WEBVTT - Broken Record - Beastie Boys and Spike Jonze 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.599 It's been almost thirty five years since the Beastie Boys 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:06.520 released the all time classic Licensed to Ill, and while 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:08.920 some of the record's lyrics and antics sounds dated as 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:13.640 a Porky's Movies, the album is still exceptional for Beastie 0:00:13.640 --> 0:00:16.200 Boys fans. Licensed to Ill is a glimpse into the 0:00:16.239 --> 0:00:19.759 lives of m C A ad Rock, Mike d and 0:00:19.800 --> 0:00:23.720 their first DJ producer, Rick Rubin. Their debut album as 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:27.600 a pastiche of inside jokes in musical inspiration pulled from 0:00:27.600 --> 0:00:29.920 the classic rock and hip hop records they listened to 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:33.279 and Rick's college dorm room. Rick recently connected with Mike 0:00:33.360 --> 0:00:36.120 d ad Rock and Spike Jones, who directed the New 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:40.280 Beasties documentary. With Spike playing moderator. They teleport back to 0:00:40.320 --> 0:00:42.960 the early eighties and talk about their lives leading up 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:46.400 to the release of Licensed to Ill. It's all here, 0:00:46.880 --> 0:00:50.879 the inspiration behind Brass Monkey, Rix, Infamous Bubble Machine and 0:00:51.000 --> 0:00:54.280 hy DJ Double R bailed on the Beastie's first big break, 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:57.360 opening up from Madonna on her Like a Virgin tour. 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:04.560 In this is broken record line of notes for the 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:12.560 digital Age. I'm justin Richmond. It's been about twenty years 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:15.480 since Rick and Adam Horvits have talked, and like most 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:18.840 Zoom calls, their reunion gets off to a glitchy start. 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:24.559 Mike d kicks things off. Oh who's Adam, what's up, sir? 0:01:25.280 --> 0:01:29.800 Ricky look different. It's good to see you. You look 0:01:29.880 --> 0:01:35.640 the same. Yeah, No, that's a lot. That is an abomination, Mike. 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:40.479 He looked great. Don't start, Adam, don't start. Don't start. Rick. 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:42.760 First of all, very nice to see. It's been a 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:46.880 long long time. The last time I can remember a 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:50.480 speaking was that one of the Tibetan freedom shows. You 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:52.320 have a good memory. Then I don't remember that, and 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:54.800 that had to be. But I mean, just time wise, 0:01:54.840 --> 0:01:56.800 putting a time stamp on it that was at least 0:01:56.800 --> 0:02:00.640 twenty years ago. It's unbelievable. It's surreal, and it makes 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:03.840 no sense. I mean, from my perspective, it makes no sense. 0:02:04.440 --> 0:02:08.440 I'll say, I haven't I don't know why it worked 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:11.560 out that we've not hung out in that amount of time. 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:16.720 I'm just I've been so busy, you know. I can 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.360 remember there was a little window of time that we 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:23.880 started spending a little bit of time together in Los Angeles, 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:25.840 right when you came to Los Angeles after I was 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:28.880 already there and um and I can remember we had 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:34.200 lunch at Hugos. God, damn, I don't remember anything. Oh yeah, 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:37.400 going back in the Hugo's days. Michael trying to talk 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:40.760 pasta Alla Mama. Yeah, Michael trying to talk right now. 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:45.160 We hung had a handful of times, and I remember 0:02:45.639 --> 0:02:48.920 seeing you and I think some something happened that I 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:53.560 don't know what happened at the party for the Blood 0:02:53.560 --> 0:02:57.320 Sugar Sex Magic album. At the it was that album, 0:02:57.360 --> 0:03:01.640 That's what happened. Oh. Like, uh, I got daggers today 0:03:01.880 --> 0:03:05.560 coming with all the cylinders. You guys, we can we 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:08.160 can see, we can see, we can see. I'm in 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:10.919 I'm in a mood today, dude. I adam for your 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:13.840 along with your daggers. I think you need like you 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:18.040 need a bank of sound effects like you know, Doug Siren. No, no, no, 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.440 I'm just in a mood. Let's get all the dagger out. 0:03:20.600 --> 0:03:22.920 Let's let's do let's what's and what's the show? Rick? 