Beastie Boys

According to a Spin interview in 1998, member Adam Yauch said: "The idea was “let’s start a hardcore band,” kind of as a joke. We called it the Beastie Boys. We were trying to think of the stupidest name, something that maybe sounded like the Angry Samoans." After which early member John Berry responded: "This may be arguable, but I think I actually came up with the name. We decided that we should have a gang, an Elks Lodge-type thing. We had secret handshakes and stuff, and we’d wear old-man clothes from the Salvation Army and smoke cigars. The thrust was to walk around and annoy people."