Latest / Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond / Beastie Boys and Spike Jonze

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Beastie Boys and Spike Jonze · Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Pushkin. It's been almost thirty five years since the Beastie
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Boys released the all time classic Licensed to Ill, and
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: while some of the record's lyrics and antics sound is
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: dated as the Porky's Movies, the album is still exceptional
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: for Beastie Boys fans. Licensed to Ill is a glimpse
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: into the lives of mca ad Rock, Mike d and
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: their first djane producer, Rick Rubin. Their debut album as
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: a pastiche of inside jokes in musical inspiration pulled from
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: the classic rock and hip hop records they listened to
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: and Rick's college dorm room. Rick recently connected with Mike
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: d ad Rock and Spike Jones, who directed the New
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Beasties documentary, with Spike playing moderator. They teleport back to
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: the early eighties and talk about their lives leading up
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: to the release of License to Ill. It's all here,
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: the inspiration him brass Monkey, Rick's infamous bubble Machine, and
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: why DJ Double R bailed on the Beastie's first big
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: break opening up from Madonna on her Like a Virgin
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: tour in nineteen eighty five. This is broken record liner
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: notes for the digital age. I'm justin Richmond, It's been
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: about twenty years since Rick and Adam Horvitz have talked,
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: and like most Zoom calls, their reunion gets off to
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: a glitchy start. Mike d kicks things off. Oh who's Adam? Hi,
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: what's up, sir? Rick? You look different. It's good to
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: see you. You look the same. Yeah, No, that's a lot.
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: That is an abomination. Mike, you look great. Don't start, Adam,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: don't start. Don't start. Rick. First of all, very nice
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: to see. It's been a long long time. The last
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: time I can remember a speaking was at one of
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: the Tibetan freedom shows. You have a good memory. Then
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: I don't remember that, and that had to be. But
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: I mean, just time wise, putting a time stamp on
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: it that was at least twenty years ago. It's unbelievable.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: It's surreal and it makes no sense. I mean, from
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: my perspective, it makes no sense. I'll say, I haven't.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: I don't know why it worked out that we've not
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: hung out in that amount of time. I'm just I've
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: been so busy, you know. I can remember there was
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: a little window of time that we started spending a
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: little bit of time together in Los Angeles right when
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: you came to Los Angeles after I was already there,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: and I can remember we had lunch at Hugos. God, damn,
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: I don't remember anything. Oh yeah, I'm back in the
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: Hugo's days. Michael, tryan to talk pasta ala mama, Yo, Michael,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: tryan to talk right now. We hung out a handful
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: of times, and I remember seeing you and I think
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: something something happened that. I don't know what happened at
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the party for the Blood Sugar Sex Magic album at
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: them it was that album, That's what happened. Oh my god,
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: I got daggers today coming with all cylinders. You guys,
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: we can see, we can see, we can see. Wow,
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: I'm in I'm in a mood today, dude. I think
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: Adam for your along with your daggers, I think you
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: need like you need a bank of sound effects, like
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: you know, doub siren. No, no, no, I'm just in
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: a mood. Let's get all the dagger out. Let's let's
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: do let's what's what's the show? Rick? What happens on
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: your show? What's what is it? I wouldn't call it
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: a show, It's a It's usually a conversation. And I
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: talked to different artists and they tell me stories about
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: what they do. It's not unlike what happens in a
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: recording session before the music gets made. That's typically what
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: it's like. Just kind of and and especially if it's
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: someone that I don't know learning who they are. Can
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: I start with a question, which I know is but
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: I'm just curious, so I want to ask it. Do
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: you find that you more often find out things that
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: you don't know about people that you do know when
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: they're doing your show, Or do you find stuff about
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: somebody you do know that's doing your show more in
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: an unexpected way than somebody who you don't know at
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: all who's doing your show where you have no background.
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: In both cases, I learned a tremendous amount about the
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: people I'm talking to. It's maybe more unusual with people
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: that I know, because I get to talk about things
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: that we don't normally talk about, Like I was thinking
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: about even from the time that we knew each other
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: back in the day, stuff we never talked about, Like
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you guys about high school, Like
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: I don't know what your experience at high school. I
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: was just curious, Like, Wow, I was around. It was
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: about the time you guys were just either just ending
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: high school or just recently ending high school, and like,
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: what was that like? We talked about that. Well, it's
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: funny to think, actually, as you say that, because we
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: spent so much time in your dorm room, I've never
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: once pictured you in a class. I had no idea.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: I never even thought that you actually like attended class. Yeah,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't attend many, right well and angels. Conversely,
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: when we were in your dorm room, Rick, it's because
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: we were not going to school, right, So it's like, yeah,
• 5:24
  Speaker 1: but that's a good point. We never ever talked about
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: we I never ever asked you about NYU ever. We
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: just for our perspective, we just thought, well, this is cool,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Like this guy lives in a dorm, he's going to college,
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: and we're in high school. Yeah, so this like this
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: is cool. Like you were like we thought you were
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: going to be the cool like you turned you know,
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: you were like the cool exclightly older guy. And then
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: and then also mistakenly, I think we thought, wow, we're
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: going to be hanging out in this dorm, which just
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: means we're gonna beat like tons of girls and this
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: is gonna be great, and we never talked to anybody.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: It was not but it was not like that. I
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: mean for you to Mike Adam, what was your what
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: was your school experience like on sixty third Street? Um? Well,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: I was. I went. I was supposed to go to
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: Brooklyn Tech because I wanted to go to Stuyvesant, but
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: I didn't get in, and so I went to Brooklyn Tech.
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: And that was just too weird. That's a whole other story,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: but tell it, tell that story. What was weird about it? No, Brooklyn,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: Like I wanted to go to Stuyvesant because my best
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: friend Arthur went there, and and I didn't get in.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: So I went to the other school you could go to.
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: It was a technical school in Brooklyn, and it was
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: massive and they had like metal detectors to get in
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: and it was this huge technical school, and I, like
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: I quickly realized after like the third day, like this
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: is not for me. I don't know what the it's fright.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: It was just so overwhelming. Looking back, I wish I
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: would have actually stayed and learned something technical actually could
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: have helped me. But um so I just stopped going
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: to school for a while, and then my dad got
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: me into the school McBurney that it was a private
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: school uptown, and I was there for a couple of
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: years and then I stopped going, probably right around the
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: time I met you. And not that the two things,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: not that two things are related. I'm just saying, what
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: was the experience like of the school, Like what were
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: the kids like the experience going to school? Because I
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: was also I got into graffiti because we were into
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: graffiti and so like that was the fun part about
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: getting to school. It is just like being on the
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: train and watching this, you know, just seeing who was
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: on there and all that stuff in the school. The
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: first school was just overwhelming. It was I can't even describe.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: It was just huge with thousands of kids. It was
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: just a massive school. And then McBurney was like a
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: preppy school. It was like a I don't know, I
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: just seemed felt really out of place there. I felt
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: kind of dirty, like my clothes are dirty. Well can
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: you tell tell us the story, Adam, Why you never
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: returned to McBurney. Oh? Yeah, So they had the school
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: play was going to be Oliver, and so I did.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: They had auditions and I and I sang for the
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: audition consider yourself at home, And I'd never really sang
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: out loud before, and I was so bad that I
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: just left the school that never went back. Incredible, But
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: I will say I think you'd be a good artful
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: artful dodger, artful dodgery. Yeah, good even now then now
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: in between, I know, but it was singing. I can't sing,
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: as you know, I can't sing, but I can, but
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: it's just bad. Yeah, yeah, it's not. You're you know
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: you're not rapping fourte, I get it. Adam. Did you
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: get into graffiti before before hip hop music or were
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: they simultaneous later later hip hop later? No, rap music first? Definitely?
