GrapeApe
06-13-2004, 10:55 AM
Sun, June 13, 2004
The Boys are back
Beasties reach out to NYC, slam Bush on new disc
By JANE STEVENSON, Sun Media
ALMOST TWO decades ago, Beastie Boys supported the "fight for your right to party!" In fact, that single, Fight for Your Right, fuelled the New York City trio to the top of the charts as their 1986 debut album, Licensed to Ill, became the first rap album to ever hit No. 1.
Now, Adam Yauch (MCA), Mike Diamond (Mike D) and Adam Horovitz (Adrock), are fighting a much more adult battle on To The 5 Boroughs, their most political album to date, which hits stores Tuesday.
First and foremost, it's a love letter to their beloved NYC, post 9/11 -- despite plenty of anti-George W. Bush sentiments. (More on that later.)
But Yauch says the album -- their first in six years since 1998's Hello Nasty -- didn't start out that way.
"That isn't exactly what we set out to do," says Yauch, 39, down the line from L.A. recently. "We set out to make an album without much forethought on what it was going to be about. We just all started writing lyrics, and it was more sort of in retrospect, toward the end of it that we noticed that a lot of it was pretty nostalgic about New York."
On the song, Open Letter to NYC, the B Boys rap: "Dear New York, I hope you're doing well / I know a lot's happened and you've been through hell / Since 9/11 we're still livin' and lovin' life we've been given / Ain't nothing going to take that away from us / We're lookin' pretty and gritty 'cause in the city we trust / Dear New York, I know a lot has changed / 2 Towers down and you're still in the game."
NEAR GROUND ZERO
Yauch, who lives just a mile from Ground Zero, said being under attack like that was bound to have an effect.
"I think a big part of it is 9/11," he says. "It's almost like you get nostalgic for someone or something when it's somewhere threatened or in jeopardy, in a sense."
In addition to some of the songs and the album title, there's also the striking artwork of the Manhattan skyline by artist Matteo Pericoli.
"We all live in downtown Manhattan, and we were all there," Yauch says of that horrific day. "Each of us were home, it started pretty early in the morning. Basically, at first, I didn't realize what was going on. I remember just hearing a loud explosion, and I just thought it was a truck backfiring. And then somebody was repairing my roof, doing work up there, and they came down and said, 'Oh my God, it's terrible, the World Trade Center is on fire.' And I went up and looked and we didn't really realize what was going on until my wife saw on the news that another plane had hit the Pentagon and then realized something pretty insane was happening. It was pretty intense. When the building started falling, there was like dust coming up toward my house. It stopped a few blocks away."
In the end, Yauch and his family --his daughter is now 51/2 -- made the decision to stay put in the city.
"I think it's slowly getting back to normal. That first period of time ... from September through the new year, was definitely very strange. But I remember sort of feeling like it's time to try to get back to a normal life after the new year."
As for To The 5 Boroughs attacking Bush, there are four songs which name-check the U.S. president and his warmongering philosophy. Here's a sample of just a few of the lyrics.
"Maybe it's time that we impeach Tex and the military muscle that he wants to flex," goes It Takes Time to Build. "By the time Bush is done, what will be left? / Selling votes like e-pills at the discotheque / Environmental destruction and the national debt / But plenty of of dollars in the fat war chest."
"I already thought he was jackass but that definitely took it to a whole other level, the things he's done since then," Yauch says of Bush's response to 9/11.
As for the resignation of CIA Director George Tenet, Yauch says, "I was about to say I wish Bush would resign, but that would give us (U.S. vice-president Dick) Cheney."
Yauch, now a John Kerry supporter, has no predictions about the upcoming U.S. election but he hopes Bush will be gone.
'PRETTY TWISTED'
"I think (Bush) is a pretty twisted man. I hope that Kerry will be good. That's who's most likely to beat Bush. I'm basically thinking about how to get this guy out of there."
Another track, Right Right Now Now, addresses the issue of gun control, specifically in the wake of the Columbine high school shootings.
"Columbine Bowling, childhood stolen, we need a bit more gun controlling," goes the rap.
"It's definitely a topic that needs to be discussed," Yauch says. "I think gun control in the United States is a pretty intense issue and it's good to open it up and discuss it. There's a lot of people who have a lot of very extreme feelings on both sides."
Yauch, who was a fan of Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine, can't wait to see the director's anti-Bush followup Fahrenheit 9/11, which opens June 25.
In Bowling, Moore talks a lot about the White House- and media-generated climates of fear that feed off each other in the U.S., post-9/11.
"You really do see that in all the way the press deals with stuff here," Yauch says. "I've noticed it even more since seeing that movie. They do just wind up the fear thing. It's all feeding each other.
"The White House is doing it to cover their ass, I think, because every couple of weeks they come out and say there's a terror alert. So, if anything happens, then they can say, 'Oh, yeah, we knew about that.' The papers print it because people buy it. People buy it because they get scared. And it's some kind of vicious cycle."
