Video hit Beastie Boys

Beastie Boys - Sabotage

Sabotage is a 1994 song by American hip-hop group Beastie Boys, released as the first single from their fourth studio album Ill Communication.

The song's style is characterized as rapcore, featuring traditional rock instrumentation (Ad-Rock on guitar, MCA on bass, and Mike D on drums), turntable scratches and heavily distorted bass guitar riffs. A moderate commercial success, the song was notable as well for its video, directed by Spike Jonze and nominated in five categories at the 1994 MTV Music Video Awards.

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Sabotage" #480 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at #46 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks, and was ranked #19 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s list. Pitchfork Media included the song at #39 on their Top 200 Tracks of the 90s list.

About music video:

The song's music video, directed by Spike Jonze and played extensively on MTV, is an homage and parody of 1970s crime drama television series 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 characters. 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):

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)

Some scenes had to be removed when the video was shown on MTV, including a knife-fight sequence, a falling-off-a-bridge scene, as well as a scene in which a man is thrown out of a car into a street.[citation needed] In addition, the Beastie Boys Video Anthology featured a mock interview of the "cast" of Sabotage conducted by Jonze's then-wife Sofia Coppola. A more recent version, the uncut version, can be found on Vevo.

In the DVD commentary for the 1996 film Trainspotting, Danny Boyle credits the film's opening credits to those used in "Sabotage".

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)".

The lyrics:

I can't stand it, I know you planned it

I'm gonna set it straight, this Watergate

I can't stand rocking when I'm in here

'Cause your crystal ball ain't so crystal clear

So while you sit back and wonder why

I got this fucking thorn in my side

Oh my God, it's a mirage

I'm tellin' y'all, it's a sabotage

So, so, so, so listen up 'cause you can't say nothin'

You'll shut me down with a push of your button?

But you, I'm out and I'm gone

I'll tell you now, I keep it on and on

'Cause what you see you might not get

And we can bet, so don't you get souped yet

You're scheming on a thing that's a mirage

I'm trying to tell you now, it's sabotage

Why

Our backs are now against the wall?

Listen all y'all, it's a sabotage

Listen all y'all, it's a sabotage

Listen all y'all, it's a sabotage

Listen all y'all, it's a sabotage

I can't stand it, I know you planned it

I'm gonna set it straight, this Watergate

Lord, I can't stand rockin' when I'm in this place

Because I feel disgrace because you're all in my face

But make no mistakes and switch up my channel

I'm Buddy Rich when I fly off the handle

What could it be, it's a mirage

You're scheming on a thing, that's sabotage