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Oh okay, And do you remember what were the record
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: stories that you guys hung out in? Did you guys
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: hang on record stores? All? I knew you hung out
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: at rat Cage, But was that like the first record
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: store where you would like spend time, like the rat
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Cage you were at, like that that was the first
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: record store where I, like, I felt comfortable talking to
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: the person behind the counter. I would go to Bleaker
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Bob's all the time, like get like get off the
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: train coming home from school and I go to Bleaker
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: Bob's and I'd be terrified because Bob was always there.
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: He yell at you know, yell at you, yell at me,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: and he had that huge Doberman pincher. She was scary
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: and yeah, and they were always mean to me. Do
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: you mean to everybody? You would always say random, weird
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: jewish stuff. To me. I was just like a little kid.
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to find out about what cool, what
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: was new, what was cool? And I didn't know and
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: they were so mean. But then then at school, I
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: do remember going to nine nine Records. Yeah, that was
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: where I hung out. I loved I loved ninety nine.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: My memory of the of those days were that the
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: whole schedule of the day was based around going to
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the club. Did you guys feel that way as well?
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Or no? Oh? Yeah, like that was the that was
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: really the primary thing every day was what club was
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: going to be that night, if there was going to
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: be a band if not, what DJ's to go to
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: see and where to hang out. Well that's why the
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: Rackage record store was was great because it was the
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: first record store that kids hung out at for me,
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: at least, you know what I mean. The other record
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: stores that I used to go to, you know, kids
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: wouldn't really hang out and Bleaker Bob's maybe, but that
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: I didn't like it there, and so Rackage was like
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: a meeting place, like a hangout place. And later your
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: dorm room was going moving the needle forward a little
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: like when we would hang out with you, when we
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: go to your dorm room. I remember like every day
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: like it was just kind of like go to your
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: dorm room and then figure out what we were doing
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: that night, and what we were doing that night always
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: revolved around what club we were going to. I remember
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: it always being around music. Even during the day. We
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: would make mixtapes and sometimes sit out on the front
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: the front of the dorm with boom Bach and listen
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: to music, and it seemed like that's all that it was.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: That's all it was going on. All that seemed important
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: was music and what we were going to eat and
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: what we were going to listen to. And Mike was
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: clearly focused on hooking up. Literally, we know I was interested.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: I wasn't very good in that arena, yeah, but yeah,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: but I was interested. Where did the original Volkswagen emblem
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: come from? That was from my friend Laura Shilson it
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: was on her wall. So wait, wait, I don't understand.
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: But it wasn't on her wall on that chain, I
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: don't remember. I think she just had it on the wall.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: She took it off a car, and for some reason
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: I had it and then put it on a string,
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: and then you took it. That's what I love about
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: being a teenager, how much stuff just sort of goes
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: from one kid to the next to the next. So
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: I just I remember. I feel like I feel like
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: you and Yell came over and it was like you
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: gave it to me in a glorious presentation. Yeah, I
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: like in my revisionist history. I feel like like some
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: like it's almost like I feel like I was knighted,
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: like you guys gave me bestowed. It was bestowed upon you.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: It was bestowed upon me, and then I could become
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Mike d I'm gonna dispute that, because think about it,
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: what have I ever given you? I feel like I remember.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: I feel like I remember this happening though I feel
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: like I was there for that yes to bestowing. But
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: I do feel like and I don't know how it
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: ended up being on the chain. I don't because I
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: don't think it was on that chain somehow, like that
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: chain was like sitting around and I don't remember that exactly,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: but I remember them. Once I started wearing that, it
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: was kind of like then it was like I felt
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: like everybody felt like, all right, I could I could
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: beat Mike Tea. Now that was your Superman came. Yes,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: it was wow, Rick, When you first met these guys,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: what was like? What are can you think of a
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: time where there sometimes when you were like, oh, I
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: get them, I understand who they are, Like I understand
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: who Yoki is or who Adam is, or who Mike is, Like,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: what was your sense of that? Well? I remember meeting
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: Adam first through Dave Skilkin, and I remember Dave Skilkin
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: was sort of the in my mind, the glue, Like
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: he was a kid who was just super friendly and outgoing,
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: which I don't think any of any of us were.
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: I thought we met you and I met because of
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Nick Cooper. Could be wrong. I remember Nick Cooper, but
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: I didn't remember that's how we met. I do, Rick,
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: remember I remember Nick Cooper telling us about you and
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: being like, yeah, there's this You got to meet him
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: because we'd put cooking us out when I really needed
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: a DJ. It's like, you gotta meet him. He's into
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: like the stuff that you guys are into, and he's
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: a d K and he's got all the equipment at
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: According to Nick, remember I asked her out. He's like,
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: he's got a bubble machine. That was his big line.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: That's true. I'll see that it's true. Rick is confirming
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: the bubble machine. Well, it's true that I had I
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: know I had access to a bubble machine access. Yes,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: I never know. We were writing the book, you were like, Rick,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: didn't no, I said the bubble machine, and You're like,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: I don't think so. And then you called Rick and
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: Rick was like, yeah, I don't know about a bubble machine.
