The Beastie Boys were an American hip-hop and rap group founded by three Jewish kids formed in Manhattan with kids from Brooklyn, South Orange and Manhattan. The group consisted of Adam Yauch, Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz. They started out as a hard rock punk band in 1979, but in 1981 after two members left, they focused on rap music. They were the first white rappers to gain a substantial following and were largely responsible for the growth of a mainstream audience. The band was street smart and full of NYC urban swagger. They achieved local success in 1983 with the song "Cookie Puss" and in 1985 were invited by Madonna to go on the "Like a Virgin" tour. The band is known for its wit and cunning collages of beats and samples and ignored the color line dividing roack and rap in the 1980's. Their first album Licensed to Ill was the first rap album to make the Top 200 of Billboard. Their single, "You Gotta Fight for Your Right to Party" was a smash hit as they moved from Def Jam to Capital Records. Ric Menellow, MTV executive, said "The Beastie Boys were to MTV what Led Zeppelin was to FM Radio." They Beastie Boys had many video moments and were awarded the prestigious Video Vanguard Award for pioneering contributions to the art of music videos. In 2009, MTV honored their song "Sabotage" as the best video of the year. The Beastie Boys release three albums in the 1990's and won a Grammy in 2006 for The Mix Up, an instrumental album. The band created eight studio albums and sold over 20 million records with seven Platinum albums. They are the biggest rap group since Billboard began recording and in 2012 became the third rap group to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Adam Yauch was too sick to attend the ceremony and died shortly thereafter at age 42.