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:26.040 What what happens on your show? What's what is it? 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:29.520 I wouldn't call it a show, it's a It's usually 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:32.200 a conversation. And I talked to different artists and they 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:35.440 tell me stories about what they do. It's not unlike 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:41.160 what happens in a recording session before the music gets made. 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:44.720 That's typically what it's like, just kind of and and 0:03:44.840 --> 0:03:48.040 especially if it's someone that I don't know learning who 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:50.920 they are. Can I start with a question, which I 0:03:50.960 --> 0:03:53.160 know is but I'm just curious, so I want to 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:57.080 ask it. Do you find that you more often find 0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:00.120 out things that you don't know about people that you 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:03.360 do know when they're doing your show, Or do you 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:06.560 find stuff about somebody you do know that's doing your 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:10.280 show more so in an unexpected way than somebody who 0:04:10.320 --> 0:04:12.440 you don't know at all who's doing your show where 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:15.000 you have no background. In both cases, I learned a 0:04:15.040 --> 0:04:18.880 tremendous amount about the people I'm talking to. It's maybe 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:22.360 more unusual with people that I know, because I get 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:24.560 to talk about things that we don't normally talk about, 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:27.800 Like I was thinking about even from the time that 0:04:27.920 --> 0:04:31.640 we knew each other back in the day, stuff we 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:33.800 never talked about, Like I wanted to ask you guys 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.679 about high school, Like I don't know what your experience 0:04:36.720 --> 0:04:38.919 in high school, and I was just curious, Like, wow, 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:41.280 I was around it was about the time you guys 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:44.920 were just either just ending high school or just recently 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.360 ending high school, and like, what was that like? We 0:04:47.480 --> 0:04:50.400 never talked about that. Well, it's funny to think, actually, 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:53.200 as you say that, because we spent so much time 0:04:53.240 --> 0:04:56.880 in your dorm room, I've never once pictured you in 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.359 a class. I had no idea. I've never even thought 0:04:59.360 --> 0:05:02.560 that you actually like attended class. Yeah, I didn't. I 0:05:02.560 --> 0:05:06.560 didn't attend many. Right, Well, it's interested conversely, when we 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:08.680 were in your dorm room us because we were not 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:13.120 going to school, right, So it's like, yeah, but that's 0:05:13.120 --> 0:05:15.880 a good point. We never ever talked about we I 0:05:16.000 --> 0:05:19.800 never ever asked you about n y U ever. We 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:23.320 just for our perspective, we just thought, well, this is cool, 0:05:23.360 --> 0:05:26.479 Like this guy lives in a dorm, he's going to college, 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:30.719 and we're in high school. So this like, this is cool. 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:32.200 Like you were like, we thought you were going to 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:34.599 be the cool like you turned you know, you're like 0:05:34.600 --> 0:05:39.400 the cool, excitely older guy. And then and then also mistakenly, 0:05:39.600 --> 0:05:42.280 I think we thought, wow, we're gonna be hanging out 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:44.080 in this dorm, which just means we're gonna beat like 0:05:44.120 --> 0:05:45.719 tons of girls, and this is gonna be great, and 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.640 we never talked to anybody. It was not. But it 0:05:48.680 --> 0:05:52.200 was not like that mean for you to mind, Adam. 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:55.000 What was your what was your school experience like on 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:59.080 st um? Well, I was. I went. I was supposed 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:01.240 to go to Brooklyn Heck, because I wanted to go 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:02.839 to Stuyveson, but I didn't get in, and so I 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.400 went to Brooklyn Tech. And that was just too weird. 0:06:06.640 --> 0:06:09.400 That's a whole other story, but tell it, tell that story. 