Beastie Boys Book
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Narrated by:
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Michael Diamond
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Adam Horovitz
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various
About this listen
Number One New York Times Best Seller
A panoramic experience that tells the story of Beastie Boys, a book as unique as the band itself - by band members ADROCK and Mike D, with contributions from Amy Poehler, Colson Whitehead, Wes Anderson, Luc Sante, and more.
The inspiration for the Spike Jonze "live documentary" Beastie Boys Story, coming soon to IMAX theaters and Apple TV+
Named One of The Best Books of the Year by Rolling Stone • The Guardian • Paste
Formed as a New York City hardcore band in 1981, Beastie Boys struck an unlikely path to global hip hop superstardom. Here is their story, told for the first time in the words of the band. Adam "ADROCK" Horovitz and Michael "Mike D" Diamond offer revealing and very funny accounts of their transition from teenage punks to budding rappers; their early collaboration with Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin; the debut album that became the first hip hop record ever to hit number one, Licensed to Ill - and the album's messy fallout as the band broke with Def Jam; their move to Los Angeles and rebirth with the genre-defying masterpiece Paul's Boutique; their evolution as musicians and social activists over the course of the classic albums Check Your Head, Ill Communication, and Hello Nasty and the Tibetan Freedom Concert benefits conceived by the late Adam "MCA" Yauch; and more. For more than 30 years, this band has had an inescapable and indelible influence on popular culture.
With a style as distinctive and eclectic as a Beastie Boys album, Beastie Boys Book upends the typical music memoir, featuring a collection of voices reminiscent of your favorite mixtape.
Photo Credit © 1987 Lynn Goldsmith
Audiobook Cast Includes:
Steve Buscemi / Ada Calhoun / Bobby Cannavale / Exene Cervenka Roy Choi / Jarvis Cocker / Elvis Costello / Chuck D / Nadia Dajani Michael Diamond / Snoop Dogg / Will Ferrell / Crosby Fitzgerald Randy Gardner / Kim Gordon / Josh Hamilton / Adam Horovitz LL Cool J / Spike Jonze / Pat Kiernan / Talib Kweli / Dave Macklovitch Rachel Maddow / Tim Meadows / Bette Midler/ Mix Master Mike Nas / Yoshimi O / Rosie Perez / Amy Poehler / Kelly Reichardt John C. Reilly / Ian Rogers / Maya Rudolph / Rev Run Luc Sante / Kate Schellenbach / MC Serch / Chloe Sevigny Jon Stewart / Ben Stiller / Wanda Sykes / Jeff Tweedy / Philippe Zdar
Praise for Beastie Boys Book
"A fascinating, generous book with portraits and detail that float by in bursts of color.... As with [the band’s] records, the book's structure is a lyrical three-man weave.... Diamond's voice is lapidary, droll. Horovitz comes on like a borscht belt comedian, but beneath that he is urgent, incredulous, kind of vulnerable.... Friendship is the book's subject as much as music, fame and New York." (The New York Times Book Review)
"Wild, moving...resembles a Beastie Boys LP in its wild variety of styles." (Rolling Stone)
©2018 Michael Diamond (P)2018 Random House AudioListen in as Ad-Rock and Mike D talk to Audible editors Courtney Reimer and Kat Johnson about how so many great celebrity voices help make the Beastie Boys Book audio pretty fantastic.
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License to Listen - The Illest Communication
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Spend time with the big brothers you wish you had
I have such a deep history with the Beastie Boys that they almost feel like my long, lost—but so much cooler than me—brothers. When I first heard about Beastie Boys Book, it sort of tickled the back of my memory as something I’d moved on from and might be ok to miss, but when I saw the list of boldface names that would be narrating (Amy Poehler, Bobby Cannavale, Rosie Perez, and Colson Whitehead, along with 40 other famous folk), I couldn’t get my earbuds in fast enough. Oh. My. God. What a trip down memory lane-meets-fly-on-the-wall-education. I cried when Adam Horowitz (Ad-Rock) eulogized his late bandmate Adam Yauch (MCA); I was green with envy when Luc Sante talked about what it was like in lower Manhattan when the band was on the come up. Of course this will be a must-listen—and must-discuss—for Beasties fans, but for anyone hungering for an entrée into pre-9/11 New York, it’s an unexpected, and unequivocal, treat.
