events throughout the group's history.

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29.

The book was adapted into a documentary in April 2020, titled Beastie Boys Story, directed by Spike Jonze and premiered on Apple TV+.

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30.

Originally a hardcore punk band, Beastie Boys had largely abandoned the genre in favor of hip hop and rap rock by the time work began on their debut studio album Licensed to Ill.

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31.

Beastie Boys have had four albums reach the top of the Billboard album charts since 1986.

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32.

Beastie Boys have many high-profile longtime fans, including UFC president Dana White, who has a hand-signed bass guitar signed by all three members in his office and a copy of the Beastie Boys book.

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33.

Eminem was highly influenced by the Beastie Boys and cited them alongside LL Cool J as being the reason he got into rap.

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34.

In 2003, Beastie Boys were involved in the landmark sampling decision, Newton v Diamond.

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35.

In short, Beastie Boys cleared the sample but obtained only the rights to use the sound recording and not the composition rights to the song "Choir".

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