Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique (15 page)

Def Jam, Inc
., Stacy Gueraseva, Ballantine, 2005

Life and Def: Sex, Drugs, Money and God
, Russell Simmons, Crown, 2001

The Beastie Boys Companion
, John Rocco, Schirmer Books, 2000

Will Pop Eat Itself? Pop Music in the Soundbite Era
, Jeremy J. Beadle, Faber and Faber, 1993

The Vibe History of Hip Hop
, ed. Alan Light, Three Rivers Press, 1999

The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society
, Andy Miller, Continuum, 2004

Rap Attack 2: African Rap to Global Hip Hop
, David Toop, Serpents Tail, 1991

Legendary hip-hop photographer Ricky Powell, who contributed the previously unreleased photos seen in this book, also has available several volumes of his work. The latest, published in 2005 by powerHouse Books, is the “greatest hits” collection
Public Access
. However, all the Rickster’s tides are highly recommended.

“Gathering Dust,”
Bay Area Music Magazine
, Nancy Whalen, May 6,1994 (interview with John King and Mike Simpson)

“Building the Perfect Beastie Album,”
Billboard
, Chris Morris, September 9, 1989 (interview with Michael Diamond)

“Sounds Too Beastly!”
The Daily Mail
, Marcus Berkmann, August 14, 1989 (
Paul’s Boutique
review)

“Very ’70s in the ’90s,” Gannett News Service, Marshall Fine, November 19, 1997

Paul’s Boutique
review,
Hip-Hop Connection
, Nick Smash, August 1989

“Morning Report,”
Los Angeles Times
, Aleene MacMinn, June 29, 1989 (news item about
Paul’s Boutique
release party)

“Beastie Boys, Cool J Are Still Bragging,”
Los Angeles Times
, J. D. Considine, August 11, 1989
(Paul’s Boutique
review)

“Morning Report Pop LP Charts,”
Los Angeles Times
, Dennis Hunt, August 11,1989 (news item about
Paul’s Boutique
sales)

“Label Seeks New Talent for Sagging Rock Roster,”
Los Angeles Times
, Paul Grein, September 26, 1989 (interview with Joe Smith)

“Boogie and the Beast,”
L.A. Weekly
, Danny Weizmann, September 7, 1989 (interview with the Beastie Boys)

“Cocks of the Walk,”
Melody Maker
, David Stubbs, July 29, 1989 (
Paul’s Boutique
review)

“Animal Crackers,”
Melody Maker
, Ted Mico, August 5, 1989 (interview with the Beastie Boys)

“Boys Keep Illin’,”
New Musical Express
, date unknown, 1988 (interview with Adam Yauch)

“In the Belly of the Beasties,” “Still Ill,”
New Musical Express
, James Brown, July 15 and 22, 1989 (two-part interview with the Beastie Boys)

“The Style Council, Royal Albert Hall,”
New Musical Express
, Stephen Dalton, July 22, 1989 (The Style Council concert review)

“That ’70s Revival: Clinging to the Malaise Decade,”
Newsday
, Josh Ozersky, May 28, 2000 (book review)

“Critic’s Notebook: Does Chaos Mix With Jewish Music?,”
New York Times
, Alex Ross, March 11, 1995 (concert review)

“Who’s Deffer? The Beastie Boys and LL Cool J Wrestle for the Summer’s Hip Hop Crown,”
Request
, Keith Moerer, August 1989 (interview with the Beastie Boys and Matt Dike)

“License Renewed,”
Rolling Stone
, Fred Goodman, June 15, 1989 (interview with the Beastie Boys and Russell Simmons)

“The Beasties: Def, Not Dumb,”
Rolling Stone
, David Handelman, August 10, 1989 (
Paul’s Boutique
review)

“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly”
Revolution
, Bill Holdship, November 1989 (interview with the Beastie Boys)

“Interview With Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch,”
Shambhala Sun
, Amy Green, January 1995