0:06:09.400 --> 0:06:11.680 What was weird about it? No, Brooklyn, Like I wanted 0:06:11.720 --> 0:06:14.120 to go to Stuyveson because my best friend Arthur went there, 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:17.200 and um and I didn't get in. So I went 0:06:17.240 --> 0:06:18.640 to the other school you could go to was a 0:06:18.680 --> 0:06:22.520 technical school in Brooklyn, and it was massive and they 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.240 had like metal detectors to get in and it was 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:30.320 this huge technical school and I, like I quickly realized 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:32.520 after like the third day, like this is not for me. 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:35.200 I don't know what it's fright. It was just so overwhelming. 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:37.960 Looking back, I wish I would have actually stayed and 0:06:38.040 --> 0:06:41.560 learned something technical actually what could have helped me? But 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:43.599 um so I just stopped going to school for a while. 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:46.760 And then my dad got me into the school Mcberniey. 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:51.359 That was a private school of town, and I was 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:53.120 there for a couple of years and then I stopped going, 0:06:53.480 --> 0:06:56.520 probably right around the time I met you. And not 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:58.719 that the two things, not that two things are related. 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:01.919 I'm just saying, what was the experience like of the school, 0:07:02.000 --> 0:07:04.480 Like what were the kids like the experience going going 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:07.760 to school? Because I was also I got into graffiti 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:09.440 because we were into graffiti and so like that was 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:11.560 the fun part about getting to school. Is just like 0:07:11.640 --> 0:07:14.480 being on the train and watching this, you know, just 0:07:14.520 --> 0:07:16.120 seeing who was on there and all that stuff in 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:20.120 the school. The first school was was just overwhelming. It 0:07:20.160 --> 0:07:23.520 was I can't even describe. It was just huge with 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:26.000 thousands of kids. It was just a massive school. And 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:29.520 then McBurney was like a preppy school. It was like 0:07:29.560 --> 0:07:32.120 a I don't know, I just seemed felt really out 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:34.600 of place there. I felt kind of dirty, like my 0:07:34.640 --> 0:07:38.080 clothes are dirty. Well can you tell tell us the story, Adam, 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:42.440 Why you never returned to mcbernie Oh? Yeah, So they 0:07:42.480 --> 0:07:47.240 had the school play was gonna be Oliver, and so 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:50.720 I did. They had auditions and I and I sang 0:07:51.320 --> 0:07:55.280 for the audition. Consider yourself at home and I never 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:58.600 really sang out loud before, and I was so bad 0:07:59.040 --> 0:08:03.480 that I just left the school that never went back. Incredible, 0:08:03.680 --> 0:08:06.080 But I will say I think you'd be a good 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:11.840 artful artful dodger artful, be good like even now then 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.880 now in between, I know, but it was singing. I 0:08:15.920 --> 0:08:18.480 can't say, as you know, I can't sing. I mean 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.120 I can, but it's just bad. Yeah, yeah, it's not 0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:24.920 You're you know, you're not rapping Forte, I get it, Adam. 0:08:24.960 --> 0:08:27.960 Did you get into graffiti before before hip hop music 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:33.080 or were they simultaneous later later hip hop later? No? 0:08:33.240 --> 0:08:38.000 Rap music first? Definitely okay, And do you remember what 0:08:38.040 --> 0:08:39.840 were the record stories that you guys hung out in. 0:08:39.920 --> 0:08:41.600 Did you guys hang out record stores all? I knew 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:43.480 you hung out at rat Cage, But was that like 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:46.079 the first record store where you would like spend time 0:08:46.240 --> 0:08:49.480 but like the rat Cage you were at like that 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:52.320 that was the first record store where I, like, I 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:55.880 felt comfortable talking to the person behind the counter. I 0:08:55.920 --> 0:08:57.880 would go to breaker Bob's all the time, like get 0:08:57.960 --> 0:08:59.920 like get off the train coming home from school like 0:09:00.080 --> 0:09:04.560 a bleaker Bob's, and I'd be terrified because Bob was 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:06.880 always there. You yell at you know, yell at you 0:09:07.080 --> 0:09:09.600 yell at me. And he had that huge Doberman pincher. 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:12.800 She was scary and yeah, and they were always mean 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:14.959 to me. Do you mean to everybody? You would always 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:18.120 say random, weird jewish stuff. To me, I was just 0:09:18.240 --> 0:09:20.360 like a little kid. I just wanted to find out 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:23.240 about what cool, what was new? It was cool and 0:09:23.280 --> 0:09:25.400 I didn't know and they were so neat, but then 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:28.360 there was cool. I do remember going to nine nine Records. Yeah, 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:30.600 that's where I hung out. I loved I loved nine nine. 