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: I was like, you both are crazy because there was
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: definitely a bubble There was a bubble machine. Why else
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: would you want to meet someone exactly, Oh, they have
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: a bubble machine. Okay, I'll go the funny. The funny
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: thing is is that the bubble machine was something that
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: just was at the dorm. It's like, uh, and when
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: I heard that there was a bubble machine there, it's like,
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: oh wow, we gotta have a party. We have a
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: bubble machine now. So let's have a party, and that
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: was where the Bubble Machine story began. Rick, I'm curious about,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: like just what your relationship with with each of the
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: and was, like I can remember spending the most time
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: with Adam, and it seemed like our friendship had mostly
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: to do with music because that's what we just listened
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: to music all the time, as I recall, and DJing
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: in music, and then I think I met the other
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: guys through the story of Cookie Puss after Cookie Puss
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: was already out and then wanting a DJ, and then
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: I came to a couple of shows in DJ the
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: after the live set, as I recall, hard to remember
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: first impressions. I remember seeing Mike before I met Mike
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: at Nagrill one night, and I remember someone saying, oh,
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: that that's one of the guys in the Beastie Boys,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: and I remember thinking it was just like it was
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: just a weird I had a weird impression, not good
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: or bad, just like he's a kid, feels like maybe
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: my age, maybe a little younger, and he's in a band,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: and I remember he was I think, I think you
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: may have been pretty inebriated that night, Mike, and I
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: just remember thinking, Wow, this guy seems like a little
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: like uh, seems like revd Up, you know, like revd Up,
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: like tough, tough guy, Mike. You mean like he's just
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: like bad boy. No, no, no, just like like enjoying himself.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Like he was hitting it hard. Yeah, he goes hard
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: in the paint. He went hard in the pain. He
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: was going hard in the paint and it was impressive.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Come on. I don't remember being inebriated that night, which
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: doesn't mean that I wasn't. But what I do. What
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: I do I do remember is two things. One is
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: that was a really really important night for like us,
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: for you, Rick is like a part of us, like
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: because that was like where we really saw like hip
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: hop came, like I talked about it in the book,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: where hip hop came downtown and all of a sudden,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: there's a treacherous three and then I think it was
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: like next week was Afriga Bembada and Chazy Jay if
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: it wasn't that night whatever, and it was like this,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: it was the most anything. But so my thing in
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: terms of compensating, I think there's like, of course I
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: was completely It's funny because I look I think about
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: I think back on those NC Grill nights, and I think, wow,
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: I was like so intimidated. I was so scared to
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: be there, but I was loving every second of it.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: I was. There was no like club night. Maybe that
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: was more influential or exciting to me, but but I
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: was compensating from being intimidated. Probably but like because I
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: was with like my group of like friends, I was
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: probably acting like, oh yeah, I got this, but I
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: definitely didn't have it at all. We'll be right back
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: with the Beastie Boys and Spike Jones. After a quick break,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: we're back with more from the Beasties and Spike Jones. Rick, Well,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: what did you know about about the Beastie Boys at
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: that point or what did you what was your impression
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: to him? Had you ever heard of him? I don't
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: think I knew anything. I think the first thing that
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: I heard of the Beastie Boys was Cookie Posts, which
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: I loved, and Imber. I was in San Francisco and
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: I heard it at a she was a writer and A. Yeah.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: I think it might have been in Powers and I
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: think I was stay staying at her like lofty place,
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: and I think I heard it there. I don't know
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: if she played it, or if I heard it on
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: the radio in San Francisco when I was there, but
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: I remember the connection of being at her house and
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: hearing it, and I thought, wow, that's really cool because
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: I was really really into hip hop at the time
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: and felt like it was the first punk rock expansion
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: towards hip hop. That's what it felt like. It was
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: as much a punk I would say it was as
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: much a punk rock record as it was anything else.
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: Compared to hip hop records, it was punk rock, but
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: compared to other punk rock records, it was more hip hop.
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: And I remember thinking, wow, it's really cool and it
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: and it had a and I remember laughing at it
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: and laughing at it with it, you know, like laughing
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: with it, thinking this is really funny, it's really good.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: And I remember I remember I remember Yauk and his
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: motorcycle jacket and his long raincoat, and at one point
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: I felt like him and Nick Cooper kind of had
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: a similar raincoat vibe, you know, that raincoat vibe. Yeah.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: I don't remember how I met Nick Cooper, but I
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: remember that to me, it felt like an anomaly. But
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: in both cases, the raincoat vibe was not something you
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: saw kids in New York wearing like it was it
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: was a fashion statement to wear long, somewhat dressy raincoat. Yeah. Yeah,
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: the raincoat vibe played played strong. When I first met
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Yak at this Bad Rains show at Botany Talkhouse and
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: he was the only other kid my agea was there.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: I was like, Wow, this is the kids wearing like
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: a trench coat and his combat boots and his like
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: hair spike up, like this kid's really cool. Yuck. Actually
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: kept that raincoat thing for that trench coat for a
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: long time. Yeah, that trench coat vibe work. Yeah, I
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: was gonna say. Also, remember Yeuk's obsession with the Bad Brains,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: like it felt like nothing else in the world existed
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: other than the Bad Brains and kept that going for
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: a long time too. Yeah. And I remember as a
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: as a music fan seeing that sort of obsessive dedication
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: and just thinking, wow, he's really again going hard, like
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: he's going hard for this thing that he loves. Did
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: you do you feel like you got the answers that
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: you wanted? Yeah? Well, actually yeah, I'm always curious what
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: I mean, when you're like eighteen, it's kind of hard, Like,
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: how would you describe somebody you meet is kind of
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: hard because it's more about like what common interests, like
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: being having the same music interests. But did you have
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: a sense during like just not knowing these guys then
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: how you would describe each of them. I never really
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: thought about it. I did feel likely felt that I
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: felt like the place that I grew up in and
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: the people I was around and where I grew up
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: had a big impact on what I what I saw,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: what I knew, and I felt like their life experience
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: was very different than mine, and it was just interesting.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: And in some ways, um, I thought it was a
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: good thing, and in some ways I thought it was
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: a bad thing from from my perspective. Yea, And what way?
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: What way was it good? What way was it bad?
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: You're talking about like a long n link kid versus
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: a city kid kind of right, Yeah, I would say
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: like they had better access than I had, because this
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: is pre internet, Like now, everyone could find out anything
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: they want about anything. Where I was, it was hard
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: to find out anything about anything. I'd spend a lot
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: of time in the library doing research, and even that
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: research wasn't sort of cultural of the moment research. It
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: was just what I could learn about things I was
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: interested in and then spending a lot of time in
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: record stores is my closest way of having any connection
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: to culture, because where I lived there wasn't it didn't
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: really exist. Although there was a club called there were
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: a couple of nightclubs, and I did get to see
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: like the Specials played in my hometown, which was remarkable.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: On the downside, I felt like maybe by living in
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: the city, it might narrow the view of what was cool,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: Like I didn't know what was cool coming from where
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: I came from, and the beauty of that was I
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: could see and hear everything. There was very little peer
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: pressure about about that where I lived, whereas I could
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: see if you were in the city, there was stuff
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: that was cool to like and not cool to like,
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: and that could have a limiting effect. I mean, I guess, yeah,
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: I heard led Zeppelin playing from like other kids at school,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: but because and kind of like to your point, I
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: had already like decided, like I was so set on
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: making my identity about being into stuff that those kids
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: weren't into, I couldn't hear led Zeppelin. But then when
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: we were in your dorm room and all of a sudden,
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: you know, you put on. When the levee breaks, We're like,
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: what's this? It's like the best thing ever or like
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: ac DC or you know, what do you tell me? Mike?
