Bonus Episode - Official Narratives, Influence, and Telling the Whole Story

This week, Jake discusses the Beastie Boys and the challenges of creating an episode about a band that was so influential to him personally, as well as the importance of telling the whole story when it comes to rock 'n' roll, not just the tightly controlled version that an artist might want told. On Tuesday we're bringing you an episode on Bink-182 and their unlikely connection to the study of UFOs. Jake wants to know: Do aliens exist? Have you had a direct experience with UFOs or non-human intelligence? Tell Jake at 617-906-6638, [email protected] mailto:[email protected], or on socials @disgracelandpod. For more great Disgraceland episodes, dive into our extensive archive, including such episodes as: Episode 132 - Jimi Hendrix Episode 76 - New York Dolls Episode 15 - Motley Crue To hear an extended version of the After Party, become a Disgraceland All Access member at disgracelandpod.com/membership. https://disgracelandpod.com/membership. Visit www.disgracelandpod.com/merch https://www.disgracelandpod.com/merch to see the latest Disgraceland merch! Sign up for our newsletter and get the inside dirt on events, merch and other awesomeness - GET THE NEWSLETTER https://mailchi.mp/doubleelvis/disgraceland-email-newsletter Follow Jake and DISGRACELAND: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/disgracelandpod/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@disgracelandpod X https://twitter.com/disgracelandpod (formerly Twitter) To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This is exactly right.

• 0:10Speaker 01

  Double Elvis.

• 0:13Jake Brennan?

  I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.

• 0:44Speaker 03

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover, seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 1:16Jake Brennan?

  Hey, Discos. Need a little more DisgraceLand in your life? Just a touch to get you through? Yeah, me too. This is the podcast that comes after the podcast. Welcome to DisgraceLand: The After Party.

• 1:42Jake Brennan?

  Welcome to the DisgraceLand bonus episode, a little thing we like to call the after party. This is the show after the show, the party after the party, the bridge, to get you from one full episode of DisgraceLand to the other, the backyard to dig into the dirt. On this bonus episode, we are talking about this week's full episode subject, Beastie Boys. We've got gnarly stories of rock and roll animalism from you guys, artists who want to control their stories and how they do it, and well, your voicemails, texts, DMs, emails, and as always, a whole lot of rosy. All right, Discos, let's get into it.

• 2:26Jake Brennan?

  All right. Big thanks to everyone who got in touch with Praise for the Beastie Boys episode that we just released. I have to say, this was not an easy episode to write. It was super hard, actually. One of the hardest stories to tell of all the episodes that we've done. I don't know if you guys have seen Beastie Boys Story on Apple TV+ or if you've had a chance to read Beastie Boys' book, the book Mike D. and Ad Rock published a couple of years ago, and the accompanying live performance. They're both great. They're both essentially the same thing. Both stories, the Beastie Boys story, which is, again, the live thing they did for Apple, and Beastie Boys' book, they're essentially the same story. The Apple thing's like an adaptation of the book. Both great.

• 3:08Jake Brennan?

  Both awesome. So if you haven't seen it or read it, do both. Highly recommend. But calling Beastie Boys' book a book isn't accurate, because it's so much more. This thing is like an exploding artifact of 80s and 90s culture with the story of the Beastie Boys weaved throughout it. It's Mike D. and Ad Rock telling their story, along with contributions from friends of theirs who were there, telling added supplemental stories to fill in the gaps. Then there's all the amazing photography and artwork that documented the Beastie Boys' career. That's all peppered through. It's just truly, truly great. But the thing that's really special about Beastie Boys' book and Beastie Boys' story is Mike

• 3:51Jake Brennan?

  D. and Ad Rock's storytelling. These guys are thoroughly in command of their own voice. When they're writing, it sounds exactly like they speak. They are natural, gifted storytellers, as you can imagine. Usually, I get an autobiography from an artist to use for my research for a podcast episode, and I am salivating. Autobiographies are the best, especially ones from the artists who were active before 2000. They tend to feature the musician flexing, either overtly or low-key, flexing all their shitty behavior, I should say, trying to live up to their rock and roll behavior. The Beasties are of course too classy for that. They acknowledge their shitty behavior,

• 4:36Jake Brennan?

  generally speaking, and they have pretty much complete humility about it and are sincerely contrite and thus they absolve themselves pretty good. So it's hard to find those moments in their story where I can be like, guys, can you believe these fuckers admitted to adopting their 14-year-old girlfriends or holy shit, Mike D was in a threesome with Sam the Butcher and Alice from the Brady Bunch. None of that kind of stuff is in the book. Now you read like, you know, the Rick James autobiography, that's a different story. Okay. Not to say that there aren't wild stories in Beastie Boys book, that there are, but nothing really rises to the level of crime. So for the London crime wave and the Columbus George obscenity charges that are in the episode, all that stuff, I had