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/OttawaSun/Today/2004/06/13/497229.html
The Boys are back
Beasties reach out to NYC, slam Bush on new disc
By JANE STEVENSON, Sun Media
ALMOST TWO decades ago, Beastie Boys supported the "fight for your right to party!" In fact, that single, Fight for Your Right, fuelled the New York City trio to the top of the charts as their 1986 debut album, Licensed to Ill, became the first rap album to ever hit No. 1.
Now, Adam Yauch (MCA), Mike Diamond (Mike D) and Adam Horovitz (Adrock), are fighting a much more adult battle on To The 5 Boroughs, their most political album to date, which hits stores Tuesday.
First and foremost, it's a love letter to their beloved NYC, post 9/11 -- despite plenty of anti-George W. Bush sentiments. (More on that later.)
But Yauch says the album -- their first in six years since 1998's Hello Nasty -- didn't start out that way.
"That isn't exactly what we set out to do," says Yauch, 39, down the line from L.A. recently. "We set out to make an album without much forethought on what it was going to be about. We just all started writing lyrics, and it was more sort of in retrospect, toward the end of it that we noticed that a lot of it was pretty nostalgic about New York."
On the song, Open Letter to NYC, the B Boys rap: "Dear New York, I hope you're doing well / I know a lot's happened and you've been through hell / Since 9/11 we're still livin' and lovin' life we've been given / Ain't nothing going to take that away from us / We're lookin' pretty and gritty 'cause in the city we trust / Dear New York, I know a lot has changed / 2 Towers down and you're still in the game."
NEAR GROUND ZERO
Yauch, who lives just a mile from Ground Zero, said being under attack like that was bound to have an effect.
"I think a big part of it is 9/11," he says. "It's almost like you get nostalgic for someone or something when it's somewhere threatened or in jeopardy, in a sense."
In addition to some of the songs and the album title, there's also the striking artwork of the Manhattan skyline by artist Matteo Pericoli.
"We all live in downtown Manhattan, and we were all there," Yauch says of that horrific day. "Each of us were home, it started pretty early in the morning. Basically, at first, I didn't realize what was going on. I remember just hearing a loud explosion, and I just thought it was a truck backfiring. And then somebody was repairing my roof, doing work up there, and they came down and said, 'Oh my God, it's terrible, the World Trade Center is on fire.' And I went up and looked and we didn't really realize what was going on until my wife saw on the news that another plane had hit the Pentagon and then realized something pretty insane was happening. It was pretty intense. When the building started falling, there was like dust coming up toward my house. It stopped a few blocks away."
In the end, Yauch and his family --his daughter is now 51/2 -- made the decision to stay put in the city.
"I think it's slowly getting back to normal. That first period of time ... from September through the new year, was definitely very strange. But I remember sort of feeling like it's time to try to get back to a normal life after the new year."
As for To The 5 Boroughs attacking Bush, there are four songs which name-check the U.S. president and his warmongering philosophy. Here's a sample of just a few of the lyrics.
"Maybe it's time that we impeach Tex and the military muscle that he wants to flex," goes It Takes Time to Build. "By the time Bush is done, what will be left? / Selling votes like e-pills at the discotheque / Environmental destruction and the national debt / But plenty of of dollars in the fat war chest."
"I already thought he was jackass but that definitely took it to a whole other level, the things he's done since then," Yauch says of Bush's response to 9/11.
As for the resignation of CIA Director George Tenet, Yauch says, "I was about to say I wish Bush would resign, but that would give us (U.S. vice-president Dick) Cheney."
Yauch, now a John Kerry supporter, has no predictions about the upcoming U.S. election but he hopes Bush will be gone.
'PRETTY TWISTED'
"I think (Bush) is a pretty twisted man. I hope that Kerry will be good. That's who's most likely to beat Bush. I'm basically thinking about how to get this guy out of there."
Another track, Right Right Now Now, addresses the issue of gun control, specifically in the wake of the Columbine high school shootings.
"Columbine Bowling, childhood stolen, we need a bit more gun controlling," goes the rap.
"It's definitely a topic that needs to be discussed," Yauch says. "I think gun control in the United States is a pretty intense issue and it's good to open it up and discuss it. There's a lot of people who have a lot of very extreme feelings on both sides."
Yauch, who was a fan of Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine, can't wait to see the director's anti-Bush followup Fahrenheit 9/11, which opens June 25.
In Bowling, Moore talks a lot about the White House- and media-generated climates of fear that feed off each other in the U.S., post-9/11.
"You really do see that in all the way the press deals with stuff here," Yauch says. "I've noticed it even more since seeing that movie. They do just wind up the fear thing. It's all feeding each other.
"The White House is doing it to cover their ass, I think, because every couple of weeks they come out and say there's a terror alert. So, if anything happens, then they can say, 'Oh, yeah, we knew about that.' The papers print it because people buy it. People buy it because they get scared. And it's some kind of vicious cycle."
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/OttawaSun/Today/2004/06/13/497229.html