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:36.120 My memory of the of those days were that the 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.320 whole schedule of the day was based around going to 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:41.640 the club. Did you guys feel that way as well 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:44.720 or no? Oh? Yeah, like that was the that was 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:50.319 really the primary thing every day was what club was 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:52.199 going to be that night, if there was going to 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:54.040 be a band if not, what DJs to go to 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:58.840 see and where to hang out. Well that's why the 0:09:58.920 --> 0:10:03.240 Rackage Records Star was great because it was the first 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:06.560 record store that kids hung out at for me, at least, 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:08.640 I mean the other recordsters that I used to go to, 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:12.040 you know, kids wouldn't really hang out and Bleaker Bob's maybe, 0:10:12.040 --> 0:10:14.600 but that I didn't like it there, and so Rackage 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:18.200 was like a meeting place, like a hangout place. And 0:10:18.320 --> 0:10:22.760 later your dorm room was going moving the needle forward along, 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:24.280 like when we would hang out with you and we 0:10:24.320 --> 0:10:26.640 go to your dorm room. I remember like every day 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:28.319 like it was just kind of like go to your 0:10:28.320 --> 0:10:30.400 dorm room and then figure out what we were doing 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:33.160 that night, and what we were doing that night always 0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:37.040 revolved around what club we were going to. I remember 0:10:37.040 --> 0:10:39.760 it always being around music. Even during the day. We 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:44.280 would make mixtapes and sometimes sit out on the front, 0:10:44.800 --> 0:10:47.760 uh the front of the dorm with boom box and 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:50.200 listen to music. And it seemed like that's all that 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.200 it was. That's all it was going on. All that 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:56.760 seemed important was music and what we were going to 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.560 eat and what we were going to listen to. And 0:10:59.720 --> 0:11:07.480 my it was clearly focused on hooking up. I was interested. 0:11:07.559 --> 0:11:14.079 I wasn't very good, uh in that arena, yeah, but 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:17.240 but yeah, but I was interested. Where did the original 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:22.760 Volkswagen emblem come from? That was from my friend Laura Shilson. 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:26.640 It was on her wall. So wait, wait, I understand, 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.960 but it wasn't on her wall on that chain. Yeah, 0:11:30.440 --> 0:11:33.600 I don't remember there. I think she just had it 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:37.000 on the wall. She took it off a car, and 0:11:37.080 --> 0:11:39.680 for some reason I had it and then put it 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:42.920 on a string and then you took it. That's what 0:11:43.000 --> 0:11:45.000 I love about being a teenager, how much stuff just 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:47.160 sort of goes from one kid to the next to 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:50.320 the next. I just I remember. I feel like I 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:53.000 feel like you and Yea came over and it was 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:58.080 like you gave it to me in a glorious presentation. Yeah. 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:02.800 I like my revisionist history. I feel like like something 0:12:02.920 --> 0:12:04.760 like it's almost like I feel like I was knighted, 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:08.120 like you guys gave me bestowed. It was bestowed upon 0:12:08.200 --> 0:12:10.920 you upon me, and then I could become Mike D. 0:12:11.800 --> 0:12:13.920 I'm going to dispute that, because think about it, what 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:18.600 have I ever given you? I feel like I feel 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:21.440 like I remember this happening though, I feel like I 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:28.080 was there for that. Yes, but I do feel like 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:29.839 and I don't know how it ended up being on 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:31.839 the chain, because I don't think it was on that 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:35.280 