• 5:18Jake Brennan?

  to go outside the book to find that information, but that, that wasn't really the problem. The problem is that of all the incredible stories in the book that make up the Beastie Boys backstory, their upbringing, their rise to fame, Mike D and Ad Rock tell their story better than anyone else could ever possibly tell their story. So it was really hard trying to find a way to do their history justice. I spent two weeks just gleefully researching this episode because I love this band so much. And when I was done, I felt completely fucked. I felt like, what am I going to do now? Thankfully, there were those crime elements that I could lean into, the crime wave, the Georgia thing I

• 6:02Jake Brennan?

  mentioned. There was also the Liverpool riot, that's in the book. I found that Puerto Rican street gang fight story with John Joseph from the Cromags. I found that elsewhere and I was able to stitch together something for a narrative that I wasn't sure was going to be compelling enough for a podcast episode, but it seems that you guys liked it a lot. So I am very, very happy about this. I love this band. I pretty much always have. And I know from your feedback that that love of mine comes across in the episode. And that makes me happy. Okay, that's all. Just wanted to say that. But back to the idea of artists telling their own story. That's the main point. Zeth and I were talking about this last week. Zeth works, he writes a bunch of episodes, researches, does all kinds of

• 6:46Jake Brennan?

  stuff for Disgrace Land. And we were talking about this last week and how this relates to what we do here in Disgrace Land. The whole artist telling their own story thing. Artists are, as you can imagine, supremely interested, not just the Beastie Boys. Most artists who reach a certain point in their career become very interested in their legacies, and they get real interested in the telling of their stories. They want their story out there, not someone else's version of their story. The Beastie Boys story is one of three friends who loved each other and loved great music and made great music with a lot of love that a whole lot of other people love. That's a beautiful story. Sure, they fucked up a lot of kids, but they've come clean about it. So we've forgiven them. And their honesty

• 7:28Jake Brennan?

  makes all the wild shit that they're on record as having done easier for us to swallow. That's the story the Beastie Boys want out there. That's the story the Beastie Boys want us to know. It also has the benefit of being true, so that helps. But nevertheless, the Beastie Boys are responsible for this story being the story. They framed this story and they told it perfectly. A story that very well could have been a much different narrative if they didn't get out ahead of it and shape our perception of their past. Their story very well could have been something much different, like story of three friends who were alcoholic, misogynistic, homophobes, invented the dreaded rap rock genre, gave us Limp fucking Biscuit, and then made an obscure record no one bought before taking

• 8:09Jake Brennan?

  over alternation in the 90s by appropriating black music and then banged a lot of chicks, did a lot of drugs. One dude died and they faded into irrelevance. Okay. It would take a lot of collective ignorance for that to be the story, but it's not completely out of the realm of possibility. With enough framing and enough sort of readjusting of the lens, that that very well could have been the Beastie Boys story. So you can understand why Beastie Boys, like most artists, want to control their story. They understandably have an interest in getting the story they want to be told about themselves to be the official narrative. Can you blame them? I cannot. But I've seen egregious versions of this motivation with artists in the past.

• 8:51Jake Brennan?

  Artists offering to collaborate with their biographers so they can control their story, catch and kill efforts, litigation, massive gazillion dollar PR efforts, pathetic, big-budget Hollywood biopics that serve as massive whitewash campaigns. And what happens is a very dubious version of the artist's history then becomes the public record, the official narrative. Well, we're here to disrupt that narrative. Now, we didn't need to do that with the Beastie Boys in large part because they owned all their bullshit, like I said, which is commendable. And they also told their story, like I also said, better than anyone else could.

• 9:34Jake Brennan?

  The story I told is a, is a love story in a lot of ways. It's about my love for this band despite their fuck-ups. Okay? And I think that resonated with some people, which is awesome, and I'm happy about it. I didn't know it was gonna work, it was going to resonate, and I'm happy it did. Okay, but, but again, back to the artist controlling their story. And the more egregious versions of this, not the Beastie Boys version of this, okay? Consider this. Last week, I noticed a comment on one of our episodes on Spotify where a listener claimed I was lying about an anecdote in one of our Beatles episodes. It's the story of a maid in one of the hotels they were staying in on tour being slashed by a crazy fan stabbed. So, we dove back into the research. I wanted to see where I got this info. That

• 10:19Jake Brennan?

  episode originally came out years ago. I don't, I, you know, we obviously traffic in a lot of information. I didn't know exactly where that, that came from, but I knew I didn't make it up. So we went back in to check it out. It came from a book written about the Beatles by Peter Brown, who's the band's press agent, essentially their publicist. The book was written after the Beatles broke up. This part of Peter Brown's story also featured an anecdote that I incorporated into my story about having something to do with Japanese assassins wanting to kill the Beatles. Now, Peter Brown... Was there for both events. Now, I don't know if he was actually, you know, physically, and I believe the maid thing happened in Houston and the assassin thing,

