Random House Books for Young Readers Beastie Boys

Now here's a little story I've got to tell. Back when I was 14 in 1985 I first heard the "She's on it" 12" round my friend's house and that was it - I was hooked on the Beasties. I bought the 12" for myself that weekend, and it's a record I still have to this day 34 years later. Since that moment I've been a huge fan buying all the early singles, with the release of "Licence to Ill" being a huge moment for me back then. I was there for the infamous Brixton date in 1987 with the go-go dancers in the cage and the hydraulic 'thingy' and I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I was one of thousands up and down the country that stole a VW badge or two (the technique, dear reader, was to use the brake level on your bmx for leverage to get them off. Sorry VW owners in my hometown, I was young and stupid.)Fast forward a few decades and we come to the release of this book. I pre-ordered this to get it on the day of release and then sat it on my book shelf for a while as I had tickets for the "Live and Direct" tour and I wanted to hear the stories within it told firsthand initially before reading them in print. That live and direct date was an absolute delight from start to finish, equal parts funny as hell and moving when speaking about MCA, and a real highlight of recent times for me. It's also sad realising that I'd never get to experience them live again and that was as close as I would get.On to the book itself - I'll refrain form spoiling it too much but it's been years in the making and it really shows, it's a fantastic heavyweight tome full of moments of brilliance and you don't need to be a hardcore fan to appreciate it. There's some amazing photos in there and my only regret is that I'd have liked some sort of deluxe edition with larger glossy pages to really show them off - but hey, thought might well be prohibitively expensive. I suspect that everything will find something in here and the tales of excess are stupidity are a real delight.It's a big old book but one that's east to dip into. You'll find yourself dipping in for long periods a lot though - to paraphrase it's because you can't, you don't and you won't stop reading this book until you get to the end.

Awesome. Years in the making and its been worth the wait. Takes me back to when I was a long-haired skate punk listening to Black Flag and Slayer and having my mind blown by a 12” called Its The New Style. That was 1986. Life was never the same afterwards.

The level of detail, sense of humour, honesty and integrity blew me away. I've been a fan of the Beasties since the 90s mainly but had forgotten much of what they did, especially at the finer detail level. This book tells a personal account from the 2 remaining members, presents a fantastic, and funny, tribute to the late Adam Yauch and presents it in such an engaging and exciting way. Hats off to the designers on this one. This brought me back to street level and tuned me in once more to their skill, charm and amazing musical talent. Wish I had a signed copy, but you can't have everything!

The immediate and heartfelt tribute to Yauch seemed appropriate to put at the start of the book. And then the prologue brilliantly sets the scene of NYC in the 80s. It was my NYC too at the time and their description had my head swimming in sights sounds and smells of that era... The perfect start to a great read... Very easy to pick up, read a few stories (no more than about two pages per chapter) and put down for later. But you won't do that because Adam's and Mike's writing style is so conversational, honest, funny, nuts, touching, that you just won't want to put it down... Clear your calendar for a few nights and be prepared to get whisked away.

Any fan will love this. Truly awesome. Well presented and written like they are talking directly to you. Couldn’t have asked for a better book end to an amazing career. Big up the beastie boys and RIP MCA