chain somehow, like that chain was like sitting around and 0:12:35.400 --> 0:12:37.439 I don't remember that exactly, but I remember them. Once 0:12:37.480 --> 0:12:39.760 I started wearing that, it was kind of like then 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:43.600 it was like I felt like everybody felt like, all right, 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:45.640 I could I could beat Mike d Now that was 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:50.600 your Superman cave. Yes, it was wow when you first 0:12:50.640 --> 0:12:53.160 met these guys, what was like? What are Can you 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:55.800 think of a time where there sometimes when you were like, oh, 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:58.840 I get them, I understand who they are, Like I 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:00.760 understand who Yaki is or who Adam is or who 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:03.480 Mike is. Like, what was your sense of that? Well? 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:07.400 I remember meeting Adam first through Dave Skilkin, and I 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:10.800 remember Dave Skilkin was sort of in my mind the glue, 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:14.160 like he was a kid who was just uh, super 0:13:14.160 --> 0:13:17.600 friendly and outgoing, which I don't think any of any 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:20.280 of us were. I thought we met you and I 0:13:20.320 --> 0:13:22.800 met because of Nick Cooper. Could be wrong. I remember 0:13:22.880 --> 0:13:25.120 Nick Cooper, but I didn't remember that's how we met. 0:13:25.960 --> 0:13:30.520 I do remember I remember Nick Cooper telling us about 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:34.199 you and being like, yeah, there's this I I you 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:36.840 gotta meet him because we we put cooking us out. 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:40.000 We really needed a DJ. It's like, you gotta meet him. 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:43.120 He's into like the stuff that you guys are into, 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.000 and he's a d K and he's got all the equipment. 0:13:46.320 --> 0:13:49.680 According to Nick and Wheber I asked your He's like, 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:52.120 he's got a bubble machine. That was his big line. 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:55.360 It's true. I'll see that. I'm it's true. Rick is 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:59.080 confirming the bubble It's true that I had I had 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:04.520 access to aubble machine. Okay, I never know. You were 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:08.120 writing the book, you were like Rick, and no, I 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:10.959 said the bubble machine, and You're like, I don't think so. 0:14:11.120 --> 0:14:12.839 And then you called Rick and Rick was like, yeah, 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:14.840 I don't know about bubble machine. I was like, you 0:14:14.960 --> 0:14:17.719 both are crazy, because there was definitely a bubble was 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:19.920 a bubble machine. Why else would you want to meet 0:14:19.960 --> 0:14:24.760 someone exactly they have a bubble machine. Okay, I'll go 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:27.600 the funny. The funny thing is is that the bubble 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:31.720 machine was something that just was at the dorm. It's like, uh, 0:14:31.800 --> 0:14:33.600 and when I heard that there was a bubble machine there, 0:14:33.600 --> 0:14:35.200 It's like, oh, wow, we gotta have a party. We 0:14:35.200 --> 0:14:38.120 have a bubble machine now, so let's have a party. 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:42.480 And that was where the bubble machine story began. Rick. 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:46.320 But I'm curious that about like just what your relationship 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:49.600 with each of them was, Like I can remember spending 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:52.080 the most time with Adam, and it seemed like our 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:54.920 friendship had mostly to do with music, because that's what 0:14:54.960 --> 0:14:57.200 we We just listen to music all the time, as 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:02.080 I recalled, and d Jay in music. And then I 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:06.320 think I met the other guys through the story of 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:09.720 Cookie Puss, after Cookie Puss was already out, and then 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:13.080 wanting a DJ, and then I came to a couple 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:16.800 of shows in DJ after the after the live set. 