• 11:01Jake Brennan?

  like I said, happened in Japan. I'm not sure if he was actually physically there. I presume he was, but he was definitely part of the Beatles camp at that time. So he recounts these stories in his book, great book. Then I recounted the stories in our podcast episodes on the Beatles. And I did this to disrupt the narrative that the Beatles stopped touring because they got too big and the fans were too loud and they could no longer hear themselves playing over the screaming and touring had become creatively unsatisfying. Now, of course, that's part of the story, sure, but Peter Brown's stories are part of the story as well. The Beatles were freaked out. They were scared to play live, okay?

• 11:44Jake Brennan?

  And you can understand why. I would be too. There's no shame in that. And that is more interesting to me than the official narrative that the Beatles put out there back in the 60s and then cemented into the historical record when they released their anthology documentary back in the 1990s. The Beatles documentary became the Beatles story. Anything else that came after or hasn't been sanctioned by the band, anything else that doesn't meet that criteria is deemed to be heretical by most casual music fans. And Peter Brown, a guy who was there at the time, like I said, a guy who has zero incentive or had zero incentive to lie, a guy in fact, who was incentivized to do the opposite for

• 12:24Jake Brennan?

  fear of losing his credibility. Publicists need credibility. They need it to work, to thrive. This guy's story is discarded from history while Paul McCartney's whitewashed, true whitewashed story, but true story, sure, but not the whole story, is regarded as absolute gospel. If you go outside the lines of that narrative, people call bullshit. This to me is ridiculous. I've researched enough artists in my life to know that the past is hazy at best. Oftentimes, most times, actually, the artist's version of went down is far from the whole story. Those weird little anecdotes, Peter Brown's Japanese assassins, The Village Voice's archived

• 13:07Jake Brennan?

  record of ad rock and MCA's offensive comments that I put in my episode that weren't in Beastie Boys book, those are the stories that not only disrupt the narratives, but that preserve the real history, or for our purposes here, preserve the real spirit of rock and roll, or of 20th century music, for better or for worse, warts and all, all the grime, all the crime, it's all there. You've just got to look for it and have an open mind and not blindly accept the spoon fed narrative, even if that narrative is from an artist that we love. So, speaking of the Beatles, both those Beatles episodes, parts one and part

• 13:45Jake Brennan?

  two, story of their come up, story of Beatlemania, but also the story of drug smuggling, tax fraud, like I said, assassins, assaults, all of that is coming in this week's rewind slots on Friday and Saturday next up in your feed. It's going to be a Beatles weekend to cap off a Beastie Boys week that we are having. Check these episodes out if you haven't already, and if you have, give them another listen for these stories that disrupt the narrative. Next week, okay, finally, speaking of disrupting the narrative, speaking of heretical thinking, next week, our Blink 182 episode is coming out. I am pumped for this one. All right. If any of you know Tom DeLonge, and I'm sure that some of you out

• 14:26Jake Brennan?

  there listening do, get in touch with me on Instagram or email or wherever. I'd like to get Tom to come on the episode to come talk to us on the after party. All right. This episode, the Blink 182 Disgrace Land episode, was supposed to come out in November. We made a little video documentary to accompany the podcast episode, which some of you, Patreon All-Access members, you've already, you've already heard this, or you've seen this story, I should say. We're releasing it in podcast form next week. With the whole sound design, it'll be, it'll be different than what you saw slightly. It'll be the same story. It'll be a different production, if that makes sense. Anyways, this podcast episode was supposed to come out, I believe, in November, early November. But that release

• 15:08Jake Brennan?

  got pushed because of the hurricane. So now this episode is coming next week. And I feel this might be divine intervention, because it feels like some big UAP disclosure might be happening between now and the release of this Blink 182 episode on Tuesday, at least if you believe UFO Twitter, UAP Twitter. Everybody's freaking out. They think something's coming. Now that Trump's in office, they think something's coming soon. We shall see. I'm not convinced. I'm not convinced. But if it does happen, I'm gonna be freaked out, I'll tell you that right now. So hold on to your hats, boys and girls. When you're listening to this Blink 182 episode, I want you to be thinking about the existence of NHI, non-human intelligence. And I want to know if you believe Tom's assertion that

• 15:52Jake Brennan?

