Last week, Beastie Boy MCA (Adam Yauch) passed away.

I got on the “Fight For Your Right” train like everyone else back in the day. I cranked it on the radio whenever it came on and I remember having a tape of “Licensed To Ill” I had copied that was in my car always. Then they fell off my radar. One day though I saw a video for a song off of “Paul’s Boutique” and I loved it. I didn’t catch the name of the song, but I remember it vividly.

In the Erdman days I had been given some Beasties by Kris when I worked in the engineering department and was pleasantly surprised to find they had a less party and more funky/groove sound in later albums. He also had a copy of “Paul’s Boutique” and I finally heard the song that had been in my head for years: “Shadrach”. Kris also gave me The Sound Of Science. It really opened me up to The Beastie Boys again.

When it came out, a neighbor (who I never would have suspected was a Beastie fan) turned me on to “To The Five Burroughs” which I loved.

Then about a year ago I bought a used copy of “Hey, I F***ing Shot That”, a film of their 2004 concert tour, released in 2006. It was shot by fans at the shows using camcorders handed out prior. All the footage was collected and put together and it in my opinion worked great. The sound and the songs were all great and it was the first time I had really seen them all doing their thing on stage. I was impressed. I gained a new found respect for The Beastie Boys from that DVD.

When “The Beastie Boys – Hot Sauce Committee Part Two” came out I just happened to be in Best Buy looking for something else and saw it sitting on an end cap display. I hadn’t heard it was coming out and I had no idea what was on it. I bought it, mind you probably one of only about 5 actual CD I had purchased from a store in years and years. I was not disappointed. It blew up my speakers repeatedly for weeks. It is by far my favorite of everything they have ever done.

Today as I considered what to write about next, and thinking about MCA I looked in the folder of things I had scanned from Dalton’s collection of stuff and there was my answer. He had kept a postcard I had made for him on my killer dot matrix printer, with a picture of The Beastie Boys on the front. It was perfect.

As a historic entry I will include the back. Note the post date of 1995. I mention some bands I was into, and that I was using America-Online. Anyone remember that cutting edge service?

And yes… my nickname was/is Metalhead.