This record was later sampled and used by British Airways in one of their commercials, leaving the Beasties with quite a bit of money that was quickly spent on their first flat. The band spent most of 1985 touring as support act for Madonna on her Like A Virgin Tour. A friend of the band (and occasional member) Rick Rubin signed the boys to his newly started record label Def Jam and in 1986, their debut album Licensed To Ill hit the record stores. The guys' 'bad boy attitude' single You Gotta Fight For Your Right (To Party) made it straight into number 11 in the UK chart and quickly became an anthem for the more rebellious part of youth all over the world.

Their debut album was the first ever rap album to make it to the US charts and pretty soon, the Beastie Boys became the main focus of the media. This was not only due to their smashing album, or their live stage show which featured half-naked females dancing in cages, but also because they wore VW badges around their necks. The latter resulted in a global crime wave emerging, as fans were stealing the said item from vehicles (in fact, I know someone who used to do that, however here is not really the place to mention any names). Lots of rumours then started to leak out of the Beastie Boys camp whilst at the same time, friction between the band and Def Jam arose.

It took 3 years and a change of record label (they moved to Capitol) before the band released their brilliant follow-up album Paul's Boutique. The long wait was mainly due to the 3 members focusing on different solo projects before their excellent comeback. Indeed, Paul's Boutique is one of the greatest albums around - so if you're not already familiar with it, I strongly suggest you put it on top of your shopping list! This album clearly showed that the Beasties had matured and were much more than just 'here today and gone tomorrow'. The band then moved to sunny California and put out their third album Check Your Head in 1992 - here the 3 guys partly started digging their thrash roots again. Also, they had wisely invested some money in setting up their own studio, label and magazine - Grand Royal - and Horovitz had been doing some acting in a few films (The Santa Anna Project, Roadside Prophets and Lost Angels in case you're interested).

In 1994, two Beastie Boys albums were released - the cool Ill Communication and also a compilation named Some Old Bullshit which despite the name isn't exactly bullshit! July 1998, saw the release of the album Hello Nasty on which those Beasties are digging old skool big time. The following year a 2-CD anthology The Sounds Of Science is released.

And if that's not enough for you, there are two Beastie Boys videos you can watch too, both from 1994: Sabotage and The Skills To Pay The Bills. Plus if you fancy some cool gear to wear, Mike D's XL clothing label is definitely worth checking out! Though if you're situated in Europe the prices are high due to all the taxes.