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Identifying what else I was comfortable doing with my life was a very gradual process.
What hes settled on has been both comparatively low-key and deeply enviable.
Has working on the book affected your thinking about the Beastie Boys career?
Does that jibe with your understanding of the bands trajectory?No.
Whats missing there?It isnt based on nothing its just based on a simple timeline.
There are a million moments that lead up to those moments you picked out.
WithPauls Boutique, for example, we were three fools trying to make something we loved.
We didnt realize it was going to flop.
Ive got more hits thanSadaharu Oh is the one that kills me.So you like that one?
Was Sadaharu Oh a more obscure reference than, say,Rod Carew?
Rod Carew was an American League MVP!But Sadaharu Oh wastheJapanese baseball player that Americans could name.
Let me think …George Drakouliasis a reference that was probably hard for people to get.
Now you have me thinking aboutPauls Boutique.
Im happy that we have a lot of New York references on there, whether its Drakoulias orEd Koch.
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Lets talk about New York for a bit.
New York is infinitely different now than it was when I grew up.
The city felt so much more lawless.
As an individual and a band we couldnt have become who we became without that freedom and that exposure.
Theyre growing up in a radically different environment than you did.Obviously issues come up.
There are teen-angst issues that are real.
And then theres getting into Slayer, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin the emergent testosterone classics.
Whats interesting about those phases?I kept asking myself why that music hasnt been totally replaced.
It was weird to me that I wasnt hearing things that my kids related to that I couldntembrace.
When they did hit on something, I was like,Finally!
What did it?When they started listening to$uicideboy$I was like, Thats it.
That checks the boxes.
Its really loud, I cant really relate, I dont really want to listen to it.
Do your kids have any sense at all of what you represented?Thats a tricky question.
I guess the only way theyd relate to it is if some friends were listening to our records.
I think then my kids would be like, Why would you do that?
They have to listen to me all the time.
Listening to my music wouldnt be fun for them at all.
I mean in deeper ways.A huge amount is lost.
Its very sad to me, honestly.
Wherever that is now I dont know about it.
Thats largely gone now.
You cant have a studio here, the cost is so great.
And the cost ofthathas been to box out culture.
I was just living in Bali for four months with my kids.
What appeals to you about being nomadic?Having lived that way on tour since I was 18.
Its what feels natural to me.
Also, Ive realized that this is maybe too heavy for this interview.
Heavy is okay.After what happened with Adam [Yauch], I realized that life can be short.
Its very difficult to do.
Thats not what Im in the market for.
This is making me think about New York.
I think its important to travel the world with them.
And its also about breaking bring up the myth that the United States is this leading majority.
Indonesia, where weve been living, is going toovertake the U.S. in populationwithin my kids lifetime.
I really think that helps them think differently about the world in a positive way.
Like I said, uprooting myself or challenging myself was my normal for decades.
Can you remember what one of the songs was called?Sloppy Drunks.
Whats another example of that absurdity?
Is there a story that comes to mind?Yeah.
We were so fucking stupid.
We were like, Oh, we have a real gig.
Were going to rent a limousine to get us there and get us back.
Were going to goout.
So we got the limo and because Run-D.M.C.
was wearing Adidas suits at the time, we wore matching Puma suits thats where it was at.
We were opening forKurtis Blow, I think, so it was a big deal.
The first comment we heard was, Who the fuck are you guys, Menudo?
But subjects likecultural appropriationare hot button in a way they werent in the80s.
We realized we looked like fucking clowns and we felt like fucking clowns.
I dont know what people are willing to accept.
Its an interesting time because theoretically everythings been done already and everything is culturally available.
Ideally that means there are fewer cultural barriers.
In theory whatever someone is influenced by should be inclusive and available to them.
In practice, I dont know if that ends up being the case.
Licensed to Illwas the first rap album to go No.
1 on the Billboard Top 200.
With current rap, theres nothing that makes itnotpop.
I did foresee that wed get something like an OutKast rap that could sell millions and still feelnotpop.
But now were in a stage where rap isnt separate from pop, which is amazing.
I just dont see things through that lens.
Something that always makes me cringe is when somebody says, You gotta hear this.
Theyre like you guys.
That usually doesnt end well.
Thats kind of the best-case scenario.
Im sure theyre nice people [their music] isnt my cup of tea.
For obvious, tragic reasons the Beastie Boys had a definitive ending.
Whatd you arrive at?I dont know its all different things.
Now I do that with guests on the show.
Actually, when Iproduce other peoples records,asking What have you been listening to?
is always my starting point.
So those are things that would take place in the band that still take place now.
Whether its curating a music-and-visual art show withJeffrey Deitch or working on a wine listfor a restaurant.
Im interested in trying to do things that I feel like I have no business doing.
Because that was part of what we did as a band.
We werent afraid to try shit.
You mentioned how important sharing music with each other was to the Beastie Boys.
I think its fair to say that you guys used to perform a similar curatorial function for your fans.
Technology has obviously made that kind of digging so much easier.
When I was 15, getting into the Clash exposed me to reggae.
The tools he has are immediate.
Hes not having to go out.
Its so different from how I did it.
Id always get off the subway in downtown New York to go to record stores.
That was the way.
Now my son, Skyler, can do all the equivalent searching online.
Proximity to the culture is no longer an issue for learning about it.
Does that matter?I dont know.
Discussing curated filters is very three years ago.
Say, have you heard that the future of music is streaming?
They dont expect to be able to rise above it intelligently anymore.
I dont remember that.
Wed fuck with each other constantly.
I strongly disagree with the hazing [characterization].
We would all fuck with each other.
That was just part of it.
Hazing sounds like some kind of frat thing.
The only fraternal aspect of it was that Yauch and Horovitz and me became like brothers.
Adam also has a young child.
My kids are much older.
Young kids are a hands-on-deck experience.
Good title.you might file it under the category of funny to us.
It truly is intoxicating its probably the endorphins that does it.
Are there emotions common to surfing and making music?Yeah.
I think musicians can become addicted to surfing very quickly because theres overlap.
Surfing is a simile for that experience.
Youre getting the same sort of energy in a totally different form.
Do I sound like a West Coast douche?
Because youre describing the cosmic qualities of surfing?
Whereas when youre 18 or 19 years old, youre on lizard-brain autopilot.
If something feels good, youre just trying to make it happen again.
Although I could have grown up my whole life surfing in Rockaway.
There are really good waves in New York.
I feel sort of like an idiot that I didnt take advantage.
But L.A. hasnt totally changed me.
About what?Im pretty phobic about being an adult, even downright scared.
What would the 25-year-old Mike D would think of the 52-year-old Mike D?Thats a very good question.
Let me say one thing and then Ill answer it more directly.
And hed be like, Oh hey, Beastie Boys!
You guys are still doing it, huh?
And theyd be like, Still doing it, huh?
I guess I can say it like this: Adulthood is overrated; maturity is underrated.
So the young Mike D would be happy with where he wound up?The 25-year-old me?
I guess I hope that I come offas eccentric as Bob Dylancame off to me back then.
Thatd be hard to do.
Hes a pretty weird guy.I didnt say I was achieving it.
I think about the longevity and the closeness that the three of us had.
Its really what is the correct adjective to expressfamily?
Familial.Thats what it was, and thats what it is.
This interview has been edited and condensed from two conversations.
Annotations by Matt Stieb.