“To Live and Get High in L.A.,”
Select
, Adam Higginbotham, July 1994 (interview with the Beastie Boys)

“The Story of Yo,”
Spin
, Alan Light, September 1998 (Interviews with
the Beastie Boys and many supporting characters from the Beastie universe)

“Interview with Mario Caldato, Jr.”,
Tape-Op Magazine
, Darron Burke, January 2002

“People: Boys Will Be Beasties,”
Time
, Emily Mitchell, August 14, 1989 (News item about
Paul’s Boutique)

Paul’s Boutique
review,
Time
, David Hiltbrand, August 1989

“How Ya Like ’Em Now?”
Village Voice
, Robert Christgau, August 15, 1989 (
Paul’s Boutique
review)

“Highbrow Hip-Hop: Thoughtful Rap from Beasties & Boogie Down,”
Washington Post
, Mark Jenkins, July 30, 1989
(Paul’s Boutique
review)

“The Remix Masters,”
Wired
, Eric Steuer, November 2004

Beastieboys.com
message board, Adam Yauch, date unknown

Beastiemania.com
, “Who’s Who: Catherine Lincoln,” http://beastie mania.com/whois/lincoln_catherine/

Beastiemania.com
, Andy Van Dette interview, May 2003, http://beastie mania.com/interview/interviewvandette.php

New Music Box, Greg Sandow, March 1, 2004, http://www.new musicbox.org/page.nmbx?id=59vw01

Velvet Chain biography, Jeff Stacy, October, 2005, http://www.velvetchain.com/jeffbio.html

“MTV News” interview, June 29,1989

Beastie Boys DVD Video Anthology
, Criterion, 2000

Beastieography
documentary, MTV, 1998

The Beastie Boys: The Interview CD
(British bootleg; taken from an uncredited 1989 radio interview), Baktabak, 1997

KCRW radio interview with the Dust Brothers, February 13, 1997

Numerous bootleg studio and concert recordings were also consulted, in particular an illuminating bootleg commonly known as
Paul’s Boutique Demos
.

More praise for the 33 1/3 series:

We … aren’t naive enough to think that we’re your only source for reading about music (but if we had our way … watch out). For those of you who really like to know everything there is to know about an album, you’d do well to check out Continuum’s “33 1/3” series of books.—
Pitchfork

As individualistic and idiosyncratic as the albums that inspired them—Rob Trucks,
Cleveland Scene

The best albums ever made—turned into books!—
Blender
magazine

This is some of the best music writing going on right now—
Pulse of the Twin Cities

Music writing done right—
Tape Op
magazine

Admirable … 33 1/3 has broken new ground—
THES
(UK)

The series quietly breathes some life into the world of music fanaticism … an explosion of sincere, humbled appreciation—
The Portland Mercury

The series represents the Holy Grail of millions of late Baby Boomers—
All About Jazz

Inspired—
Details

Neat—Nick Hornby,
The Believer

A much-needed reprieve from the bite-size capsule reviews that rule much of today’s music criticism—
San Francisco Bay Guardian

Informed, fun and personal—
Paste Magazine

The series tries to inject new life into a tired form—
Newsday

All [these] books revel in the distinct shapes and benefits of an album, its ability to go places film, prose or sculpture can’t reach, while capable of being as awe-inspiring as the best of those mediums—
Philadelphia City Paper

These first few installments set the bar pretty high for those to come—
Tangents

At their best, these Continuum books make rich, thought-provoking arguments for the song collections at hand—
The Philadelphia Inquirer

A really remarkable new series of books—
The Sunday News-Herald
, Michigan

A brilliant idea—
The Times
(London)

The series treats its subjects with the kind of intelligence and carefully considered respect they deserve—
Pop Culture Press

Lucid … each volume provides insightful commentary—
The Paper
, Central Illinois

Idiosyncratic, pocket-sized monographs done with passion and insight … the analysis is both personal and articulate—
Harp Magazine

