‘The Beastie Boys Story’: Spike Jonze and the Two Remaining Beasties Recall Their Rollercoaster of a Journey

Adi Mehta

The two remaining Beastie Boys, Adam “Ad Rock” Horovitz and Michael “Mike D” Diamond,” have teamed up with their old pal Spike Jonze, who we can credit for such era-defining music videos as “Sabotage,” for an Apple TV exclusive documentary, “The Beastie Boys Story.” It’s a film with a rather awkward format, especially for a rock doc — or rap doc, if you will. The entire movie is like a Steve Jobs commencement address, in true Apple style, except with Horovitz and Diamond speaking on the stage of Kings Theatre, in their native Brooklyn, with a slideshow in the background, and Spike Jonze cueing up effects. In a way, it’s perfectly suited for the come-as-you-are, non gimmicky attitude that the Beasties have taken up in recent years. Moreover, it’s a refreshing change from the usual form of narration over video, interspersed with footage of talking heads. And it allows Horovitz and Diamond plenty of valuable stage time, allowing you to hear the story up-front from the people who experienced it firsthand, to inspiring ends. 

The story begins with Horovitz and Diamond recalling their early punk rock days, going to see bands like the Bad Brains, joining up with the late Adam Yauch, to which the film is dedicated, as well as their original fourth member, drummer Kate Schellenbach, and befriending then sixth grader John Berry who came up with the acronym “Beastie,” brilliantly expanding to “Boys Entering Anarchist States Towards Inner Excellence.” That alone should be enough to hook you. The condensed history offered effectively captures the speed at which the actually events must have seemed to occur, considering the madcap rollercoaster ride of a journey depicted. A priceless bit of early footage involves reading rhymes beyond shabbily from a piece of paper, to a crowd, on stage. In a flash, we find hilarious pictures of the still teenage Beasties hanging out with the much older Rick Rubin, and this has all taken a rather surrealist turn. A classic clip shows Rubin explaining “Def means record” and “Jam means definitive,” in an early ad for his label Def Jam. We see the Beasties teaming up with Russel Simmons, and hear an anecdote of Kurtis Blow learning to spin on his head during their first visit to SImmons’ office. 

One remarkable quality of the presentation is how good natured the two remaining Beasties seem throughout, pulling punches in spite of their eventual falling out with figures like SImmons and Rubin. In fact, those characters are somewhat romanticized in the portions where they appear. Some of the early footage, from when the group was more gimmick than music, is comedy gold, for instance a clip of Rubin clearly channeling wrestling villains while hyping up the band to cameramen on the street. Or a clip of the Beasties overdoing their attire, adorned in du rags, to poor reception. Hearing about the series of fortunate accidents that led to quick fame makes one actually want to go out and start a band on the spot, We hear, for example, of how Simmons got a call from Madonna’s manager asking to book the Fat Boys as an act, and SImmons said they weren’t available, even though he didn’t even manage them. Of course, the Beasties took their place. 

The film is organized into chapters that effectively sort the band’s career and collective life into distinct phases. The stage time intersperses mere talk with jokey maneuvers and bits with props. For instance, Horovitz and Diamond put on a cartoon walk in front of a New York street backdrop to imitate how they used to write songs on the street. They bring in a replica of Yauch’s original reel-to-reel tape device, so the audience can feel their bemusement upon first encountering it. They mime a phone call from the accountant telling them that they’ve become broke. Their ability to make fun of themselves casually throughout is an essential part of the experience. 

The footage is carefully selected to highlight pivotal moments, such as when they Beastie Boys began to find their own voice with the song ““Hold It Now, Hit It.” Things start to take a slightly dark turn, although still peppered with plenty of humor, when Horovitz and Diamond admit to becoming “a fantasy version of ourselves.” Soon, the Beasties are playing with Run DMC in a baseball stadium in Miami, with a drunk Adam Yauch trying to go back-to-back with Aerosmith on his bass. Along with the good fortune is plenty of clever conceptualizing, even in something as seemingly simple as “fake anthem” of “Fight For Your Right.” When Horovitz and Diamond explain their formula of party boy, metal head, frat boy, and the Three Stooges, the lampoon suddenly takes on a whole new dimension. In no time, the Beasties have convinced the people behind stage design to equip them with a go go dancer cage, a Budweiser tower, and a giant phallus. They talk about becoming the very people they were making fun of, illustrating the transformation through such appropriate examples as Horovitz apologizing for repeatedly calling his brother Matthew “Money.” The most extreme example comes in the song “Girls,” which started off as ironic, but came out at a stage when the lines had blurred, and the Beasties had become an embarrassment to themselves .The South tries to ban them, football hooligans in Liverpool throw cans at them, and eventually they find themselves stuck in a cycle that Horovitz compares to Bill Murry’s film 1993 “Groundhog Day.” In a key moment, he reflects, “The problem is we built the fucking box, and we’re the dicks stuck inside the box.”

