Has it really been that long since the Beastie Boys were popular?

It seems like only yesterday "(You've Got to) Fight for Your Right to Party" and "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" were No. 1 hits. It was 1986 when "License to Ill" came out and quickly became the first rap album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

The latest update on the Beasties is the group is picking up instruments and playing them. Surprisingly enough the musicianship on the newest release, "Check Your Head," is great. The Beasties line-up includes Adam "MCA" Yauch, bass; Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz, guitar; and Mike "D" Diamond on drums.

The Beasties, with opening band L7, will be making a stop at Randy's Ballroom, 1534 Bandera Road, Friday. Tickets cost $15 and are available at Hogwild, Flipside and Apple Records and Planet K. The show starts at 8 p.m.

"It's a pretty different show," said Mike D in a recent telephone interview. "We break it up into different parts. Part of it is the three of us rapping with D.J. Hurricane on the turntables. Then the other parts are us playing live with our own instruments."

You can expect to see at least three additional musicians on stage Friday, including Money Mark on keyboards, percussionist Winny Dopasquez and Awol, who takes Mike D's place as drummer "when I go up front to mosh more," Mike D said.

"It's a very flexible line-up. We can pretty much challenge any other band out there. Like a basketball team, we can rotate a couple people off the bench," he added.

The Beastie Boys were among the first to be part of the Def Jam record label. But shortly after "License to Ill" did well, they decided to move to Capitol Records.

"It has been helpful in the sense of us being able to be completely left alone to do what we want to do," said Mike D about the label switch. "It's totally odd to go from an independent label to a major label and actually gain more freedom.

"I wouldn't say that this is something that happens as a rule. It's just, in this particular instance, with Def Jam we were working with Rick Ruben and Russell Simmons, who both thrive on having a certain amount of input and getting a certain amount of credit and praise. Which is fine and that's their thing. But in terms of us doing our thing, it could sometimes conflict. I don't think we could have made the last two records that we made without moving."

On "Check Your Head" there are two somewhat unlikely guests rapper Biz Markie and hard rock guitarist Ted Nugent.

Mike D talked about how they got together:

"We were just jamming with Biz and kind of talking about who he would want to jam with and out of left field the Biz said 'Yo, Ted Nugent.' We were all freaked out. The guy is out there bow-hunting animals. We aren't very into the guy. As a whim, we called our management and told them that Biz wanted to work with the Nug. He happened to be in town and even though the Nug is the Motor City Madman, he came down."

The common portrayal in the media is the Beastie Boys have grown up. No longer are there headlines about the "Brats of Rap."

"I'm a lot more hesitant to say grown up or mature," said Mike D of his feelings on the subject. "I just look at it as change. Of course, we're going to change and since our albums are a few years apart, they're going to reflect that.

"It was one thing to be 21 years old and have 'License to Ill' to come out and have it be a commercial success and actually get paid to do what we were doing at that time. That was thrilling in one way. But to be 26 and actually get funded to make music that you like and be left alone to make the music you like is, to me, even more thrilling."