  aliens exist. You're gonna hear, you might, you might be already rolling your eyes. Don't, okay? I'm gonna, I'm gonna lay some real facts on you about Tom DeLonge's efforts. Yes, the Blink 182 guy. Yes, the dick joke guy. Yes, that Tom DeLonge. Okay, so I want to know, after you listen to the episode, do you believe non-human intelligence exists? Sub-question. Every time I do that, every time I say sub-question, side note, I think of, I think of Jack Black in High Fidelity, asking questions about music. Sub-question. Are you experienced? Have you ever been experienced? Has something anomalous in the

• 16:33Jake Brennan?

  skies ever appeared for you? Have you ever been touched? Have you ever been contacted? Okay, I'm saying all this, I swear to God, with a straight face. All right, I am, I am open-minded, okay? If you have been, then you know that they say that those who have experiences have multiple. So if you've had one, if you've had two, whatever it is, I want to know. Hit me up. Let me know. Whether you believe Tom and why, whether you think Tom was right and why, and sub-question, like I said, if you've had UFO, UAP experience, NHI experience, I want to hear about it. The creepier, the better. 617-906-6638, at Disgrace Slam Pod on the socials,

• 17:15Jake Brennan?

  disgrace slam pod at gmail.com. I'll be back right after this with your calls, texts, and DMs on last week's question of the week.

• 17:33Jake Brennan?

  I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.

• 18:04Speaker 03

  Cash flow crunch? OnDeck's small business line of credit gives your business immediate access to funds, up to $200,000, right when you need it. Cover seasonal dips, manage payroll, restock inventory, or tackle unexpected expenses without missing a beat. With flexible draws, transparent pricing, and control over repayment, get funded quickly and confidently. Apply today at ondeck.com. Funds could be available as soon as tomorrow. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 18:42Jake Brennan?

  All right, guys, just a reminder to make sure you Apple Podcast listeners have auto downloads turned on, okay? Make sure you're not missing any Disgrace Land episodes, especially you new, new Disgrace Land listeners. Get those auto downloads turned on on Apple Podcasts. So you know how to get in touch with me, 617-906-6638. Leave a voicemail, send me a text. Let's check out this voicemail from Heidi in the 838.

• 19:06Speaker 04

  Hey Jake, it's Heidi again from 267. I probably should have waited like an hour after listening to the Beastie Boys episode before I called because I was like overstimulated and overexcited because you did a fucking fantastic job. I loved the way you told their story. It brought back a lot of memories to me because I'm an old school hardcore punk rock kid. Uh, I am from the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, but I spent a lot of time in the Lower East Side growing up. I was at pretty much every Sunday matinee, CBGB's. And then when you talked about the 171A and the rat cage, that brought back so many memories.

• 19:49Speaker 04

  And, you know, my all time favorite Beastie albums, I actually love Paul's Boutique and I love Check Your Head. Um, but yeah, you did a great job representing all the different genres they went through. And thank you for saying how much they sucked with, uh, Fight for Your Rights to Party because that was just fucking horrible. Um, then I got really sad when you started talking about, uh, Harriak and his passing away. I was just recently diagnosed with cancer a month ago. So that hit me hard and he was a great man and he's a legend to this day.

• 20:31Speaker 04

  So I'm gonna ramble on, but hey, I wanted to also say you should seriously think about doing some sort of episode about the hardcore scene in New York, the Lower East Side. Um, all right, gotta go to work. Have a great day. Rapperola.

• 20:51Jake Brennan?

  Heidi, a lot in that text there. Um, first and foremost, I hope you're doing okay. I hope, uh, I hope your, your fight is, is going in the direction that you want it to do. Uh, just know that I'm thinking of you and I'm sure everybody listening to this right now is thinking of you. So just want to wish you good luck in the trenches there. Good luck with your battle.

• 21:12Jake Brennan?

  As for your note about a hardcore episode, I'm sure you heard the John Joseph and the agnostic front and I even managed to work in Gorilla Biscuits, not the band, but the actual Gorilla Biscuit thingy, thingamajiggy into the episode. Those are all, of course, homage to my love of New York hardcore. I would love to do a New York hardcore episode. Frankly, I don't know where to start and I don't, there's a lot of beef there, I know, and I don't want to be divisive and I got a lot of friends connected to that world and I don't want to piss people off. I'm very careful when I talk about it, let's put it that way. So perhaps someday, if I can find the right ankle, in the meantime, you're gonna

• 21:53Jake Brennan?

  have to just deal with me sort of casually working in my love for the genre into these other episodes. Perhaps a Bad Brains episode. I know they're not New York, but still, they're connected enough. Anyway, thank you for the call, honey. Appreciate you. All right, let's check out Clint in the 412.

• 22:09Speaker 05

  Hey Jake, my name's Clint and I would have to say the musician that has gotten to me the most would be Eddie Money. Really liked Eddie Money, been accused of looking like Eddie Money. Had a drink with Eddie Money one time, he was a cool guy. I'm going with Eddie Money, bro. Thanks a lot. Have a good night. I'm from the 412.

