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Videos: Mourning And Celebrating Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch
By
John Del Signore
Published May 4, 2012
Modified May 9, 2012
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By
John Del Signore
Published May 4, 2012
Modified May 9, 2012
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There are definitely more eloquent ways of saying this, and there will be time for that, but this just really fucking sucks. No way around it. As ?uestlove put it, "Yauch is gone. fuck." We remember meeting Adam Yauch at a film screening for his nascent Oscilloscope film distribution company—he was as kind, thoughtful, and perceptive as we expected. Years earlier, we had spotted him at a massive march protesting the start of the Iraq war—we noticed MCA ahead of us in the crowd when he joined other demonstrators sitting down in the middle of the street. No words were exchanged, and nobody hounded him, because it was no surprise Yauch was there. Here he is with the Brass Monkey on Soul Train in 1987:
Here are the Beastie Boys in 2007 playing their first and last show in Brooklyn, where Yauch was born and raised.
The Beastie Boys on... Charlie Rose:
In 1995, The Beastie Boys performed on Saturday Night Live. Here they are doing the juicy instrumental groove "Rickey's Theme" followed by the hardcore cut "Heart Attack Man":
Here's a typically hilarious interview with the three emcees from a few years back, around the time they released the Yauch-directed concert DVD Awesome, I Fucking Shot That. (We were there!) Yauch reveals that he wants a mah-jong video game compatible with is Mac:
And here they are at that MSG show that became the documentary, which took an innovative approach to the concert doc genre by giving video cameras to 50 concertgoers and mixing their footage in with the pro-shot coverage. It's worth checking out!
In 1994, an outlandishly-costumed Yauch crashed the stage at the MTV music video awards posing as his alter-ego Nathaniel Hörnblowér, the name he used to credit himself on many of the videos he directed.
Here's an exclusive interview with Hörnblowér, Mike D and Adam Horovitz in 1992:
Among other things, Hörnblowér directed the Beastie Boys "Intergalactic":
Lastly, a clip from the Beastie Boys final concert at Bonnaroo in June 2009. After that show, they cancelled their remaining tour dates and made this sad announcement. Here they are with Nas:
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adam yauch
beastie boys
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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