February
Fans lucky enough to happen to catch the
short clip on MTV News, learn that the Beastie Boys will be receiving the Rock The Vote's Patrick Lippert Award, for their efforts in working for Tibetan freedom. Also officially annouced on MTV News is the dates (June 13-14) for the third Tibetan Freedom Concert, to be held at RFK Stadium in Washington DC.
February 19 1998, Beastie Boys fans start dreaming about the prospect of a project entitled "The Kids On Zenith Avenue." MTV News reported that this project would be a collaborative effort including the likes of Rahzel, the Beastie Boys, Wyclef Jean and
De La Soul. Although the album never came together, Mike D and Adam Horovitz did team up with De La Soul to create the song "Squat" which was featured on the De La Soul album Art Official Intelligence: Mosaic Thump (released August 8th 2000.)
April
Adam Yauch and Sean Lennon spend
April Fools day at the MTV studio in Times Square New York to promote the upcoming Tibetan Freedom Concert.
On April 11th,
MTV News 1515 proceeds to stir up a lot of Beastie Boys fans with an indepth look at the Beastie Boys upcoming album Hello Nasty. MTV news reporter Kurt Loder ventures deep down into the band's Greenwhich Village NY recording studio appropriately named "the Dungeon." Once there he sits down with the Beastie Boys to discuss the direction of the album and inquire about the prospect of an upcoming tour. The Beastie Boys even debut a few tracks from the album including: "Super Disco Breakin" and "Three MCs and One DJ." It is worth noting that this version of Three MCs and One DJ included a Snoop Dogg sample from "Gin and Juice" which did not get cleared for the album and was subsquently left off.
Luscious Jackson keyboardist Vivian Trimble announces her departure from the group during the first week in April 1998. Contributing factors in her decision are cited as too much time on the road touring and an interest in pursuing other music projects.
May
Reports begin to circulate that Adam Yauch will marry Glamour magazine's Denchen Wangdu on May 23rd.
Money Mark releases his pop masterpiece
"Push the Button" on the 4th of May. The first single off the album is
"Maybe I'm Dead." A video for "Maybe I'm Dead" gets decent play on MTV and the song itself gets remixed by the Dust Brothers and generates a little buzz for Money Mark.
On the 13th and the 14th of May, the Beastie Boys begin filming the Intergalactic music video at Paris Studios (Stage A-B) in New York.
June
On June 10th 1998, beastieboys.com announces the first batch of United States Tour Dates. The tour is set to begin in Seattle, Washington on July 31st. But first the Beastie Boys will play a
couple of shows to get warmed up for the Tibetan Freedom Concert. Tickets for one of secret shows go on sale on at the Roseland Boxoffice only 24 hours before it takes place at
Irving Plaza (June 11th).
On June 13th, a lightening strike on the first day of the Third Annual Tibetan Freedom concert cuts Saturday's performances short. Not frightened off by the previous day's storm, the Beastie Boys take the stage at
RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. and perform a few news songs from the as of yet unreleased Hello Nasty album. For many this is the first time they heard: "Intergalactic," "Super Disco Breakin'" and "Putting Shame in Your Game." Also, this is the first time many fans were introduced to Mix Master Mike behind the wheels of steel.
On the 15th, following the third annual Tibetan Freedom Concert, movement supporters joined Adam Yauch on the lawn in front of the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. Those who gathered protested President Bill Clinton’s decision to give China favorite nation trading status. Three hours of the protest were
televised live on the cable network station C-SPAN.
July
July 2nd, 1998 is the day/night that many fans first saw the Beastie Boys infamous
Infomerical which ran on cable access channels across the United States. The 30 minute long advertisement encouraged fans to call 1-888-711-BSTE (a legitmate phone number) and order their copy of the new album Hello Nasty.
The long awaited
Hello Nasty is released in the United States on July 14th. Sales for Hello Nasty are strong with over 681,000 units sold in its first week. Of those sold, over 220,000 copies were sold the first day of releas. The album is #1 in the U.K., Germany, Sweden, New Zealand, and Australia. And, back in the United States Hello Nasty enters in at #1 on both the Billboard Top 200 and Rap charts.
The
"Intergalactic" single is released in the United Kingdom on July 21st.
Then on July 23rd, Licensed to Ill reaches another milestone with 8X platinum record sales status (8,000,000 copies sold).
August
On August 6th, the last Beastie bachelor, Adam Yauch marries
Dechen Wangdu in New York.
On August 11 1998, Kathleen Hanna releases her Julie Ruin album, which features Adam Horovitz keyboard playing. After being the subject of constant speculation, the two later go on to get married in 2006.
In late August, the Beastie Boys hit the pause button with their North American "In the Round" tour and fly out to play abbreviated sets at three festival gigs in Europe. The Pukklepop Festival and
Lowlands Festival performances occur without any inncident. However, at the
Reading Festival in England (August 29th), the band draws the attention of the international press with the request that Prodigy, one of the opening acts, refrain from playing the song "Smack My Bitch Up" during their set. Prodigy's Maxim declines the Beastie Boys' request and gives rock journalists something to write about.
September
On the
10th of September the Beastie Boys are out to Los Angeles, CA to appear at the MTV Video Music Awards. In addition to being award the 1998 Video Vanguard Award, they also peform two songs from Hello Nasty: "Intergalactic" and "Three MCs and One DJ."
On September 29th, 1998
DJ Shadow and
James Lavelle's masterpiece "Psyence Fiction" hits store shelves. The track "The Knock (Drums Of Death Pt. 2)" features vocals that Mike D laid down during Hello Nasty recording sessions.
November
The
Body Movin’ single is released in the United Kingdom on November 3rd. Shortly thereafter, on the 19th, the life sized "Beastie Boys in the Sardine Tin" can display is stolen from a promotional display in Waterloo (forget about the
action figures that Nigo made, this just may be the ultimate Beastie Boys collectable!!!) where it was part of a continued promotion of the "Hello Nasty" album. The half ton display had been making its way from British Tower Records store to British Tower Records store, when it was mysteriously carted off.
Back in the United States, New Yorkers start seeing cardboard
Beastie Boy coffee cups avilable at their local street corner vendor and deli.
On November 6th, 1998 at the Billboard Music Awards (held at the Sheraton Universal in Los Angeles, CA) the Beastie Boys song "Intergalactic" wins the award for Best Alternative/Modern Rock Clip.
November 20th. 1998, Scheduled to be in New York City to perform on
Saturday Night Live show (on November 21st) the Beastie Boys arrange for tickets to go on sale for a last minute show held to be held on Sunday (November 22nd) at
Hammerstein Ballroom. The 3400 seat venue quickly sells out and the Beastie Boys do not disapoint. The Saturday Night Live set consists of a 2 song set, whereas the next night the Beastie Boys performed for nearly 2 hours.
December
The ten foot Parolophone "Hello Nasty" display sardine tin gets returned (complete with the life-sized 3-d replicas of the Beastie Boys inside) to the Channel 4 television building without inncident on the 7th of December.