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:21.280 As I recall hard to remember first impressions. I remember 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:25.200 seeing Mike before I met Mike at the Grille one night, 0:15:25.760 --> 0:15:28.760 and I remember someone saying, Oh, that that's one of 0:15:28.800 --> 0:15:31.040 the guys in the Beastie Boys, And I remember thinking 0:15:31.920 --> 0:15:34.680 it was just like, uh, it was just a weird 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:37.720 I had a weird impression, not good or bad, just 0:15:37.800 --> 0:15:40.880 like he's a kid, feels like maybe my age, maybe 0:15:40.920 --> 0:15:44.840 a little younger, and he's in a band, and and 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:46.960 I remember he was I think, I think you may 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:52.160 have been pretty inebriated that night, Mike, and I just 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:55.480 remember thinking, Wow, this guy seems like a little like uh, 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:58.480 it seems like revd Up, you know, like revd Up. 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:01.520 He's like tough, tough guy, Mike, You mean like he's 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:04.360 just like bad boy. No, no, no, just like like 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:10.200 enjoying himself. Like he was hitting it hard. Yeah, he 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:12.360 goes hard in the paint. He went hard in the pain. 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:14.800 He was going hard in the paint and it was impressive. 0:16:14.960 --> 0:16:17.960 Come on. I don't remember him being inebriated that night, 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:19.880 which doesn't mean that I wasn't. But what I do. 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.480 What I do I do remember is two things. One 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:27.160 is that was a really really important for like us, 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:29.520 for you, Rick is like a part of us, like 0:16:29.520 --> 0:16:31.360 because that was like where we really saw like hip 0:16:31.400 --> 0:16:33.120 hop came, like I talked about it in the book, 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.520 where hip hop came downtown and all of a sudden 0:16:36.840 --> 0:16:38.840 there's the Treacherous Three And then I think it was 0:16:38.880 --> 0:16:41.640 like the next week was Africa, Benbada and Chassy j 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:45.800 If it wasn't that night whatever, and it was like this, 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:48.760 it was the most exciting thing. But so my thing 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:51.280 in terms of compensated, I think there's like, of course 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:53.760 I was completely It's funny cause I like I think 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:57.000 about I think back on those n grill nights and 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.560 I think, wow, I was like so intimidated, was so 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:03.360 scared to be there. But I was lucky every second 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:06.080 of it. I was. There was no like club night. 0:17:06.400 --> 0:17:10.440 Maybe that was more influential or exciting to me, but 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:15.080 but I was compensating for being intimidated. Probably like because 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:18.040 I was with like my group of like friends, I 0:17:18.119 --> 0:17:21.040 was probably acting like, oh, yeah, I got this, but 0:17:21.080 --> 0:17:24.679 I definitely didn't have it at all. Rick, Well, what 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:26.840 did you know about about the Beastie Boys at that 0:17:26.880 --> 0:17:29.120 point or what did you what was your impression of him? 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:31.000 Had you ever heard of him? I don't think I 0:17:31.080 --> 0:17:33.359 knew anything. I think the first thing that I heard 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:35.879 of the Beastie Boys was Cookie Posts, which I loved, 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:38.720 and I remember I was in San Francisco and I 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:44.680 heard it at she was a writer and a yeah. 0:17:45.640 --> 0:17:48.040 I think it might have been in Powers and I 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:51.679 think I was stay staying at her like lofty place, 0:17:52.600 --> 0:17:54.520 and I think I heard it there. I don't know 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:55.919 if she played it or if I heard it on 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:57.960 the radio in San Francisco when I was there, but 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:01.159 I remember the connection of being at her house and 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:04.480 hearing it and um, and I thought, wow, that's really 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:06.919 cool because I was really really into hip hop at 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:11.960 the time, and I felt like it was the first 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:16.800 punk rock expansion towards hip hop. That's what it felt like. 