Beastie Boys have revealed that the gold record version of ‘Paul’s Boutique’ actually didn’t contain any music from the album at all.
Members Ad-Rock and Mike D. shared the news as part of a new interview on the Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend podcast, recalling the time that they made the discovery about their gold record.
They were given the award after their 1989 album was certified gold just two months after its original release date, having sold 500,000 copies. However, after deconstructing the plaque they were presented with – which seemingly contained a copy of the LP – they discovered the vinyl actually did not contain their music at all.
“So we’re at our studio here in California and I was smoking the pot,” Ad-Rock began.
“This was a long time ago. We had a gold record on the wall, it was our record, ‘Paul’s Boutique’. I was looking at it and I could see it had our label and I could see that it had like nine songs on the one side. But I was looking at the actual gold record and it only had four songs on it.”
The off-count meant they questioned if the record on display was actually theirs – leading to them deciding to “break the glass and take the record out” to put it to the test.
“It was somebody doing piano versions of like Barry Manilow [and] like [Morris Albert’s] ‘Feelings.’ Just some other shit,” he explained. When asked by the host if he knew whether all gold records in plaques actually contained a random LP of someone else’s work, Ad-Rock responded: “I don’t know about anybody else…”
Mike D continued: “I’d like to think that for Barbra Streisand, Donna Summer, Barry Manilow, a real mega-star, that it was actually their record.”
While the album was certified gold by the RIAA in September 1989, it continued to go from strength to strength – being certified platinum in 1995 and double platinum in 1999 (as per Loudwire).
It remains one of their best-selling albums, along with 1986’s ‘Licensed To Ill’ – which got a diamond certification after selling 10million copies – 1994’s ‘Ill Communication’ and 1998’s ‘Hello Nasty’.
Earlier this summer, the group announced a 30th anniversary reissue of ‘Ill Communication’, comprising three vinyl LPs – two of the original album remastered, and a third record featuring remixes, bonus tracks and rarities – along with a lenticular cover.
It comes following them releasing a 25th anniversary reissue of ‘Hello Nasty’ last year, and the Manhattan intersection immortalised on the cover of ‘Paul’s Boutique’ being renamed as Beastie Boys Square.
NME included ‘Ill Communication’ in its list of classic 1994 albums that turn 30 this year. Rhian Daly wrote: “Beastie Boys might now be synonymous with merging hip-hop with other sounds like punk and jazz, but it wasn’t until ‘Ill Communication’ that they really made that eclectic spirit their calling card. The results birthed tracks both gigantic and glorious, from the juddering howls of ‘Sabotage’ to the flute-laden ‘Sure Shot’.”
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