If it feels like The Beastie Boys have always been a part of your life it’s because they have. The band first formed way back in 1981. It was 1984, though, when they became the trio who would go down in music history as one of the best hip hop groups ever. But even that description doesn’t do justice to their importance. Michael “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “MCA” Yauch, and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz are still one of the most influential acts of all-time. They are also still one of the coolest. Now Apple TV+ is ready to share their incredible tale in a new documentary from director Spike Jonze. It’s an unlikely one that spans nearly forty years and millions of records sold. And—no surprise—the first look at Beastie Boys Story sounds amazing.
This “live documentary experience” features Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz as they share “an intimate, personal story of their band and 40 years of friendship. Apple TV+ says “the project grew out of Adam’s and Mike’s collaboration on their bestselling Beastie Boys Book.” We anticipate we will hear a lot during the doc about their friend Adam “MCA” Yauch who sadly passed away in 2012.
The movie was also directed by someone who will forever be associated with the group. It’s led by the band’s longtime friend and collaborator Spike Jonze. As every Beastie Boys fan knows, Jonze directed the group’s iconic music video for “Sabotage.” (Seriously, lots of things make us feel old nowadays, but “Sabotage” was released in 1994. How in the living hell did that come out 26 years ago? It’s now old enough it can rent a car and recreate its video.)
That remains—and always will—one of the best music videos ever made. Jonze could have made a documentary just about that and we’d watch a nine-hour cut of it. Of course, that’s also true about a lot of The Beastie Boys career.
We can’t wait to learn about how they all met for the first time. And we also want to hear about the making of their first album, 1986’s Licensed to Ill. Then there’s the rest of their best-selling follow-ups. This is a group that was supposed to be a fad, and instead they went on to unimaginable success. They sold over 26 million albums in the U.S., and 50 million around the world. They collected platinum records in three different decades, in an industry where most bands don’t survive for a couple of years. And those are just the accolades we can count. Their influence on generations of musicians is immeasurable.
We’re not sure how one documentary will touch on even a fraction of everything they accomplished. But we do know the music for it is going to be amazing. We know because we’ve been listening to it for our entire lives.
Beastie Boys Story comes to Apple TV+ on April 24. If you don’t want to wait that long, first a special cut of the film will open in select IMAX Theatres for a limited, exclusive engagement on April 3.
Featured Image: Apple TV+