Adam Yauch (aka MCA of the Beastie Boys) Dead at 47

[Glacies]

RIP MCA (Beastie Boys)

Don't know much about him, but died at cancer at 47. I loved these guys. Some of the first riffs I learned were theirs.

 

[R_of_G]

Adam Yauch, better known as MCA of the Beastie Boys has passed away at the age of 47 following a bout with cancer.

I know there's not a whole lot of love for the Beastie Boys here, but I for one absolutely love them. Their music has been a longtime go-to for me in many different situations.

Though they often get knocked as "just a hip-hop act" the Beastie Boys could play instruments, and play them well. Aside from his enormous MC skills, Adam Yauch was a bad mofo with the bass.

Without getting too much into it and bumping up against the forum's "no religion" policy, let it suffice to say that the views he expressed both publicly and in the lyrics of several of his songs showed that he and I were on the same page with our worldviews. He will be sorely missed.

R.I.P. Adam Yauch.

 

[sunvalleylaw]

I am also saddened by this additional and untimely loss. I took the liberty of merging your threads.

 

[R_of_G]

Second song I ever learned on the bass...



My favorite song Mr. Yauch ever wrote...



And because there's simply no way not to...

 

[Ch0jin]

"not a whole lot of love"

No way R_of_G, I am a MASSIVE Beasties fan. One of the first albums I played over and over and over and forced everyone I knew to listen to, is an album I still to this day have on high rotation. Licensed to Ill (or The Plane Crash Album as we used to call it) was a game changer for me. That scratch and drum intro to "Rhymin & Stealin" (the drums being a Zep sample I think) is monstrous. Thanks to "She's Crafty", I can never talk to a girl called Lucy without immediately thinking "I think her name's Lucy but they all call her Loose". Then there's "Paul Revere". I can't begin to count how many times I've been busted singing that in my car. "Mike D grabbed the money, MCA snatched the gold, I grabbed two girlies and a beer that's cold"

Then there were the live shows. I remember being so impressed that they would go from turntables and MC's one song, then just pick up instruments and belt out some punk style songs, then go back to turntables and vocals. Just awesome.

This ones a bummer for sure.

 

[R_of_G]

"not a whole lot of love"

No way R_of_G, I am a MASSIVE Beasties fan.

I just recall some discussion around here as to their relative worth when it was announced they were to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It's good to know there are others here who love their music, especially today.

And yeah, the drum sample at the start of "Rhymin and Stealin'" is from LZ's "When the Levee Breaks." One of my favorite games is listening to Paul's Boutique (or any of their other albums for that matter) and identifying all of the samples.

 

[stingx]

Sad to hear this too. The Beastie Boys ROCKED!

"White Castle fries only come in one size!"

 

[R_of_G]

Find another band that will have lyrics like this...

"And I got more hits than Sadaharu Oh."

No other band to my knowledge ever successfully fit a pop-cultural reference to Japan's greatest baseball star into their rhyme scheme. Love 'em or hate 'em, the Beastie Boys were game changers. Perhaps it's growing up not far from them and being five years their junior, but the Beastie Boys were a major awakening to jewish white guys from the suburbs like me. If they could get to the top of the hip-hop game, it was a new world.

 

[Katastrophe]

"I've got more rhymes than Phyllis Diller!"

I've only owned two rap albums in my entire life. The first was Run DMC's Raising Hell. The second was Licensed to Ill. Loved the Beasties. The radio stations around here played Beastie Boys tunes as a tribute today... Thought that was pretty cool. "Paul Revere" and "Brass Monkey" still get airtime to this day. RIP, MCA...

 

[R_of_G]

In MLB these days the home stadiums play "walk-up" music of each batter's choice when they go to the plate. Last night the NY Mets honored Yauch by all choosing Beastie Boys songs.

 

[Katastrophe]

Digging the bass line on this one, and the atmospheric groove of the whole tune. I'm learning things about this band that I never knew... Like how they started off as a punk band, there was a girl in there for awhile (who went off to join Luscious Jackson), and other stuff.