Beastie Boys: How They Inspired A Crime Wave, Caused New Laws To Be Written, and Influenced Culture
DISGRACELAND
Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts
4.6 • 13.4K Ratings
🗓️ 19 April 2026
⏱️ 49 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The news called the London crime wave an “epidemic”. The Beastie Boys inspired it. Liverpool wanted to kill the group. Ad Rock was in jail. Numerous other musicians were arrested, in part, because of the Beasties. These stories plus the band’s hardcore roots, their hip hop success, how they created a Gen X Sgt. Peppers, and a legacy that will be hard to top for future artists. Buckle up for a crime and grime Beastie Boys story.
This episode was originally released on January 21, 2025.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is exactly right. |
| 0:10.4 | Double Elvis. |
| 0:13.9 | Hey, Disco's welcome in for another fantastic voyage into the disgrace land archive this week to rewind to our Beastie Boys episode, |
| 0:22.4 | originally released on January 21st, 2025. |
| 0:26.7 | This was a difficult episode for me to write. |
| 0:28.7 | I love the Beastie Boys. |
| 0:30.2 | They're one of my favorite groups, All-Timers. |
| 0:32.8 | And I wanted to celebrate that. |
| 0:35.0 | And to bring to the forefront some of the crime that's part of their |
| 0:38.6 | history. But I also wanted to fairly reckon with who the Beasties really are and most ingloriously |
| 0:45.3 | how they became the joke that they were trying to make about misogyny. And then later, how |
| 0:51.9 | the group faced that regrettable part of their past and overcame it. |
| 0:56.7 | So not the easiest episode to contend with, but also this story in terms of crime, it's truly |
| 1:02.7 | revelatory. I mean, who knew that the Beastie Boys inspired a literal crime wave? |
| 1:08.7 | I didn't until I get into the research. |
| 1:11.4 | Anyways, it's all here in this episode, |
| 1:13.6 | plus a bit of a dive back into the band's hardcore roots |
| 1:16.6 | and also the way in which my favorite Beastie Boys album, |
| 1:20.2 | Paul's Boutique, came to be. |
| 1:22.3 | I hope you dig this. |
| 1:23.5 | I want to hear what you think, |
| 1:24.8 | so leave a review for disgracegraceland on Apple Podcasts |
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