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: First tell me your memories of the dorm room. First off,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: it's the first college dorm I'd ever have been in
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: period because you're in high school. I remember like just
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: being intimidated, like going up to the desk and I
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: guess it must have been like maybe mister Rick Rick
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: Midilla at the desk and like having to get the
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: pass or whatever to go up in the elevation or
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: being you get the visitor pass because we're visiting you,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: and then I and then I remember being kind of
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: confused because you had a roommate. But then you I
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: think you had a roommate, right, I actually need you
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: to kind of like explain this to us, but I
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: think you had a roommate when we first went there.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: But you had this huge pa in the in the
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: dorm room with like to sir Win Vega. You know,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: there's like there's like the biggest PA I've ever seen,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: like like somebody that I knew have. And then with
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: the turntables and like the drum machine and everything and
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: so so we loved it and we're impressed. So you
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: don't all this equipment. But I was very confused. I
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: was like, wait, how does Rick just like we were
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: listening to music really loud in your dorm room, which
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: and I loved it, But how were you? How is
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: this guy able to do this and like not get
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: kicked out of the dorm room and where's this roommate? Like,
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: I was just a lot of questions. Yeah, yes, all
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: all of that. Adam, what were you? What were your
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: memories of the dorm room? You know, first of all,
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: I was looking for a place to be basically, you know,
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: sort of in life and literally like not going to
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: school and needing somewhere to be. But also being around
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: you know, older kids is cool when you're younger, you know, intimidating,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: but you know kind of cool. You're like, oh, you
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: kind of think that you're one of the you know,
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: older kids now, And it was just it was just cool,
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: you know, especially going to your dorm room. You had
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: just the records, the stuff, like, you know, two turntables,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: a drum machine. I was like, I loved it. I
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: didn't have you know, I didn't have that stuff. I
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: didn't have all those records, so it was great. I
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: loved it. I mean yeah, like Ricky talk about access,
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: and yes we did. We did have like throw it
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: up in New York City, like when we talked about
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: it in the book and the show whatever. deVie was
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: a huge thing to us that we would just hear
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: music all around us, or that we go to rack
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: cage because we didn't want to find out what's happening
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: that night and somebody say, oh, this thing's happening, and
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: we would just go there because we had this access
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: as teenagers. But but in your dorm room, it was
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: just really exciting because they go. Adam said, we would,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: I remember, like I was my I was again like
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: kind of confused, but so impressed when you you would
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: come you would I think I felt like you would
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: come deaf they delivered it to you. Or if you'd
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: come back every week with like a create record from
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: the record pool, yeah, and you remember that and we'd
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: all go we'd go through them and put like basically
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: everyone on to see what was good, what we like,
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: what we didn't like, whatever. We listened to every twelve
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: inch from that week, and that was such like an
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: exciting thing like I didn't. I didn't have the like
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: I had the money to get a single, like a
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: rap single every once in a while, but I certainly
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: would never think and never had the money to buy
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: two copies of the same record. That just seems nuts.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: And so to go to your place and you had
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: two copies of all these singles I loved, and we
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: had two turns. It was just amazing. You know, it
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: was nice to see you too. Obviously I'm in should
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: I feel used? I never did get that Bubba machine
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: access right, But then also I think an Adam and
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: I've talked about this, like there was it was interesting.
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: We felt like we were trying to just think back
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: at like you know, when we first like we met
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: you then started working with you. It's like you had
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: especially like once you started started when you started producing
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: U with us and like producing our records, it was
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: like you had this confidence Rick that was like you know,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: it's all like every either any of us were like, Rick,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: what what record have you done? You know what I mean?
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: Like and we're all whatever, We're all of it's seventeen
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: eighteen years old. But it's like you had this confidence,
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: like you knew how you wanted things to sound and
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: looking back at it, like, I'm just so impressed honestly
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: with that, Like, who it's got to be pretty rare.
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: That's somebody like eighteen nineteen, twenty twenty one years old
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: knows how they want, like what kind of what types
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: of records they want to make? Yeah, it's it's weird.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: I I definitely knew. I had a clear vision of
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: what I wanted to hear. Really as a fan, it wasn't.
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: It was more, Um, I just loved it, and I
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: knew how certain things made me feel, and I wanted
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: more of the ones that made me feel good and
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: less of the ones that didn't make me feel as good.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: And it was very pure. It was the same way,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: the same way that you connected to it. I just
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: and I think maybe part of it might have been
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: that I didn't have brothers or sisters. You guys both
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: had siblings, and I think that changes it. It's like
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: I spent most of my time until I started hanging
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: out with you guys by myself, so it wasn't the
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: only opinion that I was around was my own. You know,
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: I didn't have an old older brother playing me music.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: I didn't I didn't have it all sort of had.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: I had to find it and see what resonated with me,
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: And it had very little to do with the people
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: around me, because like in my high school, nobody liked
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: punk rock. I was the only person who like punk rock.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: So I had no sense of community at all. When
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: I started listening to hip hop. At least there were
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: a couple of kids in my high school who liked
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: hip hop. Well, I'm going to change the subject for
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: a sec because there is something that I wanted to
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: know Rick. Yes, So, Spike, I don't know if you
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: know this, but so we got the gig to open
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: for Madonna on tour and Rick was the BC Boys
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: DJ DJ double R. And we played a couple of
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: shows and then he was gone. And he said that
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: his doctor said he had an inner ear situation that
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: he couldn't fly. And so I felt that that answer
• 30:01
  Speaker 1: couldn't fly. And so now I'm asking you, Rick, did
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: you just not want to do it or did you
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: really have an ear problem? One hundred percent true. Both
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: answers are flying with me. No, no no, no, of course,
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: one hundred percent true. I went to the clinic on
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: fourteenth there was a ear Nose and Throat Clinic on fourteen.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: I had never been there before, and I went there
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: and they said, you have a terrible infection in your ear.
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: You got to take these drugs and you cannot fly.
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: If you fly, you'll probably lose your hearing in that ear.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: So that was and and I it's funny because I
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: don't remember us talking about it, But also maybe part
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: of the reason we didn't talk about it was because
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: it was the tour was already ongoing, wasn't it. It
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: was like we were yeah. So I feel like we did, Like, no,
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: you don't. You flew out, Like you started the tour
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: with us in like Seattle and Portland or something. Yeah,
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: and then for some reason you would fly back to
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: New York. But we were still on tour and you
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: were you were supposed to meet us again, like in
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles or something, and then instead of meeting us,
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: you're like, you know, you had the ear infection. Yeah,
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: now we're finding out was legit. But at the time
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: we were like, ear infection, Well, I'll tell you everything.
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: Feel free to ask me. Everything was always legit. It's like,
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: I don't I would have loved to I loved being
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: in the band. I loved doing the shows. It was
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: it was completely thrilling. I loved it. I feel in
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: some ways it's like the universe has this incredible power
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: to affect my ear and make me stay in one place.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: And then it led to me focusing all my attention
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: into production instead of being in a band, which could
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: have been Like it could have been, that could have happened,
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: and it just sort of worked out the way Maybe
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: it was supposed to. I don't know. It feels like
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: in retrospect, looking back, I would have never made that choice.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: While I'll say I didn't like traveling, I loved the
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: experience of playing in the band. It was super fun.
