Beastie Boys Book Gets Release, Available For Pre-Order
Here's something to get excited about if you are a fan of the Beastie Boys. Back in 2013, Mike D and Ad-Rock officially signed on for a memoir. Notorious for spending long hours in the studio discussing and then ordering take-out, the Beastie Boys took their time in finishing the book. Alas, the memoir now has an official title, release date, and is available for pre-order. Beastie Boys Book will hit shelves October 30th, and tell the story of the band's formation as well as numerous transformations over their 20+ year career. The book also includes rare photos, a graphic novel, map of the Beastie's New York, playlist accoutrements, and more.
"A panoramic experience that tells the story of Beastie Boys, a book as unique as the band itself—by band members AD-ROCK and Mike D, with contributions from Amy Poehler, Colson Whitehead, Spike Jonze, Wes Anderson, Luc Sante, and more."
And just for fun, here's the 1998 "Beastieography", which you can see it's all its glory. The video is completed with 1998's MTV commercials as well - truly like stepping into a time machine.
https://vimeo.com/68587522
Beastie Boys Address Copyright Infringement
The Beastie Boys have always pushed back against their music being used in any shape or form without their express sign-off throughout the length of the group's illustrious run, going as far as to bring legal proceedings to the advertising department of Monster, after the company used "Sabotage", “So Whatcha Want,” and “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun”in commercials.
This time around, it is a San Francisco start-up toy company that has over-stepped their bounds in using Beastie Boys content without permission by making a parody video of the song "Girls". The perpetrator is GoldieBlox, who's mission statement reads they are a company that "believes there are a million girls out there who are engineers. They just might not know it yet. We think GoldieBlox can show them the way." It's not a bad slogan, better than most of what is sold to young women these days, but Ad Rock and Mike D weren't having it and wrote an open letter to the company, which you can read below. For their part, GoldieBlox counter-sued, alleging the company "created its parody video specifically to comment on the Beastie Boys song, and to further the company’s goal to break down gender stereotypes.” Check out the video and letter below.
Like many of the millions of people who have seen your toy commercial “GoldieBlox, Rube Goldberg & the Beastie Boys,” we were very impressed by the creativity and the message behind your ad.
We strongly support empowering young girls, breaking down gender stereotypes and igniting a passion for technology and engineering.
As creative as it is, make no mistake, your video is an advertisement that is designed to sell a product, and long ago, we made a conscious decision not to permit our music and/or name to be used in product ads.
When we tried to simply ask how and why our song “Girls” had been used in your ad without our permission, YOU sued US.
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