The series delves as deep as it’s possible to go without resorting to padding … 5 stars each—
Classic Rock Magazine
(UK)

Passionate, astutely written, and they lend real insight—
Amplifier Magazine

If an enterprising college professor were to put together a course on pop criticism and classic rock ’n’ roll records, the textbooks could clearly be found among the … 33 1/3 series presented by Continuum Books. Each book delves deeply into an iconic album of the past 40 years, with a variety of approaches—
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Informative, thought-provoking, creative, obsessive and more—
Albany Times Union

Articulate, well-researched, and passionate—
Library journal

A cracking good idea, and if you like the albums in question, you’re sure to love the books—
Leaf Salon
, New Zealand

Eclectic enough that there should be something for everyone—
Maxim

A nifty little string of books that deserves more attention—
Columbia Daily Tribune

These little tomes have captured me in a gobsmacked haze … These writings are so vivid and uplifting—
Cincinnati City Beat

Cultural elitism never had it so good—
Louisville Eccentric Observer

Praise for indivdiual titles in the series
:

Meat Is Murder

My personal favorite of the batch has to be Joe Pernice’s autobiographic-fiction fantasia … Over little more than a hundred pages, he manages a vivid recollection of a teenage New England Catholic school life circa 1985, in all its conflict and alienation, sexual fumblings and misplaced longing—
Tangents

Pernice’s novella captures these feelings of the despair of possibility, of rushing out to meet the world and the world rushing in to meet you, and the price of that meeting. As sound-tracked by the Smiths—
Drowned in Sound

Pernice hits his mark. The well-developed sense of character, plot and pacing shows that he has serious promise as a novelist. His emotionally precise imagery can be bluntly, chillingly personal—
The Boston Weekly Dig

Continuum … knew what they were doing when they asked songwriter Joe Pernice to pay homage to the Smiths’
Meat Is Murder—Austin American-Statesman

Pernice’s writing style reminded me of Douglas Coupland’s: the embodiment of youthful vitality and innocent cynicism, clever, quickwitted, and aware of the ridiculous cultural symbols of his time—
Stylus Magazine
(University of Winnipeg)

Forever Changes

Love fan Andrew Hultkrans obsesses brilliantly on the rock legends’ seminal disc—
Vanity Fair

Dusty in Memphis

Warren is a greatly gifted good heart, and I love him. Read his book, listen to his record, and you will too—Stanley Booth, author of
The True Adventures of the Rolling Stones

Warren Zanes … is so in love with Dusty Springfield’s great 1969 adventure in tortured Dixie soul that he’s willing to jump off the deep end in writing about it. Artfully blending academic citation, personal memoir and pungent commentary from
Dusty in Memphis
principals such as producer Jerry Wexler, Zanes uses the record as a springboard into the myths and true mysteries of Southern life—
Rolling Stone
(4 star review)

James Brown Live at the Apollo

Masterful—
The Big Takeover

Exemplary … Most astonishing, however, is Wolk’s conjecture that to avoid recording distortion, the riotous album captured “James Brown holding back”—
Mojo
(UK)

Let It Be (Replacements)

These are solid short-short stories with bona fide epiphanies—that they shed light on Meloy’s past only makes them more engaging—
The Village Voice

For reviews of individual titles in the series, please visit our website at
www.continuumbooks.com
and
33third.blogspot.com

¹
“Whoever finds that thing someday,” muses Carasov, “is gonna be a rich man.”

²
It was either on August 9—in the autumn of 2005, an old flyer turned up on eBay advertising a Beastie Boys gig at Power Tools on this date (although there was no mention of the year)—or August 16, when the Raising Hell tour played in Oakland. Jon Sidel remembers Run-DMC driving to the gig from Northern California; a teenaged Max Perlich, meanwhile, served as the Beasties’ chauffeur.