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John Berry, Founding Member of Beastie Boys, Has Died at 52

The guitarist played on their debut LP and once said he came up with the band's name.

John Berry, founding member of The Beastie Boys and a key part of the band’s early years, has died. He was 52.

In 1978, Berry was the guitarist for The Young Aborigines, a New York post-punk trio that featured a 15-year-old Mike D on drums and future Luscious Jackson drummer Kate Schellenbach on percussion. With Adam Yauch drafted in to replace departed bassist Jeremy Shatan, the four-piece renamed themselves The Beastie Boys and adopted a straight hardcore sound. In a 1998 interview with Spin, Berry said the name was likely his idea, too. He said it came from the notion 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."

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Berry remained in the band through the recording of the debut Polly Wog Stew EP in 1982. An eight-track, ten-minute record that sped through furious, snarky punk, the album bears little resemblance to the Beasties’ later work. But the energy and ambition were there, not least on album closer “Egg Raid On Mojo,” a track that the band would continue to play at live shows long after Licensed to Ill blew up in ’86.

Berry left the band soon after Polly Wog Stew’s release, a combination of drug issues and disinterest: “I became less and less interested and started missing rehearsals,” he told Spin. “A couple of times I showed up really fucked up on crystal meth.” He was replaced by Adam Horowitz who left The Young And The Useless to join the band as they forged a new identity.

Berry continued to make music after leaving the group. He went on to form Thwig, Big Fat Love, and Bourbon Deluxe. The rare video below shows Berry performing with Big Fat Love at Coney Island High in 1996 with all three Beasties in attendance.

A post on Luscious Jackson’s Facebook page this afternoon said that the band was: “heartbroken hearing the news of the passing of John Berry, the original guitarist and founder of the Beastie Boys. He was a good friend and rabble rouser and if it wasn't for him, there'd be no Beasties, no Luscious Jackson, no Grand Royal and god knows what else. John brought us all together in his crazy wooden house on the UWS…Rest In Piece friend…”