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When the Beastie Boys first hit it big in 1987, they were seen as "Animal House", "Fight for Your Right" (to Party), "which became an MTV staple.
The clip depicted the guys – Native Brooklyn MCA (Adam Yauch) and Ad-Rock Manhattanites (Adam Horovitz) and Mike D (Mike Diamond) – as house-trashing, pie-throwing, oversexed pyromaniacs.
People were doing this, but they had a lot of things to do in the "Beastie Boys Book" (Spiegel & Grau), out Oct. 30, the Beasties were mocking the very thing they hated: "Sloppy drunk dude trying to creep on young women was repugnant to punks [like us]. "
But the joke was on them.
"Unfortunately, when you're a straight guy in your late teens / early twenties, you can easily fall into the stereotype's own trappings," Horovitz writes. "[We] became what we hated. "
In the last days, the book has been published for many years, and has been published in the book – which is also a love letter to MCA, who died of cancer in 2012 – is devoted to those regrets. Here's a roundup of some of the Beastie Boys' wildest, worst early history.
They fired their drummer – for being a girl
From 1981-84, the Beastie Boys featured on Beastie Girl: Kate Schellenbach played for the group as they transitioned from punk to hip-hop. "We kicked Kate out of the band because she did not fit into our new tough-rapper-guy identity," Horovitz laments in the book. "Maybe Kate would have quit the band because we were starting to act like a bunch of f-kin 'creeps, but it was just the way it happened. And I am so sorry about it. "
In the book, Schellenbach blames the split on a producer Rick Rubin, saying he gave the band an ultimatum of working with him or her. "Part of me was jealous of their success," she admits, but she knew it would have been happy. "What would I be doing when they were rapping about a girl with a Wiffle Ball?"
The Grand Rapids, released by Luscious Jackson in the early 1990s.
They almost called their first album something awful
Although Horovitz and Diamond never explain how they landed on the title of their debut 1986 album, "Licensed to Ill," they're grateful they changed it.
"It was Rick Rubin 's idea," Horovitz reveals in the book. "It was meant to be a joke about a dutch homophobia goal.
They're still spending money on a giant penis
"(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)" was chosen as a single by the band's label, Def Jam, in February 1987, even though the Beasties considered it a throwaway. It was immediately picked up by MTV and became a hit, but the band quickly came back – so much so, they never played it back after their 1987 tour.
But one remnant lingers: A giant hydraulic penis that would pop up on stage when the trio played the song. (According to Rolling Stone, it stood 20 feet tall).
"Seemed funny at the time … [But] you gotta really think before you say or do some dumb s-t, "Horovitz writes of the decision to have the prop created. "Think about the people you care about most. Will they be embarrassed for you, and of you? Yes. . . And you'll end up paying 30 years' worth of storage in New Jersey for a 5-foot-by-5-foot dick in a box. "
They inspired car theft
In the "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)" video, Mike D sported a Volkswagen medallion on a thick gold chain. This allegedly led fans across the US and UK to steal the logos right off the grills of VWs. Eventually the carmaker found a way to capitalize on the trend, creating an image of a rabbit missing its hood ornament and the line "Designer labels always get ripped off."
The company cheekily nodded to the band – "Many [owners] have been heard to out-swear a Beastie Boy "- and offered a free medallion to anyone who asked.
They used to hunt rats in Chinatown
During the mid-80s, Mike D and MCA shared an apartment at 59 Chrystie St. – which was rat-infested because of the employees of the hallway.
The landlord suggests the guys take care of the victim.
Some people might go to the hardware store and buy a trap. The Beasties had other ideas.
"We … bought these pellet guns, some CO2 cartridges and a gang of pellets," Diamond writes.
"Late that night, we rolled in a bit buzzed. We grabbed our loaded pistols … and started kicking the huge garbage bags. Sure enough, rats came streaming out of them. Somehow, we actually nailed a couple, then left them, dead, in the hallway for a few days. "
It worked. As Diamond writes, "Now we were free to go to inviting girls back to our place."
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