Sabotage (Beastie Boys song) explained

"Sabotage" is a song by American rap rock group Beastie Boys, released by Grand Royal Records in January 1994 as the first single from their fourth studio album, Ill Communication (1994). The song features traditional rock instrumentation (Ad-Rock on guitar, MCA on bass, and Mike D on drums), turntable scratches, heavily distorted bass guitar riffs and lead vocals by Ad-Rock. A moderate commercial success, the song was notable for its video, directed by Spike Jonze; it was also nominated in five categories at the 1994 MTV Music Video Awards.

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Sabotage" No. 475 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.^[8] In 2010, it was dropped to No. 480. In a 2021 updated list, Rolling Stone re-ranked the song at No. 245. In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at No. 46 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks, and was ranked No. 19 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s list. Pitchfork Media included the song at No. 39 on their Top 200 Tracks of the 90s list.^[9]

Background

The song was first conceived when MCA played the signature bass line one day in the studio and it immediately caught the band's attention. Both Ad-Rock and Mike D picked up their respective instruments and started building on it. According to Ad-Rock in the 2020 Beastie Boys Story documentary, the lyrics are a fictitious rant about how their producer "was the worst person ever and how he was always sabotaging us and holding us back."

Critical reception

Larry Flick from Billboard wrote, "Loud, aggressive, and probably likely to spur senseless acts of vandalism by teen wannabes, but showcases Beasties' devotion to punk and old-school rap–mostly the former. All that and a nice, compact, three-minute package perfect for radio play, with some modern rock outlets already aboard."^[10] Chuck Campbell from Knoxville News Sentinel said that on the song, "over-the-top rage and bossy noise are key elements in a hybrid of vitriolic rap and edgy rock."^[11]

Paste, NME, and American Songwriter all named "Sabotage" as the Beastie Boys' greatest song.^{[12] [13] [14]} In 2024, Esquire ranked it number nine in their "The 50 Best Songs of the ’90s".^[15]

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Sabotage", directed by Spike Jonze and played extensively on MTV,^[16] is a homage to, and parody of, 1970s crime drama shows such as Hawaii Five-O, The Streets of San Francisco, S.W.A.T., Baretta, and Starsky and Hutch. The video is presented as the opening credits of a fictional 1970s-style police show called Sabotage, with the band members appearing as the show's protagonists. Each band member is introduced as a fictional actor, and the names of the characters are also given.

The characters appearing on the show are (in order of credits):^[17]

• Sir Stewart Wallace guest-starring as himself (played by MCA)
• Nathan Wind as Cochese (also played by MCA)
• Vic Colfari as Bobby, "The Rookie" (played by Ad-Rock)
• Alasondro Alegré as "The Chief" (played by Mike D)
• Fred Kelly as Bunny (played by DJ Hurricane)

Jonze's future wife Sofia Coppola, along with co-host Zoe Cassavetes, conducted an in-character mock interview with the "cast" of Sabotage on the second episode^{[18] [19]} of her short-lived Comedy Central show Hi Octane (and the clip would later be included on the Beastie Boys Video Anthology DVD released in 2000^[20]).

Additionally, in the DVD commentary for the 1996 film Trainspotting, Danny Boyle credits the film's opening credits to those used in "Sabotage."^[21]

Actress Amy Poehler reviewed the music video in 2018's Beastie Boys Book saying that "there would be no Anchorman, no Wes Anderson, no Lonely Island, and no channel called Adult Swim if this video did not exist".^[22]

Censorship

Some scenes had to be removed when the video was shown on MTV, including a knife fight sequence, a scene in which a man is thrown out of a car into a street, and one where another man is thrown off a bridge and is shown violently hitting the ground (although it is clearly visible that the bodies thrown are stunt dummies).^[23]

1994 MTV Video Music Awards

The video for "Sabotage" was nominated for Video of the Year, Best Group Video, Breakthrough Video, Best Direction in a Video, and Viewer's Choice at the 1994 MTV Video Music Awards. However, it lost all five categories it was nominated in, losing Video of the Year, Best Group Video and Viewer's Choice to Aerosmith's "Cryin'", and Breakthrough Video and Best Direction in a Video to R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts".

During R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe's acceptance speech for the Best Direction award, Beastie Boys member MCA bum-rushed the stage in his "Nathaniel Hornblower" disguise, interrupting Stipe to protest the shutout of "Sabotage" from every category it was nominated in.