Critic reviews
“A fascinating, generous book with portraits and detail that float by in bursts of color.... As with [the band’s] records, the book’s structure is a lyrical three-man weave.... Diamond’s voice is lapidary, droll. Horovitz comes on like a borscht belt comedian, but beneath that he is urgent, incredulous, kind of vulnerable.... Friendship is the book’s subject as much as music, fame and New York.” (The New York Times Book Review)
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- Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Keith Morris is a true punk icon. No one else embodies the sound of Southern Californian hardcore. Short and sporting waist-length dreadlocks, Morris is known the world over for his take-no-prisoners approach on the stage and his integrity off of it. Over the course of his 40-year career, he's battled diabetes, drug and alcohol addiction, and the record industry. My Damage is more than a book about the highs and lows of a punk rock legend, however.
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keith rocks.
- By Jeff on 05-13-18
By: Keith Morris, and others
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Punk Rock Blitzkrieg
- My Life as a Ramone
- By: Rich Herschlag, Marky Ramone
- Narrated by: Corey M. Snow
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
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Having outlived his bandmates, Marky is the only person who can share the secrets and stories of the Ramones' improbable rise from obtuse beginnings to induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But it wasn't all good times and hit songs, and Marky doesn't shy away from discussing his own struggles.
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Dedicated Punk Fans Must Read
- By Leostriple on 03-26-15
By: Rich Herschlag, and others
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All These Things That I've Done
- My Insane, Improbable Rock Life
- By: Matt Pinfield, Mitchell Cohen
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 7 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Matt Pinfield is the ultimate music fan. He's the guy who knows every song, artist, and musical riff ever recorded, down to the most obscure band's B-side single on its vinyl-only EP import. As a child, music helped Pinfield make sense of the world. Later he would approach his music idols after concerts and explain why he loved their music. As an adult, rock music inspired his career, fueled relationships, and, at times, became a life raft.
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great listen
- By nilda v. on 08-28-20
By: Matt Pinfield, and others
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Your Band Sucks
- What I Saw at Indie Rock's Failed Revolution (But Can No Longer Hear)
- By: Jon Fine
- Narrated by: Jon Fine
- Length: 10 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Jon Fine spent nearly 30 years performing and recording with bands that played various forms of aggressive and challenging underground rock music. And, as he writes in this memoir, at no point were any of those bands "ever threatened, even distantly, by actual fame". Yet when members of his first band, Bitch Magnet, reunited after 21 years to tour Europe, Asia, and America, diehard longtime fans traveled from far and wide to attend those shows.
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Life in a band-the ups, downs and truth!
- By C Christopher Taylor on 07-10-18
By: Jon Fine
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Walk This Way
- Run-DMC, Aerosmith, and the Song That Changed American Music Forever
- By: Geoff Edgers
- Narrated by: Geoff Edgers
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Washington Post staff writer Geoff Edgers takes a deep dive into the story behind "Walk This Way", Aerosmith and Run-DMC's legendary, groundbreaking mashup that forever changed music.
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A MUST LISTEN/READ
- By Aron Teo Lee on 05-17-19
By: Geoff Edgers
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Wild Tales
- A Rock & Roll Life
- By: Graham Nash
- Narrated by: Graham Nash
- Length: 12 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
From Graham Nash - the legendary musician and founding member of the iconic bands Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Hollies - comes a candid and riveting autobiography that belongs on the reading list of every classic rock fan.