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: I thought the shows were great, Like I can remember
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: I can remember us playing at Radio City and just
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: how much the audience didn't like it, and I just
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: thought it was incredibly punk rock and fun. I can
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: remember Madison Square Garden and thinking it was it was
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: just like, we're playing at Madison Square Garden. Can you
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: believe this? We didn't even really, we didn't have an
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: album out. It was unbelievable, Right, What were the shows like? Rick?
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: It was? It was funny because we got to do
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: the crazy Beastie Boys show and lean into the craziness
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: of of this sort of heel persona, the bad guy persona,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: and in front of an audience where it was completely inappropriate,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: which made it even funnier. It's like, it's it's like
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: if you're if you're if you're doing a punk rock
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: show in front of a punk rock audience, there's this
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: camaraderie there, and if you're doing a punk rock show
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: in front of people who are not feeling it, it
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: really gets punk rock. It's like it gets it gets
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: elevated to this other thing, not for anybody but us.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: I mean I found it thrilling. Um. I know the
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: audience hated it, but that was sort of part of
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: the fun of it why they even more than hated it.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: And I think that's where it became thrilling to us.
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: Was it like these twelve year old girls and maybe
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: more importantly, their parents were genuinely horrified. They were they
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: were repulsed. I mean, and I had to be right,
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: I had to be there. We're a bunch of like
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: little white kid is yelling at them on stage like
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: you should be It's like, yeah, what is offensive? Yeah?
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: And yeah, and for the record like Ricky, you know,
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: you obviously had a big that was That was another
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: thing like along with introducing us to to heavy metal
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: led Zeppelin and Sabbath AC DC, you we also like
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: the wrestling thing was never cool. That was uncool to us,
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: right because we were these punk rock kids. It's still
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: uncos uncol to everybody. But you were totally you wet
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: like this like vocabulary in that world. And you immediately
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: saw like this opportunity with the Madonna tour that like,
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: oh no, it was like obvious to you, Like, no, guys,
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: what do you mean, You're just gonna be It's just
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: like wrestling, you know, you had So it's just pretty
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: weird to think about. Most people don't think about, like
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: if you have a band, it's going to open up
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: for this somebody who was like a cultural icon who
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: couldn't have been you couldn't have had a bigger pup
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: on the planet at that moment, Madonna like the biggest
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: star in the world. Most people just think like, how
• 34:59
  Speaker 1: do you put a good show together? And you you
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: saw it through this told the other lens it was like, no,
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: it's obvious. It's like wrestling. Well, the other part of
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: it was is no matter what we did, the audience
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: was there to see Madonna and they weren't gonna like
• 35:13
  Speaker 1: what we did regardless. So to really lean into that
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: idea of well, where the we are the bad guys here?
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: Where are the enemies? And to and to overcome that,
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: to play it with all this bravado like you're here
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: to see me and like it's just so ridiculous, so funny. Adam,
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: do you remember the stuff you said? I remember you
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: said some really come on you guys, most remember the best,
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: the big the best and biggest line was I am
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: the King of the Paramount, Like whatever theater we are at.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: That's how Adam would open up the show. I am
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: the King. Um, you know Madison Square Garden. Do you, Adam,
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: do you see the humor in this now? Really? Now?
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: Of course I do. It's you're like you have this
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: space like I didn't like it? No, no, no, no,
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: we we also we also just did this shows a
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: bunch of times in the movie and hope it's like
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: it's fresh in here. Um, it was amazing, it's hilarious.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: It's a it's a it's a it's not a it's
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: not a wild idea, but it's a it's a it
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: is a great idea. You know, they're not gonna like us.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: They're certainly not gonna love us. They might possibly be
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: like I didn't like that. But if we can guarantee
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: that they remember us by saying I fucking hated that,
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: and I will hate this and have this memory of
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: hatred for a long long time, that's an interesting way
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: to get your music through to somebody. Yeah, and it worked,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: It worked, and we but I remember the time like
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: being convinced because it was like we look at it
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: in this like feeboy way of like, yeah, we're gonna
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: make a name for ourselves, and I did. We'll be
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: back after a quick break. We're back with the rest
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: of Rick's conversation with the Beastie Boys and Spike Johns. Hey, Rick,
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: one thing I wanted to ask about just is a
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: production on the first record we you know, we talked
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: about it a little bit in the show, but obviously
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: we have so much stuff, but that like, as as
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: a fan, there's some bands that take a while to form,
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: and then some bands that just come out fully formed,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: like in that record, and even just actually the way
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: these guys described you with the confidence. It sounds like
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: you kind of came out fully formed in some strange,
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: you know, amazing way. What was like, What was the
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: process of that first record. I can just remember that
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: every time there was a good idea, we would make
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: a new song. And I can remember the I remember
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: two parts. I remember the lyric writing, which would be
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: basically every night that we went out to the clubs.
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: I remember trading lines only with the hope of making
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: the other member laugh. Like I would always say stuff
• 38:03
  Speaker 1: that I would think would try to make Adam laugh
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: if we were hanging out, and if he laughed, I
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: would write it down and just collecting lines, and we
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: would both we would all do it back and forth
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: and collect up these mountains of rhymes, not so much
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: with a subject or a song in mine. Most of
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: the time it was more just good lines. Then I
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: can remember being in the studio, sometimes with Adam, sometimes myself,
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: just making tracks because it's what I was always doing,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: and would just make tracks and just trying to make
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: something interesting. And I don't think I could separate it
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: in my head, but I knew the beats for LLL
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: were different than the beats for the Beastie Boys, and
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: the beats for the Best Boys were different than the
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: beats for Run DMC, and it seemed clear to me,
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: But I can't put a finger on what was different.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: But I knew as they were as we were making them,
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: It's like, oh, this one, this one feels like lllbat
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: and this one feels like this could be a really
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: good Beast Boys record. Those like gated snare drums. I
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: don't know. I can't say, I can't I can't put
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: a finger on what it was. Do you remember sometimes
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: making the record where it's like, oh, this is what
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: like it sort of gave clarity to what the whole
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: record is, like a decision, a beat, a lion. No.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: I remember I was in Electric Lady working on the
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: Cults album Electric and I got a call from Mike
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: and Mike said, Hey, how come our records not done yet?
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: And do you remember this, Mike, No, not at all.
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: This was amazing because I think this was like you
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: guys were on tour. I assume I was. This must
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: have been post ear infection. Well, no, we were probably
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: on Raising Hell at that point, and I remember like
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: a somewhat heated conversation where you were like dude. You
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: didn't say do but like the equivalent of dude, But
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: why is I mean, we're on tour. Why is our
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: album not done? And I said, you know, it doesn't.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: And I remember, it's like it doesn't just happen, like
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: it doesn't. It's not happening because I don't want it
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: to happen. It. Each of these things arrives when it arrives.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: Do you know what I'm saying. It's like we didn't
• 40:25
  Speaker 1: go into the studio every day with the idea of, Okay,
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: we're gonna make something today. It was more like making
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: beats in the dorm, listening to records, like coming up
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: with what us what a track was gonna be, which
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: sometimes would be six weeks or two months between songs.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: You know, it took. It was a long period of time.