• 22:31Jake Brennan?

  All right, Eddie Money, just like Ronnie says, "Love it Clint, be my little baby", just love the Eddie Money love. And I played this message because Eddie Money's just one of those dudes who I feel like nobody talks about enough. And "Baby Hold On To Me" is an incredible song. I mean, come on. Why has no one sampled that for a hip hop song, by the way? I mean, I shouldn't have said that. I should have done that. Put that song on, put "Baby Hold On To Me" on out in the backyard on a sunny day with a cold beer and try not to feel good. It's impossible to do that. You're gonna feel good. All right? Thank you Clint for reminding us of that. All right, I want to do one more message on last week's topic, Bill Murray, because you guys just want to talk about Bill Murray and I don't blame you, before putting the Bill Murray subject to bed. This is a good

• 23:15Jake Brennan?

  message. Matt, let's hear from Paul B. in the 843.

• 23:20Speaker 06

  Hey Jake, it's your boy Paul B. from the 843, friendly neighborhood sports therapist and personal trainer. As usual, I'm listening to your podcast in the red light therapy machine. Bill Murray.

• 23:34Speaker 06

  Well, I live in a area where Bill Murray lives, down in South Carolina, here at the house here in Charleston. He actually owns the local baseball team, the minor league River Dogs. The stadium's awesome, it's been featured on Food Network several times. I've had the privilege of meeting Bill on many occasions, drank a bunch of beers with him, shared the occasional left-handed cigarette. Bill seems to be, he's an amazing talent, no doubt. Love Bill Murray to death. He's an awesome guy. The problem with Bill is he just, he just seems to be argumentative. Like, you know, you might meet him at the

• 24:16Speaker 06

  local Taco Boy, having some tacos and chilling out, he might follow you home to a house party and do you dishes, you know, while you're all partying. But he'll argue with you about whether the sky is blue, just, just because. And I really feel like that's probably, if there's a flaw in his, in his character, that's probably it. He's, he can be overbearing, argumentative, and he will have the last word. So I guess, you know, that's kind of an asshole. But he brings a lot of money into our economy down here, and we love him, so he's our asshole. And we love you, Bill. Thanks, Jake. Always

• 24:59Speaker 06

  a pleasure. Thanks for bringing us the content. Really speeds along my workouts, brother. Enjoy. Peace out. Rock-a-roller.

• 25:07Jake Brennan?

  Fascinating insight, Paul. Appreciate it. You know, as you're, as I was listening to your message, you know, I got to the word asshole before you did. But, but what I love about your message is that it's honest and it's nuanced. And we don't have a lot of that these days. You know, people's behavior just sort of gives them a scarlet letter, and then we move on and we don't talk about it. We put them in the box and that's it. And I love how you've had firsthand experience with, with this guy, and you have a very nuanced assessment of him. So I thought that was a great call. On the red light therapy, real quick, I've done that before. It made me feel great. I, I understand the benefits of sauna. And I do, I don't have a sauna in my house, but I do have a hot tub, my

• 25:51Jake Brennan?

  pool jacuzzi, which I use regularly. Do I get the same benefit from the, from the hot tub as I do in an actual steam sauna? Let me know. By the way, I love that you're a stoned sports therapist. Just wanted to say that. 617-906-6638 voicemail and text 818 writes in, "Great episode on the Beastie Boys." Jake, for the question of which musician slash musicians have been influential to me. Well, coincidentally enough, it is the Beastie Boys. One of the things I do is design graphic t-shirts and I like to think that I don't run out of ideas when designing. So a lot of times I listen to the Beasties when I'm creating, not only because I love their music, but they're also a constant reminder that creativity has no limit. Plus, Mike D has one of the coolest voices and rhyme style. The other influential artist would be Lenny Kravitz.

• 26:36Jake Brennan?

  The Mama Said and Are You Gonna Go My Way albums were great, but Lenny's transformation from Mama Said into Are You Gonna Go My Way was incredible, both on artistic and a life level. Be cool and I am out. All right. I appreciate that. 818. Thanks for the text. All right. Tony from the 773. Love the Bad Brains tattoo. Guys, Tony sent in this tattoo and had a couple of the questions for me. Tony, I'm gonna hit you up. You can email me on your questions. I'll get back to you. Amazing tattoo work, by the way. 416 writes in, "Hey, 1997, me and my girlfriend, now wife, first time together in New York City. It was a weekday. We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to Dumbo and then back. Being the 90s, I had my trusty Minolta film camera. On the way back across the Brooklyn Bridge, I realized I was out of film. We were down near Broadway and Chambers. I spotted

• 27:21Jake Brennan?

