During their very recent lawsuit against Monster Beverages, The Beastie Boys’ surviving member Michael “Mike D” Diamond revealed some sad news regarding the future of the group. According to SPIN, he and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz will never release any new music under the Beastie Boys name.
While this statement was made during trial proceeding and not as a direct statement to the press, Diamond plainly said that they could not create new music without Adam “MCA” Yauch, who passed away in 2012. “We have not been able to tour since MCA, Adam Yauch died. We can’t make new music.” This may have something to do with the fact that Yauch’s will states “Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, in no event may my image or name or any music or any artistic property created by me be used for advertising purposes.”
Yauch’s will may be the reason why this case was so hard fought. Because Monster used the Beastie Boys’ music under false pretenses in a promotional web video, it clearly went against his final wishes only days after his passing. The Beastie Boys have receive many licensing offers, including one for the recent Arnold Schwarzenegger’s release Sabotage, but Diamond and Horovitz felt that it was too much of an endorsement and declined the offer.
The two surviving members have released minimal music independently, including beats for Yoko Ono’s Bad Dancer. But Ad-Rock and Mike D have been more or less quiet since MCA’s death in 2012. The Beastie Boys have certainly earned their spot in music history but it is sad to hear that they will not be releasing anymore new music under the iconic name. Hopefully Diamond and Horovitz will continue to create new songs regardless.
-Marisa Frydman (@musicalmarisa)