Book Details
| Title: | Beastie Boys Book | |
| Author: | Adam Horovitz, Michael Diamond | |
| Times Read: | 1 | |
| Last Read: | 06.17.20 |
Other Books Read By This Author (0)
| Date Read | Note |
| 06.17.20 | Since this book came out, it's been a problem for me. I really wanted to read it, but it was like a brick so I couldn't carry it around with me, I didn't want to try reading it in bed doing strength training while trying to hold it up, and I've never been the sort to sit in a chair and read during the day. However, just flipping through the pages told me that kindle was not an option because there are so many captioned photos, format changes, and interesting layout tidbits that it seemed like I would get 40% of the book on an e-reader. So there it sat on my shelf along with all the other oversized non-fiction in my library. Mocking me. Cut to several years later and The Beasties put out a filmed version of the loose presentation/show they toured in support of the book. It's directed by Spike Jonze and promises to give me what I want out of the book without me having to, you know, do anything about it. I watch and really like the documentary but feel like some areas - particularly the entire second half of their career - are glossed over. I really need to read that book. Then a friend mentions that the audiobook is pretty special because they got a lot of their friends to read chapters. Ahh, ok, so maybe the various format changes could be represented by different people! This made sense to me in a way that the kindle did not, even though there would be even less to look at while ingesting. It also meant i could "read" while working, since a copy of the audiobook landed on my computer's desktop. Now this could finally be done. In the end, I think I wound up pulling the book down and reading along or catching up to where I was by looking at the photos about three dozen times while listening to all the chapters. I still had to read one chapter in particular since the guy reading on the audiobook had a very strong accent (which worked great, if you already know the words he's saying). Still though, while much of the first half was adapted pretty closely to the doc, I finally got all the Beastie story I wanted. This book is fantastic for a fan and stands as an example of how to do a biography right. It exudes the same sense of fun and scattershot influences that the band itself has, gives some rare insight on specific songs album by album, and also provides context for where they came from and why they made the choices they made. It's really great. If i have one complaint: just like the doc, this book basically switches to fast forward as soon as they hit Ill Communication. I got the sense that this was the point in their careers where they basically had their shit together and, just like pretty much everyone experiences in their 30s and 40s, life itself seems to hasten. So it makes sense that they'd be somewhat less inclined to revel in the nostalgia of their third arena tour like they did when their first single hit airwaves, but still... I got the sense that Mike D in particular wasn't so interested in saying much about anything post 2000. But still. I now feel like I've gotten to know these three guys; hung out with them; listened to music together, which is a pretty cool feeling to get from reading a book. I mean listening to one. |
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