"the Beastie Boys"

[balohna]

Obviously the band name is Beastie Boys and not "The Beastie Boys", but I've noticed in the recent press around the book and the movie that Adam and Mike (but especially Adam) will be really specific about never saying "the Beastie Boys". Adrock has referred to himself as "the guy from Beastie Boys" and gone off on how nobody says "The U2".

But you don't have to go back far into the band's history to hear or see them call themselves "the" Beastie Boys. In the title crawl for AIFST. In Mike's part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction speech ("We're the Beastie Boys from New York City"). I feel like most people would refer to Adam or Mike as "one of the Beastie Boys" and not "one of the members of Beastie Boys", even people that know the band isn't called The Beastie Boys.

Could there be some kind of legal reason they want to be especially clear about this? Or is this just a pet peeve of Adam's that he's been sitting on for years and is finally insisting on never using "the Beastie Boys" and calling out anyone that does? I know they've always been clear that the word "The" isn't part of the band name, but it feels weird to go after language that they themselves used many times over the years.