Beastie Boys and Amazon have released a 14-minute documentary and 40-minute audio documentary about Ill Communication in honor of the album’s 25th anniversary tomorrow. The docs feature new interviews with surviving members Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz and Michael “Mike D” Diamond, keyboardist Mark Nishita, and producer Mario Caldato, and find the boys reflecting on Paul’s Boutique‘s commercial flop, discovering new inspiration in Los Angeles, the late MCA’s spiritual awakening, and more.
The group has been walking down memory lane for nearly a year now. Last October, Horovitz and Diamond released their long-awaited quasi-memoir Beastie Boys Book, which features contributions from Amy Poehler, Colson Whitehead, Wes Anderson, Roy Choi, and more. The group toured the book and released an audiobook version featuring the voices of Chuck D, Kim Gordon, Snoop Dogg, Will Ferrell, and many others. Longtime collaborator Spike Jonze, another memoir contributor, also directed a Beastie Boys stage show that took place in New York and Philadelphia last month.
You can read Spin’s oral history of the Beastie Boys here. Watch the group’s Ill Communication documentary below.
