"Sabotage" is a song by American rap rock group Beastie Boys, released by Grand Royal Records in January 1994 as the first single from their fourth studio album, Ill Communication (1994). The song features traditional rock instrumentation (Ad-Rock on guitar, MCA on bass, and Mike D on drums), turntable scratches, heavily distorted bass guitar riffs and lead vocals by Ad-Rock. A moderate commercial success and later significant critical success, the song was applauded for its impactful lyrics and melody as well as its humorous video, directed by Spike Jonze; it was also nominated in five categories at the 1994 MTV Music Video Awards.
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked "Sabotage" No. 475 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[10] In 2010, it was dropped to No. 480. In a 2021 updated list, Rolling Stone re-ranked the song at No. 245. In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at No. 46 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks, and was ranked No. 19 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s list. Pitchfork Media included the song at No. 39 on their Top 200 Tracks of the 90s list.[11]
Background
The song was first conceived when MCA played the signature bass line one day in the studio and it immediately caught the band's attention. Both Ad-Rock and Mike D picked up their respective instruments and started building on it. According to the 2018 Beastie Boys Book, the song, which was originally called Chris Rock (after a sound engineer called Chris who thought it rocked), was a humourous jab at their producer Mario Caldato Jr.'s repeated urgings that the Beastie Boys actually get some work done.[12] As Ad-Rock stated in the 2020 Beastie Boys Story documentary, the lyrics are a fictitious rant about how Caldato "was the worst person ever and how he was always sabotaging us and holding us back."
According to Caldato, the instrumental track was an example of one that "evolved out of nothing" whilst the Beasties were jamming together, though they were concerned that the tune was overly-rock-centric for them and struggled to develop lyrics for it. Towards the end of the recording of the album, Ad-Rock proposed trying again with some new lyrics he had just written. The lead vocals were recorded at Caldato's home studio using hand-held microphones that gave the recording a more thick and rough sound, with the bridge, backing, and record-scratches being added at G-Son Studios the next day. Caldato described the impact of the track as immediately electric: "It just had so much more energy and sounded so different. When we'd play it to people, they'd freak out. That's what the record needed".[13]
Critical reception
Larry Flick from Billboard wrote, "Loud, aggressive, and probably likely to spur senseless acts of vandalism by teen wannabes, but showcases Beasties' devotion to punk and old-school rap–mostly the former. All that and a nice, compact, three-minute package perfect for radio play, with some modern rock outlets already aboard."[6] Chuck Campbell from Knoxville News Sentinel said that on the song, "over-the-top rage and bossy noise are key elements in a hybrid of vitriolic rap and edgy rock."[14] Gina Morris from Select named "Sabotage" Single of the Month with "Get It Together", writing, "'Sabotage' is a hard-edged, full-on meaty guitar-rap gatecrash, which makes them sound less like rich 'street kids' and more like clever sods."[15]
The accompanying music video for "Sabotage", directed by Spike Jonze and played extensively on MTV,[20] is a homage to, and parody of, 1970s crime drama shows 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's protagonists. 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):[21]
Sir Stewart Wallace guest-starring as himself (played by MCA)
Some scenes had to be removed when the video was shown on MTV, including a knife fight sequence, a scene in which a man is thrown out of a car into a street, and one where another man is thrown off a bridge and is shown violently hitting the ground (although it is clearly visible that the bodies thrown are stunt dummies).[27]
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)".[28]
During Saturday Night Live's 25th Anniversary Special in 1999, the band played the first fifteen seconds of the song before their performance was "sabotaged" by Elvis Costello, who in 1977 had done the same to one of his own songs on the show; the Beastie Boys then accompanied him on "Radio, Radio", the song performed during the original incident.[30]
The roller coaster X² at Six Flags Magic Mountain has an on-board soundtrack that features Sabotage, which can be heard from after the first drop until the final brake run.
The song is heard early in J. J. Abrams' 2009 Star Trek film, played on a car stereo by an adolescent James T. Kirk. This is one of the few uses of licensed music in a Star Trek production. The song also plays a crucial part in the plot of the 2016 sequel Star Trek Beyond, in which it is used by Kirk and his officers to disrupt an alien attack on a Federation starbase.[31]
The animated TV comedy series Family Guy used "Sabotage" in the 2016 episode "The New Adventures of Old Tom" for Peter and Tom Tucker's skateboarding video.
↑ Mitchell, Matt (November 17, 2024). "The 50 Greatest Albums of 1994, Ranked". Paste. Retrieved April 7, 2025. Few lead singles in the 1990s were as definitive as "Sabotage," one of the greatest rap-rock songs ever created.
↑ Hand, Christian. ""Sabotage"". PSAudio. Retrieved June 29, 2021. The Beastie Boys maintained their cred, punk-rock attitude, and roots throughout their careers. This song is a 90's Classic, of that there is no doubt.
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