It’s safe to say that Beastie Boys’ “License To Ill” album was an instant hit for the masses in 1986.
Although the group was at an all-time high after the release of the album, they’ve recently revealed that they were still broke despite their success. Michael “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz say they faced a rough year after the release of their debut. Apparently, the trio weren’t even on speaking terms at the time.
In an interview with The Guardian, the two remaining members state that Russell Simmons threatened to not pay them if they didn’t go in the studio.
“Russell was like, if you don’t go in the studio, then I’m not paying you,” Diamond said. “His calculation was that we would all be like, ‘Oh we want our millions. Okay, Russell we’re going to do it.’ But we were all immediately, ‘F*** you.'”
The two members seem to not hold a grudge against Def Jam or Simmons, as everything turned out for the better.
After the group split, they did come together for their sophomore classic, “Paul’s Boutique.” So it’s safe to say nobody lost in the process.
