Beastie Boys Go the Respect Route

The Beastie Boys are among the top pop trend-setters of the past decade. They pioneered the rap-rock interface. They tapped the sonic creativity of the Dust Brothers years before the team produced records by Beck and the Rolling Stones. They’ve even been at the forefront of fashion, marketing skateboard/snowboard and dance-club duds far ahead of the mainstream.

But a lot of people still dismiss the Beasties as mere hip-hop pranksters. Of course, a lot of people dismissed Madonna as a lingerie-flaunting “boy toy” until she became a music industry mogul via her now-respected Maverick Records label.

Similar respect is apparently the goal of the Beasties, who are making moves to bring the Grand Royal label they founded in 1992 into the ranks of highly regarded players.

They recently hired as president Mark Kates, who built a strong reputation as an A&R; executive at Geffen Records, where his roster included Beck and Hole. Kates, who officially starts the job in January, recently accompanied Beasties Mike Diamond and Adam Yauch to Europe to oversee the opening of the company’s London office. And there are plans for a Tokyo branch in the works.

Grand Royal recently signed Sean Lennon, the son of John and Yoko, and will release his first album in the spring. He joins a roster that includes such acclaimed acts as Luscious Jackson (whose 1996 “Fever In Fever Out” album went gold), Australian teen singer-songwriter Ben Lee and Scottish trio Bis.

The timing of these developments is not arbitrary, coming just as Grand Royal’s deal with Capitol Records, through which it has released the Luscious Jackson and Bis albums, is ending. To Diamond, the company’s CEO, this sends a message that Grand Royal is not just a vanity project for the group.

“This is a rare and unique coupling of an artist-run label with someone in Mark who’s going to be really good at fulfilling our vision on an artistic and commercial level,” says Diamond, 31, who is working with the Beasties on a new album, tentatively planned for summer release. “This is well beyond a hobby or boutique label.”

Industry insiders say that the new moves leave little doubt that Grand Royal would be a valuable asset for any major company. The consensus is, though, that Capitol--which has exclusive negotiating rights with Grand Royal for a month after the current deal expires at the end of the month--will not let it get away.

“We’ve been talking a long time about the notion of having a stronger relationship,” says Capitol President Gary Gersh. “I want Grand Royal to be like Sire Records [the former home of Madonna, Talking Heads and the Ramones] was when it was part of Warner Bros. Records. That’s my intention.”