I know that most people don't care to read these kinds of posts, but on the dusk of Adam Yauch's passing, I am reflecting back on just how much the Beastie Boys have been a part of my life and how I was first lured in by their music and humor. It was 1986, and I was only 5 years old, which seems crazy that I would remember things from such a young age, but it is still quite clear in my mind. My first taste of Beastie was much like everyone else's first experience, watching the 'Fight for your Right (to Party)' music video on MTV. It didn't hurt either that my older brother was a huge hip hop fan (and DJ) who played the first Beastie Boys album ad nauseam.
Even at the young age of 5, it was the humor of the FFYR video that hooked me. Everything from the nerds planning a party to the pie fight was hilarious to me, even if I didn't know at that time what a 'porno mag' was and why their mom would throw it away (not to mention why their 'mom' was a fat, balding older man in a wife beater,) but regardless, there was no turning back.
It might have been the next year or maybe a couple years later that my brother purchased the 'License to Ill' VHS tape, and let me just tell you this, I probably snuck and watched it more times than I could count on all the Beasties fingers and toes. It was a great collection of videos and behind the scenes antics, but at the time one of the biggest reasons I watched it was because during the live performance of 'She's Crafty' there was one shot when a girl in the audience pulled up her shirt, and this was probably my first glimpse of women's breasts, so naturally I watched it over and over again. Other favorite parts of the video included the 'No Sleep till Brooklyn' video, the 'She's on it' video, the behind the scenes trip to White Castle, and of course the prank where the Boys dumped a bucket of water on a sleeping journalist.
These are my earliest B-Boys memories, and I have followed them ever since, at times quite obsessively. I used to jokingly say that my religion was Beastie Boys, and although at first a joke, in a way it was true. The Beastie Boys went from wild punk rockers to self-conscious and politically active humanitarians, and I certainly feel like I evolved right along with them and learned so much through their music and through the way they lived.
I don't know what will become of The Beastie Boys after Adam Yauch's passing, I honestly can't see the Beastie Boys as just Mike D and Adrock, but regardless, the impression that they have made is something I will carry along with me for the rest of my life. I always felt like The Beastie Boys were to me like The Beatles were for my parent's generation and with this current tragedy, it feels even moreso.
In conclusion, I am grateful for all that The Beastie Boys, and MCA in particular, have done for this world and the legacy that they are leaving behind. They are, and have been, my favorite band of all time...they have transcended almost all musical genres...and they have changed my life for the better! For this I give my heartfelt thanks.
Yauch, you will never be forgotten! #RIPMCA
