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BEASTIE BOYS
The Most Important Group of the 90's?
by Jem Aswad
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Those of you who can still remember, think back through the mists of time to the 1980s. Think of the musical artists who, at the time, seemed the least likely to influence -- let alone cast a towering shadow -- over the music of the '90s. Wang Chung? Tommy Tutone? Men Without Hats? How about the Beastie Boys?
At the time, they seemed to have "one-hit wonder" (or, more accurately, one-year-wonder) written all over them, and they followed the formula perfectly: a group with an angle (white rappers), followed by an underground buzz, followed by superstar patronage (opening Madonna's Like A Virgin 1985 tour), followed by a brilliant debut (1986's Licensed To Ill), followed by several months of multiplatinum megastardom, followed by the backlash-inducing incident (the band's attitudes and questionable stage props during their 1987 tour, along with people just plain getting sick of them), followed by the backlash, followed by the usual distressing multimillion-dollar separation from the svengalis (Def Jam founders Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons) whom everyone assumed had made it all happen in the first place. If form had followed function, the Beastie Boys would have spent last summer doing an '80s nostalgia tour. Instead, they are arguably the biggest group in the world, and their cultural influence has been even larger than their considerable musical influence. Their domain includes a successful record label, a clothing retail line, a magazine, and a heavy involvement in Milarepa, the non-profit non-violent organization that coordinates the annual Tibetan Freedom Concerts (and album and film) that has arguably done more than any other organization to raise awareness of China's oppression of Tibet. The Beasties' latest album, Hey Nasty, sold an incredible 682,000 copies its the first week of release -- the biggest of this year. Perhaps most impressively of all, they've done it by acting as juvenile as your cousin (these days, more like your uncle) who will never grow up. One might wonder how they've managed to stay together through it all. "I have no idea," Ad-Rock (aka Adam Horovitz) told the NME. "I guess that we've just been through so much together. The only way to get through weird things and hardships is to stick together. Going from just playing music for friends in clubs to playing Madison Square Garden, then all of the sudden not playing there [and then playing there again last summer] -- I'm glad we're all friends and doing this together, rather than one of us being alone." "It is fairly inconceivable that we would have remained a band, let alone have stayed in touch with each other, if we were really serious about being successful," chimes in Mike D (Diamond). Yet against all odds and their own expectations, that's what has happened. The Beasties Decade began in 1988, when, tired of tabloid attention -- and probably tired of what they had become -- the Boys moved from New York to Los Angeles and hooked up with producers Mike Simpson and John King, aka the Dust Brothers (who produced Beck's Odelay several years later). The resulting album, Paul's Boutique, was one of the most innovative rap albums ever released: a dense, endlessly funky thicket of obscure samples and inside jokes that was met with mass confusion and dismal sales from all but a handful of people. "Nobody bought it," says Mike. "Here was the one record we felt happy with, and nobody cared. What can you do?" It's often been said of '60s legends the Velvet Underground that, although few people initially bought their records, everyone who did formed a band. The same could be said of Paul's Boutique, although maybe the people bought samplers and turntables instead. The gradual influence of the album is reflected by the fact that, in August, it had been on Billboard's catalogue chart for 37 weeks, while Licensed To Ill has been charting for literally ten times as many. Yet while it percolated, 1992's Check Your Head reawakened the public at large. The group enlisted keyboardist Mark Nishita and producer Mario Caldato Jr. (both of whom have been on board ever since) and began playing live instruments for the first time since their inception as a hardcore punk band, this time incorporating Meters-like instrumentals and dub-inspired production effects into a wildly diverse album that mixed rap and rock in a way that hadn't really been done before. Aided by a couple of ace singles and videos, the group set the look and the sound of the late '90s. Not coincidentally, Mike D began making mad moves as the unofficial domo of their enterprises Grand Royal Records and X-Large clothing. By the time the group released Ill Communication -- basically a more focused take on Check Your Head -- and headlined the Lollapalooza tour in 1994, they had become their own lifestyle. During the four full years it took them to complete another album, the Beasties' influence loomed even larger than ever: their Grand Royal magazine became an increasingly sophisticated compendium of Things They Think Are Cool, from drag racing to kung fu films to vintage turntables to dusted reggae producer Lee Perry. Their label branched out drastically, expanding from the original roster of the Beasties and longtime friends Luscious Jackson (see sidebar) to Sean Lennon, Scottish indie-pop outfit Bis, and German noise architect Alec Empire. The group has also headlined all three Tibetan Freedom Concerts, and MCA (aka Adam Yauch) has been a highly visible spokesman for Milarepa. Not surprisingly, Grand Royal's involvement with the Internet has spawned even more activity, including a first-class web site including an extensive online store and a mysterious new area called "GR Radio" that is not yet active. And as hip hop truly began to infuse suburban culture and the current stereotype of a teenager looks like he walked off the cover of Check Your Head, you realize it has become a Beasties world. Ask the group what they think of that, and there's no way that you'll get a straight answer. |
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PlayBack
: October - November - December 1998
ASCAP PlayBack
