VERY sad.

Wow--it's only May and we've already lost more musicians this year than I can count. Only 47? Very sad.

This is TERRIBLE news. I had a feeling things weren't going well. 47? Not fair. He was so talented and the Beasties were geniuses. Very, very bad news.
R.I.P.
MCA (Adam Yauch)

I'm bummed that there won't be any more new Beastie Boys music. People that do so much for the craft especially don't deserve to die young.

I was never much of a fan, but this is sad news. I feel terrible for his family, friends and fans. My college band used to play "Fight For Your Right To Party," which was one of my rare forays into lead vocalist territory. It wasn't pretty, but it WAS fun. RIP, MCA.

Paul's Boutique is a top five favorite album of mine, and Check Your Head isn't too far behind.

Though people often cite Licensed To Ill, their later efforts are much more worthy, in my opinion.

I can remember driving around Ireland in a rental with Paul's Boutique as the soundtrack in the summer of 1990.

I was wondering about his status when he was a no-show for the Hall induction... guess I got my answer. Don't see the other two carrying on as Beastie Boys, either.

I was shocked to hear this. I knew he was ill, but I figured he'd beat it.

Very sad.

FYI, Spotify has their entire catalogue except Licensed to Ill.

RIP MCA. Sad news. I think I'll dig up the video collection--they made some groundbreaking videos. "Sabotage" is a favorite.

Sales of Beastie Boys albums and songs have surged in the wake of Adam Yauch’s passing, highlighted by the re-entry of the trio’s 1986 album, Licensed to Ill, into the top 20 on the Billboard 200 chart. Upon its original release, Licensed to Ill became the first rap album to reach #1 on the Billboard 200 chart, hitting that spot in March of 1987 and remaining there for seven straight weeks.

Other Beastie Boys albums re-entering the Billboard 200 include Solid Gold Hits (#51), Paul’s Boutique (#56), Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (#107), Ill Communication (#109), Check Your Head (#124) and Beastie Boys Anthology: The Sounds of Silence (#141).

In addition, Billboard reports that 151,000 downloads of Beastie Boys songs were sold this past week, up from 14,000 the week before. The top seller was the single, “Brass Monkey,” which hit #48 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Adam Yauch's Will Prohibits Use of Beastie Boys Songs in Advertisements
By Carrie Battan on August 9, 2012
http://pitchfork.com/news/47453-adam-ya ... tisements/



The late Adam Yauch -- aka Beastie Boys' MCA -- took care to ensure his legacy as a true punk before he died. DNAInfo reports that his will prohibits the use of Beastie Boys songs in advertisements, which happens often with deceased artists. It's a pretty bold move that cements Yauch's ideological reputation, considering the amount of money there is to be made by corporations likely desperate to use the Beastie Boys' trademark sound in their commercials.

Yauch's will was filed on Tuesday in a Manhattan Surrogate Court, and places his entire fortune in a $6.4 million trust for his wife and daughter. He's allowed his wife the right to sell and/or manage his art. Still, it's possible the surviving two Beastie Boys will be able to sell their collective music to advertisers.

Beastie Boys awarded $1.7 million in Monster case
By Larry Neumeister, Associated Press
June 5, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) — It's a rap: The Beastie Boys have won $1.7 million in a copyright violation case against the maker of Monster Energy drink.

Thursday's ruling ends a case in which the two surviving members of the band testified about their staunch opposition to the use of their music in commercial endorsements.

"We're happy," rapper Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz said outside the courtroom after the federal court jury in Manhattan returned its verdict after a day of deliberations.

The Corona, California-based Monster Energy Co. had admitted wrongly using Beastie Boys songs in a video that was online for five weeks. But the beverage maker insisted it should owe no more than $125,000. The Beastie Boys had sought $2 million.

Horovitz clasped his wife's hand tightly in the first row of spectator seating as the judge read aloud a verdict in which jurors found Monster had committed willful copyright infringement involving five songs: "Sabotage," ''So Watcha Want," ''Make Some Noise," ''Pass the Mic" and "Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun."

Jurors chose to award $120,000 for each of 10 violations of copyright.

The jury also awarded an additional $500,000 after finding that Monster used the bands' persona without permission, suggesting a false endorsement of Monster's products.

The sometimes lighthearted New York rappers were humorless at trial, with Horovitz sitting intently through testimony and deliberations for a case he clearly took seriously. As it became clear the band was getting almost everything it asked for, Horovitz nodded in agreement with several of the findings. He hugged his wife after the verdict.

Outside court, he said the band wanted to thank the jury. Jurors had already left the building, with each of them declining comment.

Lawyers for Monster said the company would appeal.

The eight-day trial featured testimony from Horovitz and bandmate Michael "Mike D" Diamond, who also attended the trial most days. Another member of the band, the gravelly-voiced rapper Adam "MCA" Yauch, died in May 2012 at age 47 after a nearly three-year battle with cancer.

Horovitz had testified the legendary hip-hop group would never license songs to endorse commercial products.

Diamond testified that the band is protective of and dependent for revenue on its existing catalog of music since Yauch died.

"We cannot tour. We cannot make recordings," he said.

The Beastie Boys, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, have turned out four No. 1 albums and sold more than 40 million records as they helped bring hip-hop to the mainstream over the last three decades. In 1986, they topped the charts with their debut, "Licensed to Ill," which include the anthem "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)"

I would be very sad if Mike D and Adrock don't perform again with each other. Not as Beasties, but something different.

Adam Horovitz has done some stuff with a woman named Bridget Everett. She's been spotlighted in the final segment of each of the first two seasons of Inside Amy Schumer. This is the song she did this past season - the guys appeared and did most of the dance routine.

NSFW...