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The Best of the Recent Rock Biographies
- By Steven Schuster on 10-28-13
By: Graham Nash
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Deal
- My Three Decades of Drumming, Dreams, and Drugs with the Grateful Dead
- By: Bill Kreutzmann, Benjy Eisen
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
On their 50th anniversary comes a groundbreaking rock-and-roll memoir by one of the founding members of the Grateful Dead. The Grateful Dead are perhaps the most legendary American rock band of all time. For 30 years, beginning in the hippie scene of San Francisco in 1965, they were a musical institution, the original jam band that broke new ground in so many ways.
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Decent but not great
- By Monty S on 03-02-16
By: Bill Kreutzmann, and others
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The Gospel According to Luke
- By: Steve Lukather
- Narrated by: Steve Lukather
- Length: 10 hrs and 10 mins
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Performance
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Story
In this incisive memoir, Steve Lukather tells the complete Toto story. He also lifts the lid on what went on behind the closed studio doors, shedding light on the unique creative processes of some of the most legendary names in music: from Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Stevie Nicks, and Elton John to Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Bruce Springsteen, and Aretha Franklin. Lukather’s extraordinary tale also encompasses the dark side of stardom and the American Dream. Frank, engaging, and often hilarious, The Gospel According to Luke is no ordinary rock memoir.
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Wow Best Rock Biography Ever
- By Hercules on 09-29-18
By: Steve Lukather
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The Book of Drugs
- A Memoir
- By: Mike Doughty
- Narrated by: Mike Doughty
- Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Mike Doughty first came to prominence as the leader of the band Soul Coughing then did an abrupt sonic left turn, much to the surprise of his audience, transforming into a solo performer of stark, dusky, but strangely hopeful tunes. He battled addiction, gave up fame when his old band was at the height of its popularity, and drove thousands of miles, alone, across America, with just an acoustic guitar.
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I Got on an Emotional Rollercoaster w. M. Doughty
- By Hilary on 03-02-12
By: Mike Doughty
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How to Be a Man
- (and Other Illusions)
- By: Duff McKagan
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 7 hrs
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Duff McKagan is one of the most respected survivors in hard rock. In How to Be a Man, he shares the wisdom he gained on the path to superstardom - from his time with Guns N' Roses and Velvet Revolver to getting sober after a life of hard living to achieving his personal American dream of marrying a supermodel, raising a family, and experiencing what it's like to be winked at by Prince.
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Overly dramatic reader.
- By CB on 01-07-17
By: Duff McKagan
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Me, the Mob, and the Music
- One Helluva Ride with Tommy James and the Shondells
- By: Tommy James, Martin Fitzpatrick
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Everyone knows the hits: "Mony Mony," "I Think We're Alone Now," "Crimson and Clover," "Crystal Blue Persuasion." They are nuggets of rock and pop history. However, few know the unlikely story of how these hits came to be. Tommy James had been performing in rock bands in the Michigan area since the age of 12. Prompted to record a few songs by a local disc jockey in 1964, Tommy chose an obscurity titled "Hanky Panky," which became a minor local hit that came and went.
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What a ride - excellent story, well told
- By Dave on 03-25-10
By: Tommy James, and others
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I Want My MTV
- The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution
- By: Craig Marks, Rob Tannenbaum
- Narrated by: Luke Daniels
- Length: 20 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
It was a pretty radical idea - a channel for teenagers, showing nothing but music videos. It was such a radical idea that almost no one thought it would actually succeed, much less become a force in the worlds of music, television, film, fashion, sports, and even politics. But it did work. MTV became more than anyone had ever imagined. I Want My MTV tells the story of the first decade of MTV, the golden era when MTV's programming was all videos, all the time, and kids watched religiously to see their favorite bands, learn about new music, and have something to talk about at parties.
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The Most Entertaining Book of the Year
- By David on 10-24-12
By: Craig Marks, and others
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Snakes! Guillotines! Electric Chairs!
- My Adventures in The Alice Cooper Group
- By: Dennis Dunaway, Chris Hodenfield
- Narrated by: Dennis Dunaway
- Length: 10 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
When Alice Cooper became the stuff of legend in the early '70s, their shows were monuments of fun and invention. Riding on a string of hits like "I'm 18" and "School's Out", they became America's highest-grossing act, producing four platinum albums and hitting number one on the US and UK charts with Billion Dollar Babies in 1973. Their utterly original performance style and look, known as shock rock, was swiftly copied by countless bands.