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: I can't remember from the time that we made whatever
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: the first song was for that record till we made
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: the last song. I'm guessing it was eighteen months. Could
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: have been two years. It felt like a long time.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: And so also the other thing you guys talk about
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: miss Mike and I'm talking about in the show is
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: going away on tour and coming back and you'd finished
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: the record and mixed it, and they were surprised that
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: it was this big thing where they thought they were
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: making a sort of more low fi punk rap record.
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: Talking about that was that something you always saw, you
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: always and knew that that was the sound? Not at all.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: In any case, there was no preconception or what something
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: was supposed to sound like. It was just making it
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: sound as good as it could sound for what it was,
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: whatever it was. It's like SAME's true with LLL or
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: SAME's true with Raising Hell. It wasn't like there was
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: no thought to it. And the gated snare thing was
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: like a it's interesting you bring it up, because it
• 41:38
  Speaker 1: was a it was like a moment in time. And
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: I think it was really what was the art of noise?
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: That it was the thing that got everyone excited about
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: this kind of drum sound, and that was probably like
• 41:51
  Speaker 1: experimenting in that art of noisy way that led to
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: That's my guess. If you had if you had Art
• 41:59
  Speaker 1: of Noise to oven and man Parish twelve innch, which
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: one would you put on first? Both? I liked them both.
• 42:05
  Speaker 1: We can't put on both first. No, I wouldn't depends
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: on It depends on the scenario depends on the scene.
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: So you read a room, Yeah, it going off. Can
• 42:15
  Speaker 1: you turn the fucking roosters down in the mixt please?
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: Roosters are feeling it. The roosters are deep in the
• 42:23
  Speaker 1: paint today. Oh God. I wanted to ask Mike and
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: Adam about their memories of chun King also, oh man, Yeah,
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: so that's a good question. I well, I feelings like
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: I remember, I remember, I think I was. We were
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: with you Rick and we were talking and Jaburnette was like, oh,
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: you guys gotta work at this place. I don't. I
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: don't think he said chun Kings. We I feel like
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: we named chun King. He's just like, oh you got
• 42:49
  Speaker 1: oh a seeking is called secret Society, then that's right.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: He's like, you got to work at the studio my
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: friend's studio, Secret Society. But he was like talking about
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: that I guess, like the Nive console or something that
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: stuff that he as a kid, I didn't really understand,
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: but he was all excited about it. So we were like, okay, bet,
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: and then we go there and it's just kind of like,
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: you know, we don't really know about studios, but it's
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: just like kind of bummy yeah, you know, like it's
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: not like nothing, there's nothing fancy about it. It seemed
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: like every other week, like we'd go there one week
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: and the next week like walls, like they always kept
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: moving walls around. Yeah, do you remember that? Like, yeah,
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: I do. I remember because it was kind of a
• 43:29
  Speaker 1: loft space that the guy built out and he was
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: just kind of moving stuff around. It was a weird place.
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: I remember when we graffitied. We graffitied the wall behind
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: the console, and at first, like I kind of remember,
• 43:42
  Speaker 1: we got yelled at. And then it became the thing
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: of the studios that everybody came there and did graffiti
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: while they while they recorded. I remember the first time
• 43:50
  Speaker 1: that we went there, psyched, We're gonna go to a
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: recording student. I've been like the young and the users
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: recorded at a nice recording studio. And this place was
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: like a fucking dump. Yeah. It was fucking literally a
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: dead fish in the fish tank and it was dark.
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: It was like super dark, like everything was dark. I
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: was like, why why is it? Why are we going
• 44:12
  Speaker 1: to the scary like haunted house? Remember walking up it
• 44:15
  Speaker 1: was like five flight walk up. It was dirt, dingy,
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: dirty place. No, I remember the elevator because it was
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: all graffiti and somebody wrote their name. It was all
• 44:24
  Speaker 1: this graffiti, and someone wrote jose Ninas in the top corner,
• 44:28
  Speaker 1: and every time we got in the elevator, we thought
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: that was the funniest name. And it literally we laughed
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: every time we were in that elevator because Ninus is
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: a funny last name. I feel like we we laughed
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: a lot at chum King. Yeah. Well, and on the
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: way there and on the way out, like it was
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: just it was I think part one of the key
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: things about License was making it. It never felt like
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: we were making an owl like it just felt like
• 44:58
  Speaker 1: exactly what you just heard that. It was like that
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: was just part of all right, wake up, go to
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: your dorm room, listen to some records, you know, go
• 45:07
  Speaker 1: to Cozy Super and Burger Than whatever club's going on
• 45:11
  Speaker 1: that night, and said, if there's an idea studio. It
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: wasn't like that, you know, the clod like Adam said, like,
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: it's not like we were making an album for this
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: amount of time. And actually it's funny. I think back
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: at you talking about me calling you and making that
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: phone call and asked her, like, what's up with the record.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: I kind of now I'm thinking back, and I remember
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: we were on the Raising Hell tour and I remember
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: Run being really excited Run and Russell getting me all excited,
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: like like you know, like you got a call like
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: what's taking so long with your album? Like you guys
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: should be like Run because he'd heard like by that,
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: you know, he was so excited about Hold It Now,
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: which was Hold It Now was like one of those
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: songs like we're talking about, like we were out of
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: the club. I remember like we I remember you went
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: in there and just played like around like a bunch
• 46:02
  Speaker 1: of different like scratching things in off of records, and
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: I think they even put down the verses. And then
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: I remember you and Russell kind of like hearing it
• 46:12
  Speaker 1: after we've already already done some stuff, and you specifically
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: being really excited about it. I loved it, and you
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: were like actually more excited even than we were, where
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: you were like, yeah, this is it, Like this is
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: this is what you guys need to be making. Yeah,
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: it was mind blowing. I loved it. Oh you know,
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: quest Love just told me a story the other day
• 46:33
  Speaker 1: that I wonder if you guys know this in Philly.
• 46:37
  Speaker 1: When Hold It Now came out as a single, the
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: version that was released to radio was the a cappella,
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: which we called the Acapulco. And so in Philly people
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: thought that the song didn't have a beat or any
• 46:53
  Speaker 1: music or anything. It was just vocals. Yeah, it was
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: just it was just vocals. And he thought, Wow, this
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: is the craziest record I ever heard. It's just this
• 47:00
  Speaker 1: rhyming and he said. And it was really well liked
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: in Philly, even though it was such such a crazy,
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: you know, the first rap record not to have any music,
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: and it was a hit. And then when the album
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: came out and it had to beat, nobody liked it
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: because they were used to the a cappella version, which
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: they thought was just like the greatest thing they ever heard.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: We were talking to him and he was saying something.
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: It just reminded me of words that we'd tried to
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: force into like common you know speak. We'd pick random
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: words and be like, oh, no, this is this is
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: what people say. Now I can't Why am I blank?
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to I'm like, I'm blanking on him so bad.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: But we picked like a few different words yeah, or phrases.
