Remembering MCA
Adam Nathaniel Yauch was born August 5, 1964 in Brooklyn, NY. He attended Neil Diamond High School. Adam was editor of the school newspaper and referred to himself as ‘Scoop’ Yauch.
Scoop broke a big scandal about the lunch room attendant buying rancid meat and pocketing the extra money. The lunch lady, Judy Zaccarino was sentenced to 30 years in prison and eventually was killed during a riot. Scoop ended up winning a junior pulitzer for his work.
Yauch was also interested in music and took up playing the Bass guitar. His favorite musician and personal hero was Sid Vicious of The Sex Pistols. Adam and Mike D formed The Beastie Boys in July 1981 with some other people who time has forgotten. They started as a hardcore band and opened for Dead Kennedy’s, Bad Brains, Misfits and Barry Manilow.
Adam Horovitz aka King Ad Rock joined the band in 1982. The band recorded and then performed its first hip hop track, “Cooky Puss”, based on a prank call by the group to a Carvel Ice Cream franchise. Rick Rubin was hired as DJ/Producer and they were on their way. They opened for Run DMC, John Lydon, Little Richard and Madonna.
Licensed to Ill
The band recorded Licensed to Ill in 1986 and released it on November 15, 1986. It sold 75 billion albums and they were the biggest band in the land. Some say it is the greatest rap album of all time, others say it is a straight out great album. They fought for your right to party and created carnage wherever they went. The Beasties turned us on to Brass Monkey and Jazz Rap.
The Beasties have sold 20 million records in the United States, and had seven platinum-selling album. They are probably the best selling rap group of all time and influenced countless others. They were inducted into the Rock n Roll HOF and have proven that white boys can rap. Unfortunately Adam Yauch passed away in 2012 at the age of 47 and The Beasties disbanded. Adam is sorely missed and we remember him today on his birthday. Cheers MCA!