A chapter later, MTV’s Kurt Loder is asking, “What ever happened to the Beastie Boys?” Yauch has quit, and they all stopped getting paid royalties because Rubin and Russell claimed the Beasties were in breach of contract. Horovitz and Diamond make it clear that they feel betrayed, but without dwelling on the subject much, promptly turning to humor and keeping the narrative going. A turning point comes when they meet the Dust brothers, reunite, and decide that no manager, producer, or label will call the shots again. They sign with Capitol Records, and still go on in their juvenile nature, making moves such as signing with a manager simply because they were amused that he handled Kenny Rogers and Lionel Richie. They tell us in grand detail about staying in the Hollywood hills mansion of Marilyn Grashov, whose closet they broke into to borrow, and wear everywhere, her ridiculous ‘70s wardrobe. We see the groundbreaking, but commercially unsuccessful, “Paul’s Boutique” in the works, and then the surprise that follows from its reception. 

Well into the film, Jonez finally gets a “Crazy Shit” graphic and sound to work, and the bona fide amateurism seems perfectly consistent with the Beastie’s whole persona. Horovitz and Diamond recount how they became newly serious, downsized to the point that Yauch moved into a log cabin, built their own studio, and again took up instruments. There’s another moment of finding their voice, when the hip-hop, the punk rock, new jazz and soul fascinations, and everything under the sun become fair game. They fondly recall Yauch’s song “Something’s Gotta Give,” about change and growth, and remember his ambitious activities at the time — traveling globe, trekking in Nepal, snowboarding, exploring Buddhism. Soon they’ve finished “Check Your Head,” another “record that changed everything, and their new manager John Silva, with whom they still work, makes them build their way back up again from small clubs. A priceless moment comes in a montage set to the tune of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5.” It all pays off, as they Beasties find their new shows packed with “like-minded weirdos.” Thy start their own label, Grand Royal, they sign their friend’s band Luscious Jackson, and their old friend and bandmate Kate even joins that group. The icing on the cake comes in that most definitive of songs, “Sabotage.” We see how it came together from a simple bass riff of Yauch’s and we see how far the band came, when they compare their epic performance of it at the MTV music awards with their earlier tomfoolery on “American Bandstand.” 

Horowitz and Diamond go on to describe their record “Hello Nasty” as the possible favorite because of how experimental it was, adding further conclusive direction to the narrative arc. They seal up the issue of the egregious “Girls” by recalling Yauch’s respectful “Song For the Man,” and his defending the transformation, “I’d rather be a hypocrite than the same person forever.” While so many others would use a moment like this in a presentation to cue up some tearjerker of a track and go full candlelight vigil, the Beasties just keep it casual and succinct, and keep moving, which is beyond refreshing. They move on elegantly to their last days as a group, during which Yauch created the legendary Tibetan Freedom concert, leaving the audience with a compelling portrait of their lost bandmate. In the end the ever articulate Horovitz reflects, “Things in life never come full circle. Maybe once or twice, they’re hexagonal, but to me, they’re always misshapen as I’d drawn by a toddler in crayon.” And then, they play, “So Whatcha Want.” 

“The Beastie Boys” is an unassuming, lighthearted but poignant documentary that most will find hard not to enjoy. The casual format that Horovitz, Diamond, and Jonze opt for could have easily been disappointing, but instead comes across as an ideal conveyance for the story. The Beastie Boys are a group that owe as much of their appeal, if not more, to personality as to music. The informal environment here allows Horovitz’s and Diamonds’ banter, so central to this appeal, to shine. There is a judicious balance of levity and gravity, and the grave moments are never allowed to descend into sanctimonious drivel. Anyone who lived through the ‘90s, and even more so through the ‘80s, will enjoy a powerful surge of nostalgia from the collected footage. Even those who didn’t will likely be motivated to take up musical pursuits, if so inclined, or simply to reconnect with friends, as this is, above all, an inspiring film about friendship.

“The Beastie Boys Story” is available April 24 on Apple TV+.