At the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, the "Sabotage" video won best video in the new category of "Best Video (That Should Have Won a Moonman)".^[24]

In popular culture

• The music video for Sabotage directly influenced the iconic opening sequence of the 1996 film Trainspotting.
• The song is playing at the Limelight nightclub in Greenwich village where Rictor and Shatterstar are spending the night in X-Force Vol 1 #43
• Beavis and Butthead review the video with Beavis asking when the real Sabotage show^[25] is going to come out.
• The band Phish covered the song in their 1998 concerts at Hampton Coliseum, and it appears on the live album of those concerts, Hampton Comes Alive.
• During Saturday Night Lives 25th Anniversary Special in 1999, the band played the first fifteen seconds of the song before their performance was "sabotaged" by Elvis Costello, who in 1977 had done the same to one of his own songs on the show; the Beastie Boys then accompanied him on "Radio, Radio", the song performed during the original incident.^[26]
• In the 1999 Futurama episode "Hell Is Other Robots", the Beastie Boys perform several songs, including an a cappella version of the song.
• The song is included in the track list for the 2007 video games and Rock Band.
• The roller coaster X² at Six Flags Magic Mountain has an on-board soundtrack that features Sabotage, which can be heard from after the first drop until the final brake run.
• The song is heard early in J. J. Abrams' 2009 Star Trek film, played on a car stereo by an adolescent James T. Kirk. This is one of the few uses of licensed music in a Star Trek production. The song also plays a crucial part in the plot of the 2016 sequel Star Trek Beyond, in which it is used by Kirk and his officers to disrupt an alien attack on a Federation starbase.^[27]
• The song was covered by hardcore punk band Cancer Bats for their 2010 album Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones.
• The song is included on the soundtrack of the 2012 film This Means War.
• In 2013, the song was heavily played and used in the soundtrack of one episode of How I Met Your Mother.^[28]
• Finnish band Steve 'n' Seagulls performed a version of the song in November 2015 for The A.V. Club A.V. Undercover series.^[29]
• The song played during the Bronco chase scene in .^[30]
• The animated TV comedy series Family Guy used "Sabotage" in the 2016 episode "The New Adventures of Old Tom" for Peter and Tom Tucker's skateboarding video.
• The song is featured in the live-action trailer "New Heroes Will Rise"^[31] for the 2017 video game Destiny 2.
• Bubs is shown dressed as Nathan Wind as Cochese in the Homestar Runner 2014 Halloween special, "I Killed Pom Pom".^[32]
• The song is featured in the official trailer for Illumination's .
• The animated TV comedy series American Dad featured "Rabbitage" a leporine-themed parody song by "Weird Al" Yankovic in the 2020 episode "First, Do No Farm".^[33]
• The opening few seconds of the song is used in the movie "Red Notice" during the start of a would-be chase scene.
• The song is used in the starting lineup introductions and lead-up to tip-off at home games of the National Basketball League's Sydney Kings at Qudos Bank Arena since season 2021–22.
• The Seattle Kraken take the ice to the song prior to starting lineups as of the 2022–23 season.
• Members of Korn and Slipknot collaborated on a live version of the song, at a 2015 London concert.^[34]
• The song was featured in the video game Fortnite Festival as a jam track.^[35]

Charts

Chart (1994)	Peak position
Australia (ARIA)[36]	94
Canada Singles (RPM)[37]	38
Netherlands (Single Top 100)	35
UK Singles (OCC)[38]	19
UK Dance (OCC)[39]	21
US Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles	15

