Mike D On: The Value of Failure, the Addictive Power of Adrenaline, and How a Beastie Boy Got Into Lovingkindness

10% Happier with Dan Harris

10% Media, LLC

Mental Health, Health & Fitness

4.6 • 12.9K Ratings

🗓️ 15 May 2023

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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Today's show features one of Dan's personal musical heroes, Mike Diamond — "Mike D" from the Beastie Boys. Their conversation is wide ranging and covers topics from the role of failure in achieving success to Mike's personal meditation practice. They say, "never meet your heroes", but Mike D doesn't disappoint in this smart and thoughtful discussion.

Mike D formed the Beastie Boys with Adam Yauch, aka MCA, in the early 80's, winning a number of Grammys and spanning a multi-decade career. In 2018, along with his bandmate, Adam Horovitz, Diamond co-authored Beastie Boys Book, which told the story of the band in its own words and reached #1 on The New York Times Best Seller list. A limited series of live shows, in which the two brought stories from the book to life, was captured in the 2020 film Beastie Boys Story.

Content Warning: The content is a little mature at points so take care if you're listening with kids.

In this episode we talk about:

How Mike reconciles the misogyny of the Beasties early work
The evolution of the band — and how they freed themselves from feeling imprisoned by their own personas
The role of failure in achieving success
The value of taking risks in creative endeavors
Watching his late bandmate, Adam Yauch, find Buddhism, and how that impacted their music
The addictive nature of adrenaline when performing
The role meditation and yoga played for Mike as he tried to calibrate the highs and lows while on tour — and how these practices also now play a role in parenting his two kids
How he works through self-judgment while meditating
How he and the other surviving bandmate, Adam Horovitz, managed their grief in the wake of the untimely death of Adam Yauch
And how a Beastie Boy came to embrace, of all things, loving-kindness

Full Show Notes: https://www.tenpercent.com/podcast-episode/mike-diamond-597

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the 10% Happier Podcast. I'm Dan Harris.
0:11.7	Hello, I'm very excited about this. We've got one of my personal musical heroes on the
0:24.8	show today. I was genuinely nervous for this interview. You might actually hear it in
0:28.6	my voice. They say, I don't know who they is, but they say you should never meet your
0:33.4	heroes. But Mike D did not let me down, not at all. Quite the opposite. He was so smart
0:39.2	and thoughtful and friendly. I've been listening to Mike D's band, The Beastie Boys, since I was
0:43.6	in junior high. As you'll hear me say in the interview, The Beastie Boys were my first
0:48.3	concert. Anybody who's ever heard their early tracks will know that some of the lyrics were
0:53.4	a wee bit problematic, but The Beasties went on to become one of the most innovative and
0:57.9	progressive and amazing musical acts of the 1990s and beyond. In this interview, we talk
1:03.7	about how Mike D reconciles the misogyny of The Beasties' early work, the evolution of
1:09.9	the band, and how they freed themselves from feeling imprisoned by their own personas,
1:15.2	the role of failure in success, the value of taking risks when you're being creative,
1:20.9	watching his late bandmate Adam Yauke find Buddhism and how that impacted the band's
1:25.6	music, the addictive nature of adrenaline when you're performing, the role meditation
1:30.2	in yoga played for Mike as he tried to calibrate the highs and lows out on tour and how these
1:35.0	practices are now playing a big role for him as he parents to young men, how he works
1:41.1	through self-judgment while meditating, how he and his other surviving bandmate Adam
1:46.4	Harvitz managed their grief in the wake of the untimely death of Adam Yauke, and how
1:52.0	a Beastie boy came to embrace of all things, loving kindness. Heads up, the content can
1:58.8	be a little mature here in this particular episode on surprising given The Beasties
2:03.0	over, so just take care if you're listening with kids. Before we get started with today's
	...

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