Thrash tense European (5)
I believe the answer is:
paste
'thrash' is the definition.
(I know that thrash is a more specific form of the action beat)
'tense european' is the wordplay.
'tense' becomes 'past tense' (past tense is a kind of tense).
'european' becomes 'E' (abbreviation e.g. EU).
'past'+'e'='PASTE'
(Other definitions for paste that I've seen before include "Adhesive - thrash" , "not real rock" , "Adhesive, for wallpaper say" , "Adhesive, for wallpaper perhaps" , "Food prepared for spreading" .)