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Why an audio book?
- By PALOOKA on 12-19-18
By: Dennis Dunaway, and others
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Alice in Chains
- The Untold Story
- By: David de Sola
- Narrated by: Sebastian York
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Alice in Chains was the first of grunge's big four - ahead of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden - to get a gold record and achieve national recognition. With the charismatic Layne Staley behind the microphone, they became one of the most influential and successful bands to come out of the Seattle music scene. But as the band got bigger, so did its problems.
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Disappointing!!!!
- By Rob on 12-23-16
By: David de Sola
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Relentless
- The Memoir
- By: Yngwie J. Malmsteen
- Narrated by: Yngwie J. Malmsteen, Fred Berman
- Length: 7 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Yngwie Malmsteen's revolutionary guitar style - combining elements of classical music with the speed and volume of heavy metal - made him a staple of the 80s rock scene. Decades later, he's still a legend among guitarists, having sold 11 million albums and influenced generations of rockers since. In Relentless, Malmsteen shares his personal story, from the moment he burst onto the scene seemingly out of nowhere in the early 80s to become a household name in the annals of heavy metal.
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Bloviations
- By David A. Kaplowitz on 12-29-19
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Power Chord
- One Man's Ear-Splitting Quest to Find His Guitar Heroes
- By: Thomas Scott McKenzie
- Narrated by: Fred Berman
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
Power Chord is the story of one man’s epic pilgrimage to gain rock enlightenment from the gods and guitar heroes of the Golden Age of heavy metal. Author Scott McKenzie set off to make contact with the legendary metal superstars he worshipped in his rural Kentucky youth - men like George Lynch of Dokken, Glen Tipton of Judas Priest, and Ace Frehley of KISS - hoping to gain wisdom and a better understanding of the electric guitar mystique.
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Such a fun read, especially for metal-heads
- By Jack on 04-01-23
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Hit Hard
- By: Joey Kramer
- Narrated by: Holter Graham
- Length: 6 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall
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Performance
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Story
In 1997, amid Aerosmith's sold-out world tour and number one album release, Joey revealed in an interview his ongoing struggles with depression. The response from fans and people battling those same internal demons was overwhelming. Joey now tells the complete story: the early days of the band, glamorous drug-addled events leading up to their eventual sobriety, battles within his family and among bandmates, and the explosive internal dynamics in Aerosmith.
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The things we never knew
- By bluestar on 08-22-18
By: Joey Kramer
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Story
Thurston Moore moved to Manhattan’s East Village in 1978 with a yearning for music. He wanted to be immersed in downtown New York’s sights and sounds—the feral energy of its nightclubs, the angular roar of its bands, the magnetic personalities within its orbit. But more than anything, he wanted to make music—to create indelible sounds that would move, provoke, and inspire. His dream came to life in 1981 with the formation of Sonic Youth, a band Moore cofounded with Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo.
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Disembodied Art and Intellect
- By Kris on 11-02-23
By: Thurston Moore
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Smash!
- Green Day, The Offspring, Bad Religion, NOFX, and the '90s Punk Explosion
- By: Ian Winwood
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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With astounding access to all the key players of the time, including members of Green Day, The Offspring, NOFX, Rancid, Bad Religion, Social Distortion, and many others, renowned music writer Ian Winwood at last gives this significant, substantive, and compelling story its due. Punk rock bands were never truly successful or indeed truly famous, and that was that - until it wasn't. Smash! is the story of how the underdogs finally won and forever altered the landscape of mainstream music.
