Beastie Boys: radio shows and pics circa '85

Sean Bonner points to an amazing cache of radio show recordings and photos by Glen E. Friedman which feature the Beastie Boys, some 20 years ago, back when they were considered a hardcore punk band. Link. Awwwwww B-E-A-S-T-I-E! (Photo © Glen E. Friedman.)

[#1 posted by Peter Swimm , October 22, 2007 9:40 AM]

or "From 'Don't be a Faggot' to 'Save Tibet' in 10 easy steps." ;)

[#2 posted by the_boy , October 22, 2007 10:15 AM]

it's great when they are talking about wrestlers and get to Jesse Ventura. Hehe, celebrity turned governor

[#3 posted by Anonymous , October 22, 2007 1:00 PM]

The Beastie Boys were never, EVER considered hardcore punk. Where on earth did he get that notion?

[#4 posted by Anonymous , October 22, 2007 1:01 PM]

Uh... sorry... Where did SHE... :-)

[#5 posted by Xeni Jardin , October 22, 2007 1:18 PM]

@anonymous, well, I got that notion from... um... seeing them play live in NYC when I was a pre-teen punk. Being there in person.

Snip from the booklet that was inserted with Some Old Bullshit:

For the record Beastie Boys stands for: Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence. That might sound kind of serious or it might sound idiotic, probably both, but it seemed funny at the time. We played our first club gig at A7. If you came up in N.Y.C. hardcore, you probably know the place. If not, it was like playing in your aunt's living room - that is if your aunt's living room had cat pee all over and was a part time crack house. Then we opened for Reagan Youth and I think Even Worse at what was once the legendary club, Trude Hiller's. H.R. of the Bad Brains saw us play and gave us a gig opening for them at the closing night of Max's Kansas City. Talk about irony. Then we broke up.

Early on, they'd play what could only be described accurately as hardcore, in hardcore clubs, with hardcore bands. After a set doing thrash, they'd put down their instruments and goof off as MCs. Eventually, they stuck with the MC part and the rest is funkstory.

XJ

[#6 posted by Anonymous , October 22, 2007 2:09 PM]

I went to two different NYC schools with two different beasties (Walden and Stuyvesant) and always thought they were kinda cheesy, rip-offy lightweights. Let's put it this way: They weren't real street kids but came from a fairly privleged background.

BTW...I lent that singer 35 cents once back in 1981 or so and I figure that's worth about $10,000,000 now.

-Em

www.themagiclantern.blogspot.com

[#7 posted by Anonymous , October 22, 2007 4:16 PM]

They were a hardcore band, but not at the time of these interviews.

[#8 posted by Anonymous , October 22, 2007 7:41 PM]

they were most definitely considered a nyc hc band in their earliest incarnation. they were on a rather famous ny hardcore compilation released in 1982 or 3 called New York Thrash. to be fair, they weren't one of the better bands in that scene, but they were there nonetheless. of course, 'some 20 years ago' they were working on paul's boutique!

[#9 posted by clifford , October 23, 2007 12:41 AM]

My very first hardcore show was seeing the Beasties play at A7. We all bought their ep from the Rat Cage and then we'd wear their stickers on our leather jackets. People thought we were some kind of strange street gang called "beastie boys" because it was all over our clothes!

Between Pollywog Stew and Cookie Puss, they went through an "art rock" stage which no one seems to remember because they didn't release any records then. But yeah, they were not only one of the first new york hardcore bands, they basically helped create that scene.