Fight For Your Right To Play Wembley
Live Earth will see one of the strangest reunions the world of music can ever have seen. In a replay of the unlikely pairing which stomped their way around North American arenas in the glorious summer of 1985 when the Beastie Boys and Madonna were the hottest ticket in town when The Virgin Tour rolled around, July 7th will see both acts sharing a stage for the first time in 22 years!
The Beastie Boys had actually been together as a rap act for six years when they got the gig to support Madonna on her debut arena tour but it was only the previous year in which their brand of dumb-jock rap struck a chord with America’s mischievous youth with their their early releases on Def Jam Records, although their breakthrough with the License To Ill album was to follow the tour in 1986.
The pairing of the coarse rap act and the world’s most famous popstrel may have seemed an odd choice at the time, especially considering they weren’t even label mates, but in hindsight it was an inspired choice. Both artists have re-invented themselves (to use a tired phrase) continually over the years, both went from being broadly trashed by critics as flash-in-the-pans who would never achieve critical respect and long-term success to world beating acts who have maintained inspired, long-lasting careers.
The band themselves acknowledge that The Virgin Tour was their first real large-scale exposure outside of their comfort zone of fanbase although at the time, as Billboard remembers, they taunted Madonna’s fans and generally received a poor repsonse night after night. Hardly surprising, it’s unlikely many wannabes had tottered down to their local store in their crucifixes and lace fingerless gloves to buy copies of ‘Pollywog Stew’ or ‘Cooky Puss’!
Madonna never gave many statements regarding what she thought of the act opening for her, but according to the band she never let them have a photo with her. Her future husband clearly had no such problem as the photo above shows!
Will 07/07/07 see a replay of summer 1985? Let’s hope so!