Adam Yauch Of The Beastie Boys Died At 47

Adam Yauch of the trio, the Beastie Boys, died at age 47 from cancer. The Beastie Boys were among the first “white rappers” and incorporated rap vocals over hard rock music. As a Classic Rock fan I still tend to think of the Beasties Boys as, well, boys. I don’t know what’s more of a shock, that a Beastie Boy has died or that he was 47 years old.

I always felt the Beastie Boys were the ultimate “you can do this too” group. Punk Rock lowered (way down) the standard for musicianship and Rap broke the bar in half for singers so a punk band that rapped their lyrics was about as simple as you could get. And that was their charm. Even their Rap / Punk attitude of angry young men (young white men) was only used to express their need to vent their anger and frustration over.. what?... their right to PARTY?!!! Really? That’s what you’re pissed off about? Your parents won’t let you party?

When the Beastie Boys’ album, License To Ill came out in 1986 Adam Yauch was twenty-two years old.  If you don’t like your parents telling you what to do MOVE OUT AND GET YOUR OWN PLACE.

Of course I know the Beastie Boys were expressing the feelings of their fans and for the most part they were far younger than twenty-two. The Beastie Boys always seemed to have a sense of humor about them, or maybe I just couldn’t take them seriously, but that worked in their favor as I could never really not like them. It’s one thing for Classic Rockers to die off from age related causes (rather than from drugs, air crashes or violence) but now having Rappers and Punk Rockers dying of cancer (yes, I know, even children die of cancer) just makes it seem like time is going by faster than ever. So long, Adam.

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