Beastie Boys reveal inspiration behind classic 1994 track 'Sabotage'

'it would be funny to write a song about how Mario was holding us all down, how he was trying to mess it all up, sabotaging our great works of art'

(Rex Features)

Adam Horovitz and Michael Diamond of the Beastie Boys have revealed the origins of their 1994 classic “Sabotage”.

As part of a new book titled Beastie Boys Book, which mixes first-person recollections and contributions from the likes of Wes Anderson, Luc Sante, and Amy Poehler, the duo write that the track was inspired by engineer Mario Caldato Jr.’s treatment of the band in the recording studio.

“We were totally indecisive about what, when, why and how to complete songs. Mario was getting frustrated,” Horovitz writes. “That’s a really calm way of saying that he would blow a fuse and get pissed off at us and scream that we just needed to finish something, anything, a song. He would push awful instrumental tracks we made just to have something moving toward completion.”

He adds that “Sabotage” was the last song to be completed on their Ill Communication album, going through several incarnations, and only finally being completed after Horovitz decided “it would be funny to write a song about how Mario was holding us all down, how he was trying to mess it all up, sabotaging our great works of art.”

in 2004, “Sabotage” was included in Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The accompanying music video, directed by Spike Jonze, was nominated in five categories at the 1994 MTV Music Video Awards.

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