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:18.840 It was as much a punk I would say it 0:18:18.880 --> 0:18:20.440 was as much a punk rock record as it was 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:23.560 anything else. Compared to hip hop records, it was punk rock, 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:26.520 but compared to other punk rock records, it was more 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:28.880 hip hop. And I remember thinking, wow, it's really cool 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:32.240 and and it and it had a and I remember 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:35.359 laughing at it and laughing at it with it, you know, 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:39.200 like laughing with it, thinking this is really funny, it's 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:43.480 really good. And I remember I remember, I remember Yak 0:18:43.680 --> 0:18:47.840 and his motorcycle jacket and his long raincoat, and at 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:50.760 one point I felt like him and Nick Cooper kind 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:57.880 of had a similar raincoat vibe, you know that raincoat vibe. Yeah. 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:00.119 I don't remember how I met Nick Cooper, but I 0:19:00.160 --> 0:19:03.639 remember that to me, it felt like an anomaly. But 0:19:03.720 --> 0:19:07.959 in both cases, the raincoat vibe was not something you 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:13.080 saw kids in New York wearing like it was. It 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:19.840 was a fashion statement to where uh long, somewhat dressy raincoat. Yeah. Yeah, 0:19:19.920 --> 0:19:23.240 the raincoat vibe played played strong when I first met 0:19:23.359 --> 0:19:26.560 Yak at that This Bad Brains show at Botany Talkhouse, 0:19:27.119 --> 0:19:30.160 and he was the only other kid my Agia was there. 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:32.760 I was like, Wow, this is the kids wearing like 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:35.320 a trench coat and his combat boots and his like 0:19:35.800 --> 0:19:40.080 hairs spiked up, like this kid's really cool. Yeuck actually 0:19:40.160 --> 0:19:42.760 kept that raincoat thing for that trench coat for a 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:47.119 long time. Yeah, that trench coat vibe worked, I was 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:50.520 gonna say. I also remember Yak's obsession with the Bad Brains, 0:19:50.560 --> 0:19:54.760 like it felt like nothing else in the world existed 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:58.879 other than the Bad Brains and kept that going for 0:19:58.960 --> 0:20:04.000 a long time too. Yeah, And I uh remember as 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:07.280 a as a music fan seeing that sort of obsessive 0:20:07.320 --> 0:20:10.640 dedication and just thinking, wow, he's really again going hard, 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:13.720 like he's going hard for this thing that he loves. 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:16.120 Did you do you feel like you've got the answers 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:20.960 that you wanted? Yeah? Well, actually I'm always curious what 0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:24.640 what uh I mean? When you're like eighteen, it's kind 0:20:24.640 --> 0:20:28.360 of hard, Like how would you describe somebody you meet? 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:30.440 Is kind of hard because it's more about like what 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:33.480 what common interests like having the same music interests, But 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:37.280 did you have a sense during like just not knowing 0:20:37.320 --> 0:20:42.159 these guys then how you would describe each of them? 0:20:42.200 --> 0:20:44.440 I never really thought about it. I did feel like 0:20:44.680 --> 0:20:49.800 I definitely felt that I felt like, UM, the place 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:52.159 that I grew up in and and the people I 0:20:52.200 --> 0:20:54.960 was around and where I grew up I had a 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:59.960 big impact on what I what I saw, what I knew. 0:20:59.840 --> 0:21:03.000 I felt like their life experience was very different than mine, 0:21:03.480 --> 0:21:07.679 and it was just interesting and in some ways, Um, 0:21:07.720 --> 0:21:10.399 I thought it was a good thing, and in some 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:12.640 ways I thought it was a bad thing from from 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:15.520 my perspective, And what way and what way was it good? 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:18.000 What way was it bad? You're talking about like a 0:21:18.000 --> 0:21:20.840 long night link kid versus a city kid kind of right, Yeah, 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:25.680 I would say like they had better access than I had, 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:29.240 because this is pre Internet. Like now, everyone could find 0:21:29.240 --> 0:21:32.119 out anything they want about anything. Where I was, it 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:34.800 was hard to find out anything about anything I would. 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:36.880 I'd spend a lot of time in the library doing research, 0:21:37.119 --> 0:21:41.480 and even and even that research wasn't sort of cultural 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:44.000 of the moment research, It was just what I could 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:46.320 learn about the things I was interested in. And then 0:21:46.359 --> 0:21:48.520 spending a lot of time in record stores is my 0:21:48.760 --> 0:21:53.360 closest way of having any connection to culture because where 0:21:53.359 --> 0:21:56.880 I lived, there wasn't it didn't really exist. Although there 0:21:56.960 --> 0:22:00.720