Sabotage: The Untimely End of the Beastie Boys

Dear Gen Xer,

They started with a nod to their hardcore roots. 77 minutes later, they ended with one of their biggest hits. Nobody knew it would be their last show.

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'Cause what you see you might not get

The Beastie Boys broke the rules.

First, they transitioned from punk to rap. Nobody knew who they were at the time, but the rare move from one genre to another established their ethos from the jump: artistic expression above all else, no matter where it leads.

Their debut album Licensed to Ill dropped in ‘86. Produced by

Rick Rubin

, it blended elements of rock and rap to create a string of rowdy anthems like Rhymin & Stealin, Fight For Your Right, and No Sleep Till Brooklyn. The album went platinum within a year, and has sold over 10 million copies since. Licensed to Ill was such a smash, it became the first rap record to top the Billboard 200.

The Beastie Boys continued to take everyone by surprise. Their follow-up album Paul’s Boutique baffled fans and critics with its kaleidoscopic sampling. It produced two hits (Hey Ladies and Shake Your Rump), but sales were significantly lower than Licensed to Ill and the album was deemed a flop. It wasn’t until years later, when the rest of the world finally caught up, that Paul’s Boutique earned its status as a landmark album.

Their next two records, Check Your Head and Ill Communication, are staple soundtracks of the 90’s. Everybody knows Sure Shot. Everyone’s heard So What’cha Want. From punk to funk to rap to jazz, the albums produced hit after hit, and showcased a creativity that appeared to be boundless.

Their subsequent releases - Hello Nasty (1998), To the 5 Boroughs (2004), The Mix-Up (2007), and Hot Sauce Committee Part Two (2011) – continued the Beastie Boys’ willingness to reinvent themselves, while always remaining true to their musical roots.

On April 24, 2012 - 26 years after their debut release - the Beastie Boys were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

On May 4, 2012 – 10 days after their induction – Adam Yauch died of salivary parotid gland cancer.

He was 47.

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I got this fucking thorn in my side

Yauch had been diagnosed with cancer three years earlier; a month after what turned out to be the Beasties’ last show. He underwent surgery and radiation therapy and characterized his illness as “very treatable”.

Aside from being known as ‘MCA’, Yauch was also known as a humanitarian, most significantly in his raising awareness about religious persecution in Tibet. He organized the Tibetan Freedom Concert in 1996. The show was held in San Francisco and featured acts like the Smashing Pumpkins, A Tribe Called Quest, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Rage Against the Machine. Yauch managed to raise over $800,000 with that show alone.

Yauch also supported his fellow musicians. He opened a recording studio in 2002 called Oscilloscope Laboratories. Then he expanded it to include Oscilloscope Pictures so he could help independent filmmakers as well. Some of the acclaimed work he distributed includes Dear Zachary, Beautiful Losers, and Polytechnique.

Yauch’s passing was as unexpected as the Beastie Boys’ debut in 1986. It didn’t take long for surviving members Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond to confirm what fans assumed and feared: they would never record or perform as the Beastie Boys again.

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'Cause your crystal ball ain't so crystal clear

“Everything that happened that day was totally normal. The gig was headlining a huge festival in Tennessee called Bonnaroo. Thousands and thousands of people were gonna be there, and we were the headliner.” – Adam Horovitz, from Beastie Boys Book

They spent the morning of June 12^th, 2009 traveling around Tennessee. Nas was with them. So was Roman Coppola with his trusty Bolex. They stopped whenever they saw something interesting, spat out lyrics for the camera, then packed up and drove off to the next spontaneous location. A few hours later, they had a new video. So they got in the car one more time and headed for Bonnaroo.

“…Al Green was finishing his set on one of the many stages at the festival, and so hearing his voice in the distance was comforting. Just like how it was when I was in high school. In my bedroom waiting for my friends to come over.” – Adam Horovitz

The Beastie Boys’ final show was a parade of hits that spanned their career. The crowd danced and sang along and had a great time. And while Yauch didn’t attack the stage with the same frantic vigor as Ad-Rock or Mike D, there was no hint of slowing, no sign of slippage, no clue to anyone watching that he’d be diagnosed with a deadly disease one month later.

“Me, Adam+Mike were older and we knew it. Still very much in the game, though, getting ready to start all over again. Headlining a huge festival is very different from a nice turnout at CBGB. But shit, man, we didn’t know it was gonna be the last show we’d ever play.” – Adam Horovitz

Nobody ever knows.

Because Death doesn’t care you sold 50 million albums. Death doesn’t care how many people you’ve helped. Death will sabotage your plans whenever the fuck it wants.

Best we can do is remember days like June 12, 2009.

Remember that we never know when the end will come.

And fight for our right before it’s time to Pass the Mic.

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