External links

• Comprehensive info at BeastieMania

Notes and References

1. Billboard May 7, 1994, page 12
2. Top 20 Singles . Aaron, Charles . . September 1999 . 15 . 9 . 137.
3. Web site: Ten Rap-Rock Songs That Are Actually Awesome . . April 6, 2012 . August 9, 2016 . Weiss, Dan.
4. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. February 16, 2024. Rolling Stone. November 16, 2024.
5. Web site: Hand . Christian . "Sabotage" . PSAudio . June 29, 2021 . The Beastie Boys maintained their cred, punk-rock attitude, and roots throughout their careers. This song is a 90’s Classic, of that there is no doubt..
6. Web site: Gerard . Chris . THE 100 GREATEST ALTERNATIVE SINGLES OF THE '90S: 40 – 21 . PopMatters . 22 April 2021 . March 6, 2022.
7. Web site: The 100 Best Alternative Rock Songs Of 1994 . August 18, 2014 . SPIN . March 19, 2022 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210817201009/https://www.spin.com/2014/08/100-best-alternative-rock-songs-1994-alt/. August 17, 2021.
8. Web site: 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: Beastie Boys, 'Sabotage' . rollingstone.com . 2012 . 31 August 2012.
9. Web site: Staff Lists: The Top 200 Tracks of the 1990s: 50-21 . . 2 September 2010 . 31 August 2012.
10. Larry . Flick . Single Reviews . . 2 July 1994 . 84 . 19 March 2021 . Larry Flick.
11. Campbell, Chuck (10 June 1994). "David Byrne': Talking Head Repeats Himself". Knoxville News Sentinel.
12. Web site: The 20 Best Beastie Boys Songs. Jeremy. Goldmeier. Paste. May 5, 2011. March 31, 2022.
13. Web site: The Beastie Boys – their 10 greatest songs. Thomas. Smith. NME. November 29, 2018. March 31, 2022.
14. Web site: Top 10 Beastie Boys Songs. Jacob. Uitti. American Songwriter. October 2, 2021. March 31, 2022.
15. Web site: Abigail. Covington. The 50 Best Songs of the ’90s. Esquire. July 19, 2024. August 7, 2024.
16. Web site: Spike Jonze Unmasked . Ethan . Smith . . 2012 . 31 August 2012.
17. Web site: Beastie Boys: Sabotage (1994) . Internet Movie Database . 31 May 2016.
18. News: Satenstein . Liana . Sofia Coppola and Zoe Cassavetes Look Back on Their Cult ’90s It Girl Show . 26 June 2023 . Vogue . Condé Nast . 29 May 2020.
19. Web site: Whitfield . Zoe . A brief history of Hi Octane, Sofia Coppola’s chaotic 90s TV show . Dazed . Dazed Media . 26 June 2023 . 12 November 2020.
20. Web site: The Criterion Collection: Beastie Boys Video Anthology . The Criterion Collection . 26 June 2023.
21. DVD commentary. Trainspotting.
22. Book: Horovitz . Adam . Diamond . Michael . Beastie Boys Book . 2018 . Faber & Faber . 978-0571308040 . 471 .
23. Web site: Sabotage (Comparison: Regular Version, Extended Version) . April 23, 2018 . Movie-Censorship.com . April 21, 2019.
24. Web site: The Playlist: Spike Jonze Wins Belated VMA For Beastie Boys' 'Sabotage' . theplaylist.blogspot.co.uk . 14 September 2009 . 31 August 2012.
25. Web site: Beavis & Butt-head - Beastie Boys - Sabotage (Video) . .
26. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNiAuRgmApE Elvis Costello and Beastie Boys- Radio, Radio - YouTube
27. Web site: The Song In The Big 'Star Trek Beyond' Scene Will Make Beastie Boys Fans So Proud . Allie . Funk . July 21, 2016. www.bustle.com. September 2, 2016.
28. News: Beastie Boys' 'Sabotage' Crashes 'How I Met Your Mother' 'Ill Communication' classic roars over the soundtrack and complements a punchline . Marc . Hogan . November 19, 2013 . . April 12, 2017.
29. Web site: Josh . Modell . Steve 'n' Seagulls cover Beastie Boys . . . 3 November 2015 . 3 November 2015.
30. Web site: Scott . Tobia . The People v. O.J. Simpson Recap: The Bronco Chase . Vulture . 3 February 2016 . 25 September 2016.
31. Web site: Trailer for Destiny 2 . Bungie . 31 August 2017.
32. Web site: I Killed Pom Pom Costumes . Homestar Runner Wiki . 27 November 2023 . 1 Jul 2024.
33. Web site: "American Dad!" First, Do No Farm (TV Episode 2020) - Soundtracks - IMDb. IMDb. 16 March 2022.
34. Web site: Watch Slipknot and Korn's insane live cover of Beastie Boys' "Sabotage". Revolver. 26 January 2015.
35. Web site: Brkljač . Bhernardo Viana, Ryan Galloway, Slobodan . 2024-06-09 . All free Fortnite Festival songs today (June 2024) . 2024-06-09 . Dot Esports . en-US.
36. Book: Ryan, Gavin. Australia's Music Charts 1988-2010. 2011. Moonlight Publishing. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia.
37. Web site: Beastie Boys Top Singles positions. RPM. 2011-05-10. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120225042145/http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/rpm/028020-110.01-e.php?PHPSESSID=c6btf3r8hs459qqt5ln3o3dcv5&q1=Beastie+Boys&q2=Top+Singles&interval=20. 2012-02-25.
38. Web site: Beastie Boys Album & Song Official Charts Company . . 2011-05-10 .
39. Web site: Official Dance Singles Chart Top 40 . . 2022-04-17 .