A Beastly Tribute

It's a little depressing how often the musical interlude is becoming "Which famous musician died this week?" This week we note the passing of Adam "MCA" Yauch, one of the founding members of the Beastie Boys. I always found the Beastie Boys to be kind of a fascinating musical group, because they started out as white boy rappers who were not taken seriously and embraced that by acting as though they shouldn't be taken seriously. After all, "Fight For Your Right (To Party)" isn't exactly an anthem for change. Then, as often happens when a group hangs around long enough, the music journalists started to look at them differently. Suddenly they had to be taken seriously as musicians, a sort of 10-year, over-night success story. It was if Beastie Boys music was now important, which seemed insane when you consider their roots. What I respect about the group is that, unlike a lot of other musicians whose heads swell when they get some positive things said about them, the music never changed. Off-stage they might have started to preach about the benefits of recycling and how we needed to free Tibet, but their songs and videos retained a sort of playful level about them.

Also, their level of influence is undeniable. We wouldn't have acts like Eminem, Linkin Park and several others without the Beastie Boys. (Influence tends to be spread far and wide when you tour with everyone from Madonna and LL Cool J to the Smashing Pumpkins as well as perform at every music festival under the sun.) Even today you are just as likely to hear a Beastie Boys song on the radio as any other musical group. In an act of timing which I can't tell was either coincidental or a sign, the Beastie Boys were finally inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in December after years of being on the ballot. I'm sure at the time they didn't care about getting in, but given what happened this week I'm sure the remaining members will look back and appreciate it happening while they were all around to enjoy the honor. And as much as I enjoyed some of their later music, I think we should go with some of their earlier work.