Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
I guess I'm the guy from the Beastie Boys. I'm one of the guys from the Beastie Boys. I guess that's what I'll always identify myself as.
Here's a thing that's going to drive me absolutely crazy: the trucks! They can put people on the moon, but they can't make a quiet truck!
As a band, we always took a really long time to make records, so unfortunately, we got into that habit of, like, 'We'll work on it tomorrow.'
In New York, you can't really like anything. You know? Pizza's all right. I mean, I've been having pizza since back in the day, so it's whatever.
A lot of people are trying to get me to go solo. It's just a thing I have to deal with a lot. Record labels are always trying to get me to go solo.
You have to consume Fig Newtons with either milk or an alternative milk product. It's like a conspiracy with the dairy industry. They're in cahoots.
The Madonna tour thing was definitely funny that - you know, children were crying watching us... and it was interesting seeing how angry their parents were.
You know how there's all these rappers like Mike D and King T and Ice T and Cool C or something like that? Well, on Mayberry, on 'Andy Griffith,' they had Aunt B.
Champagne Jerry records are definitely, in one way, on the very far end of the weird spectrum of rap music, then, in another way, very far on the weird punk spectrum.
We've gotta stand up against hate. If you're able to give money, give to Black Lives Matter. If you're able to protest, protest. If you're able to volunteer, volunteer.
Sexism is deeply rooted in our history and society that waking up and stepping outside of it is like I'm watching 'Night of the Living Dead Part Two' all day, every day.
Stuff used to get me really crazy, touring stuff. I used to hide. I hid from everybody. Back in '87, when things were so hectic, I'd run away. There was so much pressure.
Our talent and skill as rappers is clearly the first thing you notice. I don't know what we were thinking. We just really love rap and wanted to be rappers. Is that weird?
You'd think that my acting in 'Lost Angels' would have been the reason why I gave up on it. But yeah, I'm just not that good at it. Auditioning is super weird, and I'm bad at it.
To me, a New Yorker is someone that has general disdain toward landlords, mass-transit authorities, electric companies, sports-team managers, NYU and its students, and anything new.
I don't really get a lot of stuff sent to me, but I do get things given to me in person. One of my favorites was from a kid in the mid-'90s. He gave us all a bunch of pants he made.
'Alternative facts' is really one of the better things that's come out in a long time. 'Alternative facts?' It's brilliant! Really? Alternative facts? There are two different realities?
They don't want to see rap music. They don't want to see the Beastie Boys. They don't care what we're doing. They want one thing and one thing only: that's to see Madonna come on stage.
Being a straight white guy in his, like, early twenties - there's some sort of thing about it. A sort of privilege, a sort of anger or something. You just say some really stupid things.
I don't know why we sold a lot of records or why so many people came to see us. Like 'Sabotage' - would you put that song on, like, 'I'm gonna listen to that right now?' It's a weird choice.
'Paul's Boutique' was a bust, right? That was a bummer. We didn't pause on it for a long time - we didn't go through therapy - but it was weird. And because it was a bust, we didn't go on tour.
Hardcore bands were coming out with names like Urban Waste and The Mob, you know, a lot of kind of tough names. So Beastie Boys was the stupidest name we could come up with. And unfortunately, it stuck.
I'm not saying that kids today have everything, but with the Internet, it's like, you have it there, so use it! I know a bunch of kids who are into cassette tapes now. Cassette tapes suck! Why not use your iPod?
'Grand Royal' started because we were on the Lollapalooza tour, and we wanted to send this message to people that the mosh pit is corny. Stop doing that. MTV has ruined it, and it's dangerous, and girls are getting hurt.
The tapes we were making would jump around with different styles, just quick parts of different songs. Hip-hop to jazz to funk to whatever else. And in a way, 'Check Your Head' ended up being like one of those pause-tapes.
I would say think about the thing that makes you happiest, and do that. If it's drawing or dancing or listening to music or bowling, whatever it is that makes you happy, I would focus on that, and you'll definitely gain some confidence.
There is a community in hip-hop. It doesn't seem like that anywhere else, except maybe in punk rock. But punk rock is tricky, because it has become such a pop thing. But in rap, there is still a feeling of community. Who are our peers? Rappers.
We were from downtown, so we were rapping in Danceteria, in these white downtown clubs, really. Nobody downtown was rapping. Nobody we knew was rapping. So we were like, 'We should do it.' We weren't making fun of it; we loved it, and we wanted to be part of it.
Unfortunately, like, homework and school wasn't the thing that I was obsessing over. It was, you know, music and making music and how to like - and drum machines. And we met Rick Rubin, and Rick Rubin had a drum machine. So I would just cut school and go to his house - his dorm room.
I know Noah Baumbach from a long time ago. We were hanging out one night, and he asked if I wanted to be in his movie. If somebody whose stuff you really like says, 'Hey, you want to do it with me?,' you got to do it. I would like to say that I get these offers all the time, but I don't.
Mike is the craziest person. He's scattered; he's all over the place. When you hold him down and tell him, 'This is what you're doing,' he's fantastic. But you have to hold him down. Like, when he had to write his verse for 'Hello Nasty,' we had to take his phone away to get him to do it.
I grew up - my dad, every time I was with my dad, he was always - not always, but he wrote. He's a writer. So he was always in his office writing. He made a plan and, like, a point of, 'This is my work. I'm going to do this every day for these amount of hours.' So I think that's where I got, like, a work sort of ethic.
Rap is the only super-current music. If you're into reggae or dancehall, and you don't know Bob Marley, then you don't really know what you're listening to. But if you're listening to rap, and you're 15, you're like, 'Grandmaster Flash? Who's that? Public Enemy? Yeah, my dad told me about them once.' And that's just how it is.
All generations think the present moment is the greatest but also have this fascination with before their time. I do the same thing. I see old British movies. I'm like, 'Man, I would love to be in London at that time.' But then I wouldn't be able to watch 'The Walking Dead,' I wouldn't have cable, and my pizza options would be limited.
There's songs you listen to at really heavy times, and you associate those songs with being depressed. 'English Rose' by The Jam, I can't listen to - it's just too heavy for me. 'Julia' by The Beatles, too. That popped up the other day, and I had to skip to the next song. They're both really awesome, moving songs, but I can't listen to them.