  a bodega with a Kodak sign on the window on the other side of the street. We crossed the street and there's a big gaggle of people waiting to cross the other way as usual. So, so many people, it was hard to get through the crowd. I guess I was in a grumpy mood because as we were threading our way through the crowd, I said to my girlfriend, "Why is it always such a pain to try to get through? Holy shit, it's the Beastie Boys." I was standing shoulder to shoulder with all three of them waiting to cross the street. MCA and Mike D did not even turn their heads. Ad Rock turned, looked at me, then looked my girlfriend up and down, and then they were crossing the street. I was busy trying to pull my rewind spool of film back into the camera so that I could at least get some kind of record of this experience as they walked away. But within a few yards, the indifferent

• 28:00Jake Brennan?

  crowd closed around them and that was it. No picture. I don't miss the days before iPhones." From the 416. Love it. 416. You know, it's kind of a better story because you're a photographer. And you didn't get a picture. Okay. I, I, I do miss the days before iPhones. I'm sure you have lots of other great, great pictures of lots of other great rock stars. And I appreciate your story. So thanks for texting it in 617 906 6638. You guys want to text me at disgracelandpod. You want to hit me up on the DMs? Or you can get into the comments and some of the Beastie Boys content that we are serving up on Instagram and Facebook and X. To that point, we posted a reel detailing the Mike D is like a, you know, 60 second version of the Mike D story about the,

• 28:45Jake Brennan?

  the London crime waves and the, in the, the crime wave and the disappearing Volkswagen hood emblem badges that Mike D inspired with his b-boy style and that Volkswagen emblem that he used to rock. And got a lot, I'm actually surprised at how many of you commented about having taken part in this, uh, low level criminal behavior back in the eighties over in the UK. Uh, so we posted that and Drone D love says, yep, was the whole of the UK 13 year old me and my mates going wild out stealing the badges of cars all the time. You couldn't find a Volkswagen with a badge anywhere. So we ended up taking anything we could find, be it a Merc or a Ford, anything.

• 29:28Jake Brennan?

  And then a lot of people chime in as well. They got into this action. I just, I was, I didn't expect that. That was pretty interesting. You guys are straight hoods. We also posted this, um, little video on, on the, on the, on the homage. The Beastie Boys paid in their gratitude video, the homage they paid to Pink Floyd and the Live at Pompeii film. And, uh, got a lot of good action. This, this one guy comments, uh, Shady NYC says, hey, thanks for posting this. I wrote the concept, directed it, and I shot the helicopter footage for the video he's talking about. Cheers, David Perez Shady. Pretty fricking awesome. Thanks, David. Appreciate you chiming in. All right, guys, you know that in addition to our question of the week where every week you guys answer a question relative to the artists that we've covered.

• 30:14Jake Brennan?

  The Beastie Boys, Bill Murray, whoever. We also have the story of the week where you guys can call in, text, or email, or DM me with your story of rock and roll animalism. Your tale of rock and roll excess could be anything related to the spirit of rock and roll, the true spirit of rock and roll. Could be something that happened to you, could be something you heard secondhand, could be something you read of or saw in a movie that you're hitting the rest of us to. And this, of course, is all done as part of our ongoing effort here in Disgrace Land to preserve, like I said, the true spirit of rock and roll, to save rock and roll, if we may be so grand, to save rock and roll from going the way of jazz music, or the dodo bird, to document this wild history so that there's a permanent record

• 30:59Jake Brennan?

  of the wildest of these stories that, as I mentioned earlier in the show, have a tendency to be written out of history. This is our purpose, and this is this week's story of the week, which comes from Chris in the 781, and whoa, Nellie, I want to warn you, it's gross.

• 31:13Speaker 07

  Hey, Jake, Chris from the 781. Just following up on a message I sent you on IG. So, um, back in the 80s, I was in a band and I was lucky enough to work with the great producer Jimmy Miller, who did everything from Exile on Main Street, Sticky Fingers, just the best Stones work, the Mick Taylor era. He did tell us some great Stone stories, but I am going to save those for another time because they're third party and I cannot validate them. But what I can tell you is that we were doing a recording session at Downtown Recordings in, uh, Boston, so this is like 1987-ish. Jimmy does not show up for the session.

• 31:55Speaker 07

  Well, when we see him later, it turns out that he was hanging out with Johnny Thunders in New York. What were he and Johnny Thunders doing in New York? They were scoring heroin. So, they needed to, um, shoot up.

• 32:12Speaker 07

  And the only water that was available was this puddle of water that had that film of oil on top of it. After Jimmy lectured Johnny about how disgusting that water was, he said, "Hey, are you gonna use that? You know what kind of abscesses or whatever that will do?" Well, afterwards, we asked him, we go, "Well, what did you do?" He goes, "Yeah, I shot up too. Thanks. Have a great one."

