The Skills to Pay the Bills: The Story of the Beastie Boys

by Alan Light

In 1987, three white Jewish boys from New York City were the most fascinating phenomenon in the burgeoning rap music scene. No, really. The Beastie Boys, barely out of their teens, had just released Licensed to Ill , which quickly became the first hip-hop album to reach number one on the charts. Pairing vulgar and hilarious lyrics with heavy-metal-derived musical backing and a punk DIY attitude, the Beasties—MCA (Adam Yauch), King Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz), and Mike D (Michael Diamond)—changed the face of rap forever by bringing it into the mainstream. In the years that followed, they would change it again and again—musically, culturally, and politically.

To create The Skills to Pay the Bills , Alan Light spent years taping conversations with the group, their friends, roommates, producers, engineers, collaborators, and other artists from Madonna to Chuck D. Here, as told from the inside, is the fascinating tale of three rump-shaking, innovative rappers whose albums still go platinum and whose tours continue to fill arenas after more than two decades of making music. The Skills to Pay the Bills chronicles the Beasties’ unique journey from the hardcore New York underground to the top of the Billboard charts. It is a story of larger-than-life personalities, noble causes, funky beats, and truly one of the most influential and ambitious groups of all time.

I said, Where’d you get your information from, huh?



“The first time I met them, I thought I was on Candid Camera.” —D.M.C.

“I think I made out with Adam Yauch once in their dressing room.” —Madonna

“One of my favorite groups is the Beastie Boys.” —Bono

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

A veteran music journalist, Alan Light is the author of The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah" and Let's Go Crazy: Prince and the Making of Purple Rain. Light was previously the editor-in-chief of Vibe and Spin and a senior writer for Rolling Stone. He is also a frequent contributor to the New York Times.

Reviews

[Marc Baldwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first thing you need to know about this review is that I've always been a big Beastie Boys fan. I've stuck with them from the Licensed to Ill party beginnings to the overly political To the Five Burroughs.

I enjoyed the book because it's all direct from people who were on the inside, with a lot directly from the boys themselves. As much as I know about the Beastie Boys, I learned some things that I never knew, such as the fact that they recorded an entire album's worth (12 songs) of country music at one point, and that they almost ditched Mike D early on because he wasn't "cool enough". In particular, I enjoyed all the scoop about the beginnings of Def Jam records with Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons and how the Beastie Boys played into all that.

It's not like a page-turning novel that will have you glued from beginning to end, but it kept my attention throughout. It was worth the read, at least for this fan.

[Tom Gase · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just re-read this because MCA died. A quick read, but remembered why I only gave it 3 stars. Really informative about the License to Ill years, but I basically don't care about that album as much anymore. When I think of the Beastie Boys, I barely think of that album anymore. I wanted to know more about Check Your Head, Ill Communication, Paul's Boutique and Hello Nasty and after the first 110 pages or so being on one album and the leading up to it, the last 80 pages are on all the other albums, so this feels rushed near the end. And the book is all quotes, almost like a best-of from Spin Magazine or something. Still, it was nice to read about MCA's life again. So sad to see him go waaaaaaaaaaaay too early.

[Colin Rink · Rating 5 out of 5]

I crushed this book in a a couple of days, and just couldn't put it down. Like so many others I grew up listening the Beastie Boys, and this book was a nice piece of nostalgia. The story follows Adam, Adam and Mike From their start as a punk band in New York City in the mid 80's up until the late 90's / early 2000's after releasing Hello Nasty and subsequently to the 5 Boroughs.

The book is basically a series of quotes told from many different people in smaller segments or quotes taken from various interviews and segments. The Beastie Boys, Dr. Dre, Madonna, Molly Ringwold, Mix Master Mike, Bono (to name a few) tell wild stories from life, touring and living life.

If you're a fan, this book gets ya.

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this in preparation to read "Beastie Boys book" and it was surprisingly very enjoyable. This is a quick read in an oral history style There are a variety of contributors such as the Beastie boys themselves (through what’s most likely magazine articles), Lyor Cohen, Dj Hurricane, Mixmaster Mike, Rusell Simmons, Rick Rubin.

The book works in a linear style, it does a great job focusing pretty evenly on every phase of their career up to 2005. I’m about 100 pages into "the Beastie Boys Book" and I have to say, reading "Skills to Pay the Bills" was a great primer. The facts in this book seem to match pretty accurately with facts I have read in the Beastie Boys book. They are probably best read together, this is a fast read that gives a linear history of the Beastie Boys with a lot of fun details, whereas the Beastie Boys book is a magazine style book that takes a while to thumb through, and gives detailed descriptions people and moments in the surviving members lives

My favorite parts were descriptions of the Def Jam days (in particular the Madonna tour, creation of songs from Licensed to Ill, the Licensed to Ill tour), all of Russel Simmons input is actually great, descriptions of the creation of Paul’s Boutique and their mindset at the time and the creation of the Hello Nasty album (my favorite album of theirs).

I purchased this book a few years back used and have noticed the prices are a little high now for what it is, but it is definitely worth and e-book purchase or library rental to prepare for reading the Beastie Boys book or if you just want a concise history with a few great short stories of the Beastie boys and their contributions to music

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wanting to read something about the Beasties in light of Yauch's passing, this was the recommended novel. Alan Light, who has always been light-handed in his journalism, gives a dilapidated oral history of the band. The book skims over the band's post-Licensed to Ill years (good thing there's Dan LeRoy's book about Paul's Boutique) and omits the struggle post-PB as the band had to once again reassess and reinvent.

I hate for Yauch's death to be the impetus for a comprehensive book but it's what I want from a band as versatile and dynamic as the Beastie Boys.

[Martyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Entertaining but extremely flimsy. It nearly fell apart in several chapters due to the whole book being made up of quotes - it seemed like the editor had little to go on in places and so crowbarred in some unconnected stuff. I learned next to nothing, (I went in knowing hardly anything about the Beastie Boys, aside from their music), so it was a little disappointing. Still, I wasn't looking for "serious" in a 199-page book of quotes and so “entertaining” it is then!

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably would have worked better as a documentary. Great stories, but not enough scene setting to help me see what was happening. Too many times there would be this great setup to a revealing anecdote, but turn the page and the story is over. Overall though cool insight on a very cool band.

[Nat · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book flows like a mud slide.

It consists of snippets of interviews with the beasties and co. spliced up and fairly cleverly intercut with one another. Most of the info is fortunately from the much more interesting early party years and the Paul's Boutique era.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

SOOOOOO Good! Very funny and interesting just to see how things went down behind the scenes. Loved it.

[Sandi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a complete waste of time since I can now differentiate one Beastie from another but pretty lightweight.

[Lukas Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

R.I.P. MCA

[Tacey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read for any BB fan! Wonder what RR thinks ?

[joe touzel · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading this, I'm still not sure how they managed to be so successful. I guess they were just badasses.

[Rob O'd · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh.