1994Released
2:58

Did You Know?

Interesting facts and trivia about Sabotage - Remastered 2009. By Songfacts®.

Like so many Beastie Boys songs, the lyrics are an in-joke among the band and their crew. When they were making the Ill Communication album, they weren't very productive (they had a basketball hoop and skate ramp in their studio, which may have kept them from doing actual work). Their producer, Mario Caldato, was nearing the end of his rope, frustrated with their lack of progress. He implored them to finish a song, even if it was just an instrumental, so Adam "King Ad-Rock" Horovitz, in full smart-ass mode, quickly spat out a verse about how Caldato was "sabotaging" them by making them work and impeding their creative brilliance. That became the song's theme, which they put to an instrumental track they had already made. The song ended up being the lead single and biggest hit from the album.

Unlike much of their earlier work, Beastie Boys didn't use any samples in "Sabotage." By this time, they were creating tracks mostly from live instruments, as sampling was getting expensive and played out. This song came about during one of their many jam sessions when MCA came up with an arresting bassline. Mike D added that double-beat drum break, Ad-Rock put in some guitar, and they had that punchy open. It didn't take them long to put the rest of the track together, which they called "Chris Rock" because an engineer in the studio named Chris liked it. The track sat around for a long time because they didn't have lyrics. They considered releasing it as an instrumental but came up with the words and added vocals two weeks before the album was finished. It was the last song they added.

The video, directed by Spike Jonze, is a parody of '70s cop shows such as CHiPs and Hawaii Five-0. It's supposed to look like the open to a show they made up called Sabotage, complete with credits. The three Beasties appear with shaggy hair and huge sunglasses, running around the city chasing a man with a briefcase and doing other cop stuff. The Boys each play a few different characters in the video, using wigs and mustaches to play the parts. The clothing came from thrift stores. They had such a good time playing dress-up that they started wearing the costumes to parties and other functions.

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Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Sabotage - Remastered 2009.
F♯Key
MinorMode
4/4Time Signature
167BPM

Album

The album Sabotage - Remastered 2009 is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Sabotage - Remastered 2009.
Capitol Records
© 2009 Capitol Records, LLC, Grand Royal and Beastie Boys
A Capitol Records Release; ℗ 2009 Capitol Records, LLC, Grand Royal and Beastie Boys

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