• 32:41Jake Brennan?

  Chris, this story is surprising to me, or gross to me, I should say, even by Johnny Thunders' standards. True rock and roll animal, Johnny Thunders. Did Jimmy Miller produce some Johnny Thunders stuff? I should know that if he did. And I apologize if I didn't know that. It's something that I absolutely should know. I have an actual Johnny Thunders tattoo, for God's sake. Of course, you guys, Jimmy Miller, Chris mentions who he is. He was great Stones collaborator, around for the best of the Stones records. So, no surprise that he was working with Johnny Thunders, at least hanging around with him. Great story, Chris. And Chris, I just want to say, happy to hear you're still alive. I mean, with friends like that, geez, damn, man, you are a survivor. Sounds like you must have lived a pretty

• 33:25Jake Brennan?

  rock and roll life yourself, and happy to have you among the living. Okay, you guys, I want to hear your stories of rock and roll animalism. Give me a call, 617-906-6638. Call, text, DM, email, [email protected]. And tell me about that time that you got arrested at Lollapalooza, or about that time you snuck out to go meet Nikki Sixx, but ended up passing out at his roadie's apartment, or that time you waited in line all weekend to buy Alice in Chains tickets, or the White Stripes show you were at where Meg brought her cat out onto the stage, or the Killer show in Vegas where they ran out of $14 beers. Whatever the story is, I want to hear it. Hit me up, and your story might be the Disgrace Land story of the week. I'll be back in a flash with more from you guys.

• 34:13Jake Brennan?

  I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.

• 34:43Speaker 05

  OnDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, OnDeck's loans up to $400,000 help make it happen fast. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five-star TrustPilot reviews, OnDeck delivers funding you can count on. Apply in minutes at ondeck.com. Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by OnDeck or Celtic Bank. OnDeck does not lend in North Dakota. All loans and amounts subject to lender approval.

• 35:20Jake Brennan?

  All right, guys, we are back. You know the drill. If you want to support the show, you can leave a review for the show. We really appreciate it. You leave that review over on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify. The reviews help with discovery of show. They juice the algorithm, so to speak. And in exchange for you guys being so generous and supportive, each week, I dip into the reviews. I know they say you're not supposed to read your reviews, but I read my reviews. What can I say? I dip into them occasionally. And by occasionally, I mean once a week. And I extract one review from Apple Podcasts and one from Spotify. I read it here. And if your review gets read, you can take the initiative to reach out to me either on social media or via email. I will grab your shirt size

• 36:02Jake Brennan?

  because we might have some shirts lying around. And if we do, you know, in your size, just a big if, maybe, maybe you'll get a shirt. Maybe there's no shirts in your size. Maybe you'll get a pin. Maybe you'll get, I don't know, something else that we have lying around here that's cool. I don't know what else we have. Stickers, I guess, for now. That's just our way of saying thank you. We appreciate it. So here you go. Apple Podcasts. Ryan Redd, 451 writes, "The show is very well-written with great delivery of the story. Everyone that asks for something new to listen to, DisgraceLand is my first option for them to try. Keep up the great work, y'all." We're gonna do that Ryan, right over on Spotify. Now I'm reading this one here on Spotify from Tyler Hall because he points out this, this element of the episode, the BC Boys

• 36:46Jake Brennan?

  episode, that I almost didn't include. I wrote it, I recorded it, I listened to the mix and I started thinking, hmm, how can I cut that out and keep the story, keep the form, the form of the story, the structure in place? Cause it was a little too personal. And I will say that most times when I get personal like this, y'all seem to respond in a positive way and I don't seem to learn that lesson. It's always my instinct to cut it. But anyways, Tyler Hall says, hey Jake, this episode is killer. I found your show towards the end of last year and have been binging it like crazy. The part around 18 minutes of this episode where you talk about your dad's record collection gave me life. I've got two young kids and a large record collection myself. I hope they find music like that in my collection and that they connect with it. Man, that gave me

• 37:31Jake Brennan?

  the most wholesome feeling. Thank you for all the gnarly episodes. You're the man, rock-a-rola. Tyler Hall, thank you. I appreciate that. I really do. And hit me up and we will send some merch your way. All right. Today, it's Thursday. It's the last Thursday of the month. You know what that means? That means if you're an All Access member, you're getting an extra Disgrace Land episode this week. Full episode, not a bonus episode, new, exclusive, scripted, fully sound designed episode. Okay. You get one per month if you're an All Access member. This month's All Access episode is on the late, great Townes Van Zant, one of the greatest, and to use Tyler's

• 38:11Jake Brennan?

  word, gnarliest country singers of all time. Songwriters, I should say, country songwriters. He sang too, but he's, you know, his, his thing was really, was more his writing than his voice. Not that his voice isn't great. It is, but he's not George Jones. Hank Williams, on the other hand, you know, he approaches that, he approaches that, gets closer. And that's really what the episode's about. So if you want to hear this episode, the only way you're going to be able to hear it is by becoming an All Access member on other Apple podcasts or through our Patreon. And then, you know, whatever, whatever podcast player you listen to podcasts on, right? It'll Right there, right there. Okay. You don't have to be on a Patreon app to listen to it. You don't have to be in Apple Podcasts, but you can listen in those apps if you should choose to.

