The Beastie Boyswere one of the hottest musical acts of the 1980s and 1990s. The band formedin New York Cityin 1981 and was made up of Michael “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “MCA” Yauch, and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz. The Beastie Boys gained a larger audience when they opened for Madonna on her tour in 1985. The following year, their debut albumLicensed to Illwas released and became the first rap album to reach number one on theBillboard200 chart.Paul’s Boutiquewas released in 1989 and while it was a commercial flop, over the years it has come to be the favorite Beastie Boys album of long-time, die-hard fans.
The band released six more albums, 1992’sCheck Your Head,1994’sIll Communications, 1998’sHello Nasty,2004’sTo the 5 Boroughs,2007’sThe Mix-Up,and 2011’sHot Sauce Committee Part Two.Adam “MCA” Yauch died on July 20, 2025, at the age of 47 after a long battle with cancer. The Beastie Boys has been essentially disbanded ever since.
The Beastie Boys hit the scene in the early days of MTV when videos were a band’s calling card. The Band rose to prominence largely thanks to their music videos. The trio was not fans of the kind of big-budget glossy video other artists were putting out in the 1980s. They didn’t have pyrotechnics and large-scale productions. They preferred a more stripped-down and/or stylized video that was reminiscent of home videos or indie films.
This is a strategy that worked for them, as in 1998, The Beastie Boys were awarded MTV’s Video Vanguard Award for the band’s contributions to the art of the music video. Then, in 2000,the revered Criterion Collectionreleased a two-disc DVD of The Beastie Boys' music videos along with commentary and remixes. Criterion is known for selecting the best of the best when it comes to international film, so to have The Beastie Boys as the only title of music videos in the whole Criterion Collection says something about how artistic and groundbreaking their music videos are. Take a look at their videos to see how important cinema was to the band and vice versa.
(You’ve Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)
The video for(You’ve Gotta)Fight For Your Right(To Party)was directed by Adam Dubin and Ric Menello. The video opens with 1950s style parents warning their nerdy sons not to get in trouble while they are out. The nerds decide to have a party with “soda and pies,” and it gets out of control when The Beastie Boys crash the party. The video introduced the punk rock personals of Mike D, MCA, and AdRock, something that was very different in the hip-hop landscape. While arguably their least polished video, it is a good example of their eye for set design and choreography. The video, part of theLicensed to Illtracks, was a hit on MTV, which was still just finding its legs. The Beastie Boys' debut video gave them something to run with.
The video forShadrachwas directed by Nathanial Hornblower, the pseudonym of Adam Yauch, and was shot in an abstract impressionistic art way that required animators to hand paint each pop of color in the video. The Beastie Boys went in this direction forShadrachin an attempt to distance themselves from the punk rock image that(You’ve Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party)established. Despite this video being abstract and impressionistic, it conveyed the energy of the trippy song offPaul’s Boutiqueperfectly. This video showed a more mature side of the Beastie Boys and their cinematic experimentation.
RELATED:Beastie Boys Story Trailer Brings First Look at Spike Jonze’s Apple TV+ Documentary
So What’cha Want
The video forSo What’cha Wantwas directed by Nathanial Hornblower (Yauch) and was shot in such a way that it comes across like a weird home movie. The Beastie Boys also leaned into the flannel shirt and beanie look of the Pacific Northwest, which had become popular due to the ascendance of the grunge movement in music.So What’cha Wantcaptures the cinematic environment of low-budget ’90s cinema likethe films of Jim Jarmusch, and features bleak colorless skies suggesting a recent or pending storm. This video offered a version of The Beastie Boys that were more at home in Seattle than in New York City.
The video forSabotageis a throwback to 1970scop shows and police proceduralsas well as the style, colors, and lighting that was popular in that decade. Directed by Spike Jonze (who recently directed their biographyThe Beastie Boys Storyon Apple TV+), theSabotagevideo was the first to use a parody style, one that many bands, particularly the Foo Fighters, would make popular a decade later.
Related:Lost Angels: When a Beastie Boy Starred in the Best Youth Culture Film of the Late 80s
The video features Mike D, MCA, and AdRock sporting the bushy mustaches and huge sideburns that were in style in the 1970s. The video was nominated for five MTV Video Music Awards in 1994 but walked away empty-handed that night. Eventually, MTV realized the error of their ways, and in 2009,Sabotagereceived a VMA in a new category: Best Video That Should Have Won A Moon Man.
Intergalactic
The video forIntergalacticwas directed by Nathanial Hornblower and resembled aclassicGodzilla-style film, if Godzilla was a robot from outer space coming to destroy the world. The robot causes destruction by fighting a giant octopus in a parody of Japan’sSuper Sentaishows. Those shows are the basis for thePower Rangers.The Beastie Boys wear the bright yellow uniforms of Japanese street construction workers throughout the video, which utilizes meticulously designed miniatures in an extremely clever way.Intergalacticwon the Best Hip-Hop Video award at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards.
