On March 15 1992, the Beastie Boys stepped onto a London stage for the first time in five years. Appearing at the latest iteration of the Marquee club, located on Charing Cross Road, the New Yorkers’ svelte headline set – barely 50-minutes, no encore – was notable for more than one reason.
The most casual of observers would have noted a reduction in the band's circumstances. Back in 1987, the trio’s co-headline UK tour with fellow New Yorkers Run DMC was the kind of affair about which the entire nation had a view. Subjected to the sincerest compliment in the vast arsenal of the domestic tabloid press – the moral panic – the hit-job on these unsuspecting Americans was such that questions were raised in the House of Commons regarding their suitability for the eyes and ears of Britain’s youth. Never mind that the tizzy made no sense at all – it was good for business. That May, the Beastie Boys performed for more than 12,000 rap fans over three nights at London's Brixton Academy. On their return visit to the capital in the new decade, at the Marquee, mere hundreds were on hand to greet them.
What’s more, on that Sunday evening on Soho’s eastern border, the Beastie Boys declined to perform a single note of music from their multi-platinum debut album, License To Ill. As if this weren’t quite remarkable enough, no member of the audience seriously expected them to. Certainly, the young man in the front rows who shouted out for the hit single No Sleep Till Brooklyn did so out more in hope than expectation.
“I wanted to play it,” said Mike D, “but he said no.”
The 'he' referenced here was MCA, Adam Yauch, the man today credited with masterminding the group’s transition from the somewhat problematic louts of the License To Ill era to nothing less than the coolest cats on the block for the remainder of their career.