• 38:54Jake Brennan?

  It's only five bucks a month. That's it. And you get ad free listening. Okay. You get ad free listening as well on all episodes. And for the bonus episodes, like this one, the after party, you're going to get an extra bonus to the bonus episode that non all access members will not hear. And that's coming up right after this. Okay. So just so you know, to become an all access member, go to disgracypod.com slash membership, sign up, five bucks a month, ad free, extra episode, extra bonus bit here in the after party.

• 39:46Jake Brennan?

  All right, we are back, guys, especially for the new listeners out there. We mentioned a bunch of artists in this episode. A lot of them, we have episodes in our archive on. Okay, we mentioned New York Dolls, Motley Crue, Jimi Hendrix. Anyhow, we have episodes on all those guys in our archive. And if you check the show notes, Matt Bowden, our producer, will make sure that there are specific episode numbers and dates in there that'll make you be able to navigate our massive archive of 200 plus episodes to find the ones that we talked about here, if you are interested. And why wouldn't you be interested? You love great rock and roll stories just as much as I do. Those archive episodes are there for you. I gotta get out of here. So I just want to recap real quick. Number one, you know this now, I want your story. I want it every week. Call me, text me, hit me up on the socials.

• 40:31Jake Brennan?

  What is your favorite story of rock and roll? Animalism is wild, a story about a rock star that you are aware of, that you want to tell me something maybe that happened to you, something that I should know about, even if it didn't happen to you. Maybe you read it in a book. Maybe somebody else told you. I don't care. I want to hear it. Hit me up and you might have the story of the week. Number two, right now in your feed, our episode on Beastie Boys. Number three, coming tomorrow, rewinding back to our two. Heart Beatles episodes. Number four, merch winners. Get in touch, you know who you are. Number five, remember, no one cares about preserving the true spirit of rock and roll more than you do. And well, that's a disgrace. All right now, Adam Yelk, AKA MCA, passed away on May 4th, 2012, and I miss him, and so do you. So in honor of the gone too soon, great Beastie Boy,

• 41:16Jake Brennan?

  this is the Billboard charts from the day we lost MCA. Number one, Somebody That I Used To Know, Go TA, featuring Kimbra. Last week, one. Weeks at number one, two. Weeks on chart, 16. Number two, We Are Young, Fun, featuring Janelle Monae. Last week, two. Peak position, one. Weeks on chart, 18. Number three, Payphone, Maroon 5, featuring Wiz Khalifa. Last week, not applicable. Peak position, three. Weeks on chart, one. Number four, Boyfriend, Justin Bieber. Last week, five. Peak position, two.

• 42:01Jake Brennan?

  Weeks on chart, four. Number five, Glad We Came, Wanted. Last week, three. Peak position, three. Weeks on chart, four.

• 42:16Jake Brennan?

  Quit talking and start mixing. Cut it! I like a story with a twist as much as anyone, but some of the best traditions don't have one. They just started and kept going. That's something that's great about Chateau St. Michelle. They've been leading Washington wine since 1967 with wines that are balanced, expressive, and easy to enjoy. Choosing the right bottle shouldn't feel complicated. It should be something you open with confidence every time. So for once, here's a story with no twist, just a good bottle. Redefine your rituals with Chateau St. Michelle.

• 42:52Speaker 05

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• 43:12Jake Brennan?

  depending on certain loan attributes your business loan may be issued by on deck or Celtic Bank on deck does not lend in North Dakota all loans and amounts subject to lender approval hey guys time to dust off your detective skills while unwinding in the Caribbean on Virgin voyages second true crime voyages backed by popular demand this five night adults only escape set sail March 20th 2027 to Grand Turk in the beach club at Bimini the difference between this year and last will be that I will be on the cruise this year along with Zeth and he and I will be taping a live version of disgraced land along with podcast hosts from exactly right's buried bones podcast of the year award winners wisecrack and other fan favorites

• 43:55Jake Brennan?

  get on this cruise of the skies and enjoy live podcast recordings behind the scenes storytelling exclusive meet and greets and immersive true crime programming throughout this one of a kind voyage head over to www.virgin voyages.com slash true crime to secure your spot