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: It would be. Sometimes it be a phrase too, like
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: you'd you'd hear someone say something at the club that
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: was just normal to them and we would laugh, Like
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: brass Monkey came from Jazzy J talking about what he
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: liked to drink, and just like, yeah, it's like, what's
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: funnier than brass monkey? Oh my god, brass monkey is
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: That was a crazy night with Tila Rock. Tell me
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: I don't remember it. So you were producing a record
• 48:13
  Speaker 1: for a rapper named Tela Rock. Yes, and we were
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: going to go to the studio with you because that
• 48:21
  Speaker 1: we just that That's also what I like when you're young,
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: you're just you just go with your friend wherever they're going.
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: Like it's just funny to think about going with your
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: friend to their job, Like, no, you can't come to
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: my job. I'm working. What are you doing? And so
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: I didn't think about it. The place was in Queens
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: or Long Island or somewhere. It was like it was
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: like we had to take a car. It was really far. Yeah,
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: and me and Skilcomb were there and it was just nuts.
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: It just seems so growing. There was like grown ups
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: that we didn't know. I don't know Telea Rock, but
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: it was like a real rap scene. It was just weird.
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: And then Jazzy Jay passed around a bottle of brass
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: Monkey and me and Skilcombe were like, this is fucking delicious.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah I didn't know that you guys. You guys actually
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: drank it. Oh yeah. The whole night was crazy. And
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: then we spraded in two separate cars and we're like
• 49:12
  Speaker 1: in Long Island, We're like, where are we and getting
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: white Castle? Anyway, it was a really it was a
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: nice night. Yeah. I remember going. I remember taking cars
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: to white castles. It was hard in Manhattan. It was
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: hard to get white Castle. I know, probably for the best.
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: But what do we say because rope a dope, like
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: in late eighties rope, and I'm just I just remember
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: one word. We'd say that shit is dope and they'd
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: be like, that's dope. It's rope a dope. And then
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: we were like we was like, oh, that's rope, and
• 49:37
  Speaker 1: nobody like, no, not last rope. We said it did
• 49:45
  Speaker 1: not last. That is so funny. It's too bad because
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: it's kind of great. Nobody else was like, oh that's rope,
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: what do you I forgot rope? Rope is great. We
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: got to bring back rope. Rope is really fun. Me
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: though it's explaining the joke, it's not that good. I
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: feel like Flavor had a lot of the flavors normal
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: waves speaking, had a lot of references that could work
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: their way into songs. Like of everyone we hung out with,
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: Flavor was a gold mine of phrases. I just wanted
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: you to know. The last time I saw Flavor, I
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: was in my car in New York stopped at a
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: red light, and he got in my car and I
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: was just like, what's like, someone's getting in my car
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: and it's Flavor, And he's like, yo, let's up, take
• 50:32
  Speaker 1: me to like thirty sixth Street, And so I drove him.
• 50:35
  Speaker 1: I was like, all right, good to see you. Wow.
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: It was fucking nuts. Did you guys go to at
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: all to the studio when Public Enemy was recording? No,
• 50:44
  Speaker 1: I just remember I remember going to their to the
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: radio show of the Spectrum City Yeah show in Long
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: Island and doing that, And I remember just like listening
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: with you and on our own then when we were
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: on to like listening to them demo for the song
• 51:01
  Speaker 1: Public Enemy number one, like I mean on repeat, Like
• 51:05
  Speaker 1: I don't think there's a single demo. There's gobe no
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: demo we listened to that much. Maybe no single song
• 51:13
  Speaker 1: that we listened to so incessantly it was. That was
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: so mind blowingly good. It was incredible. I remember listening
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: to it all the time. I'm trying to think with
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: what were the other things that that were like that
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: were like they really took over our lives for a
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: period of time. Can you remember, oh, Eric Eric B
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: for president? Yeah, well I wouldna say that school school
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: D school school, egg PSK people and nothing but squares.
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: Remember like how many times we really listen to that
• 51:49
  Speaker 1: in your dorm room and everywhere else? Like yeah, when
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: he especially that thing of like school like school D's
• 51:54
  Speaker 1: whole intro on that thing like nah, no school school,
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: what time is it? What was his DJ's name, code money, money,
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: get your fish code code cod So good, oh man,
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: such good records, so funny. I mean, I guess whatever
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: we are of a certain age, so we that's but
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: we will talk about often, like it is incredible how
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: many great rap records were coming out, like nineteen eighty eight,
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine, like just mind blowingly good rap records.
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: I'm trying to remember which were the what were the
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: other ones that really like move the Needle for us
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: Zucker MCS was everything obviously right? They read DMC were
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: the I mean, they were the archetypes. They were like
• 52:51
  Speaker 1: you know, I mean then Jay talks so much about
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: performing and how to sort of put a rap show together,
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: um and how you know, I think got along with
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: you how to put a rap record together. Was there
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: anything else that we had that wasn't out, like like
• 53:06
  Speaker 1: with the Public Enemy TAPEBA is a demo? I remember
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: biz Markie was out. I remember when we heard that
• 53:12
  Speaker 1: first bis Marquis Twilit and talking about it with DMC
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: and Jay and being really excited about it. You had
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: a demo for Slick Rick Children's Story Rick, Oh remember
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: love that right? Right? Well? Because that was another thing.
• 53:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, Lotti Dotti the show. We must have. We
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: must listened to Lotti Dotti the show again, unquantifiable amounts
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: of times. Do you remember the story of let me
• 53:40
  Speaker 1: where letting Me clear my throat came from? I have
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: a vague I have a memory, but I don't know
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: if it's accurate. No, tell me, I don't My memory.
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: Was that on LLL's demo tape that you found in
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: the box of demo tapes that came to the dorm.
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: Before he started rhyming, he said, and let me clear
• 54:01
  Speaker 1: my throat, And I remember that we for whatever reason,
• 54:07
  Speaker 1: it was the funniest thing we ever heard. It made
• 54:10
  Speaker 1: I mean it was, It wasn't there was nothing funny
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: about it, but somehow the idea that that was the
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: first thing said before the the song starts. I know,
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: it's so easy to take that out now, do you know?
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: It's so it's so easy, But back then you couldn't.
• 54:30
  Speaker 1: You just you didn't know how to take stuff out,
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: and just whatever you record it was on there. Yeah, yeah,
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: it was. It was. It was nothing. But for some reason,
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: I remember we latched onto It's like, this is just
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: the funniest thing we've ever heard. We just latched onto it.
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: And I can't remember how it ended up getting into
• 54:49
  Speaker 1: the song. I'm sure you were like, wait, let you
• 54:52
  Speaker 1: should say let you should scream that really angrily. It's funny.
