And yet, “Beastie Boys Story,” while often
rollicking and moving, frequently has the stale
air of a Ted Talk, as Horowitz and Diamond
calmly walk the stage, read teleprompters from
stools, pause for frequent video inserts and
chronologically tell the story of their unlikely
rise from downtown New York to hip-hop elite.
“Beastie Boys Story” was a touring stage show
that Horowitz (Ad-Rock) and Diamond (Mike D)
performed following the 2018 publication of
their massive memoir-scrapbook “Beastie Boys
Book.” Over their three-night stand last year at
Brooklyn’s Kings Theater, Jonze documented
it. Occasionally, he’s heard (but not seen)
interjecting from the booth.
Those few moments, along with a handful
of other sly riffs (a montage of their hard-
working “Check Your Head” club tour is scored
to Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5”) supply some of the
deconstruction you’d expect from the Beasties
and Jonze. But, really, much of this isn’t so
different than “Springsteen on Broadway,”
only with more interjections of “No joke!” and
“That’s crazy!”
But one of the richest threads of the Beasties’
story is how they were so often propelled by
improvisation and goofing off. Their sophomore
album, “Paul’s Boutique,” was a mash-up
masterpiece of endless sampling and style
mixing. When they rented a Hollywood house
owned by Marilyn Grasshoff, her ’70s wardrobe
became their treasure-trove of props. “Sabotage,”
they filmed without permits or much planning.
At their best, they just went out and made stuff,
pulling from a wide spectrum of sources and
whatever was around them.