BEASTIE'S STORY COMES TO APPLE
The Beastie Boys Story, a Spike Jonze documentary, heads to Apple TV+ on 4/24. Mike D and Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys joined Zane Lowe on Apple Music for a two-hour chat ahead of the premiere of the film.
Mike D told Lowe: "The Ramones were probably the first band that both Adam (Yauch) and I looked at, listened to, loved and thought, 'oh, we could do something like that.’” On the influence of Rick Rubin: "Rick had a huge impact on us, he taught us about heavy metal...and he knew how to take what we were doing and get it on the radio.”
Ad-Rock told Lowe: "We knew we wanted to make short rap songs like the Ramones. The older rap records were all, the Jimmy Spicer record, like 10 minutes long, and he's still rapping as the song fades out. We wanted to have short songs," he continued. "We wanted to have verses (and) choruses, like rock songs and punk songs, and just be weird." They also chatted about growing up in New York, discovering hip-hop, their seminal releases and more.
The Beastie Boys Story, directed by Jonze, and written by Beastie Boys Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz along with Jonze, portrays the history and legacy of the revolutionary group. The film is set to premiere on the heels of the 26th anniversary of the release of Beastie Boys’ #1 charting 1994 album, Ill Communication, and reunites the band with Jonze after 25 years since he directed the music video for that album’s hit single, “Sabotage.”
The project grew out of Diamond and Horovitz' collaboration on their best-selling Beastie Boys Book, in which they tell an intimate, personal story of their band and 40 years of friendship. The film was produced by Jason Baum and Amanda Adelson, Jonze, and executive produced by Diamond, Horovitz, Dechen Wangdu-Yauch, John Silva, John Cutcliffe, Peter Smith, Thomas Benski, Dan Bowen, Sam Bridger, Michele Anthony, David Blackman, Ashley Newton, Losel Yauch, Frances Yauch and Jonah Hill.
Peep the film's trailer, and an excerpt from Lowe's video chat At Home with the Beastie Boys, below:
