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Who would have thought that a punk band
thrown together for its bass
player's 17th birthday party would evolve into one of
the most influential and groundbreaking successes of
its time? Certainly not the then-teenage Beastie Boys,
yet the band's 25-year-and-counting career has logged
40 million in sales, two Grammy awards, the MTV Video
Vanguard Lifetime Achievement award, four #1 albums--including
the first hip hop album ever to top the Billboard 200,
the band's
1986 debut full length, Licensed To Ill, and countless
sold out world
tours, magazine covers and TV appearances.
Yet it was in 1981 that Beastie Boys--then consisting
of Adam Yauch (a/k/a MCA) on bass, drummer Kate Schellenbach
(later of Luscious Jackson), guitarist John Berry (of
Big Fat Love), and Mike Diamond (a/k/a Mike D) on the
mic--debuted at Yauch's birthday party. By 1982, the
band had played its first public gigs opening for the
likes
of Bad Brains and Reagan Youth at venues including CBGB,
A7, and--by a hair--Max's Kansas City, where they played
on the last night of the club's existence.
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