The Best Beastie Boys Songs

List of the best Beastie Boys songs ever recorded. This list contains all the most popular and "favorite" songs recorded by the Beastie Boys either on a studio album or during a live performance. (Songs by other artists featuring individual Beastie Boys members are not included.) Rap group The Beastie Boys were founded as a hardcore punk band in 1979. (The term "Beastie" was an acronym for "Beings Entering Anarchistic States Towards Internal Excellence.") For much of the group's existence, it was made up of three rappers - MCA (Adam Yauch), Mike D (Michael Diamond) and Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz) - and DJ Mix Master Mike.

The band's first taste of mainstream success came in 1986 with the release of "Licensed to Ill." The album was the top-selling rap album of the decade, and the first rap album to hit #1 on the Billboard chart. Songs like "You Gotta Fight for your Right To Party" and "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" became iconic radio staples and helped define the band's sound for decades to come. Other popular albums included the critically praised "Paul's Boutique," the chart-topping "Ill Communication" and the band's final release, the experimental "Hot Sauce Committee."

On May 4, 2012, founding member MCA died following a prolonged battle with salivary gland cancer.