Michael Diamond (AKA Mike D) and Adam Horovitz (AKA Ad Rock) chat to Arena's Sean Rocks about their epic new memoir Beastie Boys Book (published by Faber & Faber) - listen to the interview above.
Horovitz and Diamond formed Beastie Boys as teenagers in New York City in the early 1980s with their friend Adam Yauch (MCA). Their first album Licensed to Ill was a massive hit, making them internationally famous. The follow-up, 1989’s Paul’s Boutique, was a commercial flop though has since been widely recognised as a hip-hop masterpiece. 1992’s Check Your Head was well received, but they truly bounced back to superstardom with 1994’s Ill Communication, which produced the hit single Sabotage.
1998’s Hello Nasty was also a smash; their eighth and final album, the excellent Hot Sauce Committee, was released in 2012. That year, Adam Yauch sadly died of cancer. Beastie Boys Book is a panoramic experience that tells the story of Beastie Boys in a suitably irreverent fashion, a book as unique as the band itself, with contributions from Horovitz, Diamond and an array of contributors, among them Amy Poehler, Colson Whitehead, Spike Jonze and Wes Anderson.
Beastie Boys Book (Faber & Faber) is out now - listen to more from Arena here.