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: It's so dumb. But again, it's the beauty of It's
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: in such a different context too, though, on this on
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: our song as opposed to his demo tape. Yeah, well
• 55:09
  Speaker 1: that's the beauty of the montage of hip hop. That's
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: how like recontextualizing things that you find in the world. Yeah. Yeah,
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: any other memories of dance eteria. I feel like that
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: was sort of the place that I remember we went
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: to the most. So many I mean so much, so many. Um,
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: all right, where were sorry? I mean really that Yeah,
• 55:33
  Speaker 1: that was that was Dollie were the first places we
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: would talk to girls I thought you were you were
• 55:40
  Speaker 1: just claiming junior high school status, so you're doing all
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: kinds of things, But um, all right, dance there, I
• 55:47
  Speaker 1: would say, like me, just like hearing you didn't know.
• 55:50
  Speaker 1: They were like the songs that you would hear every
• 55:53
  Speaker 1: every night, like uh uh app shoot you Down? Or
• 55:58
  Speaker 1: or New Order, um confusion you'd hear like every single night,
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: or didn't didn't do medium, medium medium medium. My favorite
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: top three favorite things of dance interia was being on
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: that dance floor room, second floor, just in the corner
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: by the stairs. Would always be hanging out, the music
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: would be playing, people be dancing, and there was some
• 56:23
  Speaker 1: guy in the middle of the crowd would be like,
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: wheren't that body And it wasn't just like once, it
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: was like every night. Yeah, memories of the Roxy. I
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: remember the Rocks. I remember two things. I remember Africa
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: Bambada playing Uh, Tony Basil, You're oh, Mickey, You're so
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: fine at the Roxy. So like you know, I'm there
• 56:47
  Speaker 1: like a white kid at the Rosy is like the
• 56:50
  Speaker 1: most fee boy place ever. And here's Africa Bombada, one
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: of the most important hip hop DJs ever, and he's
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: playing Tony Basil like you know not there's nothing that
• 57:03
  Speaker 1: I thought of rap like music like that when I
• 57:07
  Speaker 1: associated with Tony Basil, and I was just like, wow,
• 57:10
  Speaker 1: that's incredibly he could make Tony Basil old Nicky, you're
• 57:13
  Speaker 1: so fine. Work in the Roxy was a credible that
• 57:17
  Speaker 1: And then I just remember being scared to go to
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: the bathroom at the Roxy. Roxy was just it was
• 57:24
  Speaker 1: just like dudes like selling coke and getting high and
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: like shit was scary. I just felt like I was
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: gonna get robbed in the bathroom. Yeah, well that that
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: I remember because I went to Roxy when I was
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: a kid because it was a roller skating place and
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: so I don't I don't know how to rollerskape, but
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: like it's like a thing you go and hang out
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: at the roller skating place. And so then later A
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: few years later, Roxy was a thing where we would
• 57:50
  Speaker 1: go to, you know, the disco, and I remember when
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: we were there. I don't know it was the first
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: time we're there. But then like fucking shots rang out
• 57:57
  Speaker 1: and someone had a gun and was shooting and people running.
• 58:00
  Speaker 1: I was like, this is not the same thing from
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: when I was eleven, twelve, you know whatever, it's It
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: was a place you put a bunch of teenage dudes
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: in the same place and weird shit's going to happen.
• 58:13
  Speaker 1: Why is that it is the case? But why teenage
• 58:16
  Speaker 1: dudes are stupid? I don't know what to say. Yeah,
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking about that the Hey Mickey reference that Bambody
• 58:24
  Speaker 1: used and that probably led that hearing that there probably
• 58:30
  Speaker 1: was a step in why the song It's Tricky got made.
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: Oh there you're gonna say world destruction and for him
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: it's like the same beat, yeah, because world destruction is
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: like the same beat. Yeah. Yeah, I just I just
• 58:45
  Speaker 1: remember It's Tricky being like feeling. There were certain vibes
• 58:52
  Speaker 1: that you would feel at a hip hop club that
• 58:55
  Speaker 1: stood out that were different than the others. It's like, hmmm,
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: how do you incorporate that feel? Because that definitely feels good,
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: like we're in the club, this feels great. That's now
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: part of the language. Like that felt like, okay, that's
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: part of the language. In hip hop. It'd be if
• 59:09
  Speaker 1: you were in a band and somebody in a band
• 59:13
  Speaker 1: did a waltz beat instead of a four four beat,
• 59:16
  Speaker 1: and you'd say, oh, that's a new part of the vocabulary.
• 59:19
  Speaker 1: You can write a song with a waltz beat. Not
• 59:22
  Speaker 1: matter at a waltz beat. I got, you know, I
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: got tons of songs with walt speeds. Oh wait. One
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: thing Rick I did want to say is you were
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: talking about how I don't even know how to explain
• 59:31
  Speaker 1: it to people, or maybe it's not even worth trying
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: to explain, but like we were talking about opening for Madonna,
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: but that it's it's also it's very interesting. We look
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: obviously we've we've changed a lot through the years, but
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: it's it's it's interesting to me because people know I
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: feel like relate to us or a lot of people
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: know us just from like license to old Beastie Boys,
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: and then there's a lot of people that grew up
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: with us through a lot of stuff whatever, but a
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: lot of people know it's just like it's in that
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: Increa Nation license at all time. And I think it's
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: interesting with you. You were like such a big part
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: of like when we were opening up from a data
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: and this like this whole idea like persona. But then
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: people actually know you now, like from your persona now,
• 1:00:14
  Speaker 1: not from like like how you would talk then. And
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: I don't even know how to explain when I try
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 1: to explain to people how you would talk in sort
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 1: of like when you're excited about, like for wrestling, and
• 1:00:29
  Speaker 1: how you would do that, I don't even know how
• 1:00:31
  Speaker 1: to capture it or explain it. Yeah, it's definitely a
• 1:00:35
  Speaker 1: ramped up character inspired by like Roddy Piper would be
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 1: one of the key get Rick Flair, the guys who
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: would who you'd want to see lose and who would
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: often find a way to win through cheating. But they
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: were the funniest. They always like the bad guys in wrestling.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: The bad guys have the best lines. So they were
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: the most charismatic and funniest characters. So I put on
• 1:01:01
  Speaker 1: that air that has to do with Youth, Michael Youth,
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: don't give a fuck. Thank you for doing this. Great
• 1:01:08
  Speaker 1: to see you, Adam. I'd miss you. I love you
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: and I look forward to continuing U B bridging the
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: years that we've missed. Love it too, Rick. Nice to
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: talk to you, Thank your rigors. Great to see you,
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: Spike a pleasure. I miss you. I miss you. Better
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: see you later you guys by right. Thanks to Mike,
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: Adam and Spike for taking the time to catch up
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 1: with Rick. You can hear all our favorite Beastie Boys
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 1: songs plus the other songs mentioned in this episode, but
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: heading to Broken Record podcast dot com and be sure
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: to check out our YouTube channel where we can find
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 1: some great bonus material from past episodes. You can subscribe
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 1: at YouTube dot com slash broken Record Podcast. Broken Record
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: is produced with help from Jason Gambrel, Mio Lobelle, Leo Rose,
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: and Martin Gonzalez for Pushkin Industries. Theme music is by
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: Kenny Beats. I'm justin Richmond. Thanks for listening.