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Horrible narrator
- By Robert Mennona on 05-05-19
By: Ian Winwood
What listeners say about Beastie Boys Book
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- Brian Baker
- 11-24-18
Read the book and forget the audio version
The book is interesting but the constant use of different “celebrity” narrators is unbelievably distracting and confusing. In fact, it was so terrible that I frequently considered stopping the audio book and buying the hard copy instead. I know the Beastie Boys were trying to be different with some of their choices - but in my opinion it was a huge disappointment. Listening to Mike D and Adam in their own voices brought a feeling of passion and authenticity. You just don’t get the same feel when Rosie Perez or Jon Stewart are reading. Plus the hard copy is full of photos - something you don’t get with the audio book (although it would be nice if that was available).
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8 people found this helpful
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- Maria D Francis
- 03-11-19
incredible!
I'm so glad I decided to listen to this! The narration was fantastic. This is a must listen for any fan!
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1 person found this helpful
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- Marcus Greg Taylor
- 04-11-19
please return hot sauce part 1
having different voices throughout is awesome! i also enjoyed their history blended with the history of hip hop
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1 person found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 11-06-18
Really, REALLY great. I didn't want it to end!
I really didn't want this book to end! You can tell so much love and happiness went into this production! It really makes you feel connected to your Beastie family! But this isn't just a book for Beastie fans. All the guest narrators was such a brilliant idea! I'm gonna go start at chapter 1 again..... Thanks for this... Truly
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- Buffalo Jake
- 02-08-19
Full Clout
Incredibly awesome book. I thought I knew a lot about the B Boys but I clearly didn’t know it all and this book chauffeurs you through the whole experience. 3 bad brothers you know so well. Get this and listen now.
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- James
- 01-09-19
fantastic
a nostalgic and insightful get away to the band I grew up loving. Well worth the 12 hour listen. Delightfully read by Mike d, adam horovitz and a large cast of celebrity readers.
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- Tia
- 12-28-18
Casual Beasties fan perspective
I'm only in the second chapter, but since the book is so new, I need to add a little review for those of you who may be casual fans of the beasties, but are still from the underground persuasion. I'm in my mid forties, and grew up in the midwest (Des Moines) where access to art and music that was outside of the mainstream was less than ideal, but not impossible. Still, I had to work for it. We drove to Minneapolis for shows, but were also fed a steady diet of industrial music from that area.
I am, like I said, only two chapters in. But I'm hooked. The writing is impeccable. I feel like I'm there, in NYC, experiencing this along with them. There is mention of bands and genres from punk to reggae, of Robert Mapplethorpe and the gay nightclub scene. I can taste the 80s listening to the descriptions of the subculture that I watched from afar.
I picked this up as a whim; I was done with my last book and needed something new. I saw them on Kimmel hyping the book, opened audible and grabbed it. Now I'm planning on buying the actual book to get the pics that go along with the stories, but still want the audiobook because the narration is amazing, with an all-star cast and some fancy editing that, I'm sure, the Beasties had their hands all over.
If you're a casual fan, and grew up with the B-Boys, don't hesitate to pick this one up. You won't regret it. I'll keep updating this review as I go, but so far, it's my favorite read of 2018!
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- kevin darouian
- 02-14-19
Gratitude
It was a real pleasure to hear the stories behind the band. The playful spirit and genuine love for music comes out in full force. I had high expectations and this book didn’t disappoint. Narration was top notch. Creative writing was carried with depth and humor. I would recommend this book to anyone.
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- Kristofer Joseph
- 01-30-19
Realized it's weird to miss Yauch like I knew him
... but then again a lot of my friends do.
This book dragged me through a mid-life crisis inducing journey of my young adult life, but from the other side of the soundtrack.
This collection of anecdotes had me nodding to myself like an idiot for months.
What I thought would be a light read about good times ended up being that plus a story of enduring friendships that span a lifetime. It left me missing the days of good friends piled in a minivan bumping all the music referenced within.
It's full of answers to questions I didn't know I had and is good for quite a few nostalgic trips down parallel timelines.
I highly recommend it.
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- Joshua
- 11-03-18
Beastie Boys now and forever!
I love this band and really enjoyed the behind the scenes stories of my favorite records. The performance from the wide variety of narrators only adds to the stories... on and on till the break of dawn. -RIP Yauch
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