References

• Watergate - an early 1970's U.S. political scandal surrounding the revelation of illegal activities on the part of the Republican administration of President Richard Nixon
• Buddy Rich (1917-1987) - an innovative 50's-60's jazz drummer

Beastie Boys

"'Sabotage' was one of the first songs recorded and the very last one to be finished on Ill Communication. While we were recording at Tin Pan Alley, we would play these like jazzy hippie jams for hours. Some of them came out kind of funky, and a bunch of them remained bad jazzy hippie jams. This guy named Chris ran the place. He was cool, but he never really hung out -- maybe 'cause he was a little bored with the noodling." - Adam Horovitz, 1999

"[Adam] Yauch came in one day with this idea for a song where the fuzz bass keeps playing and we would all do these hits and stops to bring like suspense and drama. As we were recording it, Chris runs in the room and starts freaking out. He's all, 'This is the shit! This shit rocks!' for really feeling it. We didn't know what to do with it, so we called it 'Chris Rock,' and for like a year it was just an instrumental. We knew it should have vocals, so after a couple ideas and things, two weeks before we handed in the record, I went to Mario's house and did the vocals on his 8-track. So Chris, I hope you're happy." - Adam Horovitz, 1999

"Adrock wrote [Sabotage] at the last moment. The album [Ill Communication] was in the bag, but he reached back into the can and pulled a rabbit out of his hat." - Bob Mack, 2000

Press

"...a bass-driven metallic rapfest" - Rolling Stone, 1994

"...serves up a slab of red-meat metal that not even Sabbath fans could resist" - Rolling Stone, 1998

"A thrilling combination of their funk groove and hardcore punk approaches, it's a rudimentary song based around a monumental fuzz bass riff and some fairly meaningless lyrics shouted by Adrock. There's no chorus, just scratching that sounds like juggernaut crunching gears, and no tune to speak of either>" - excerpted from Rhyming & Stealing: A History of the Beastie Boys by Angus Batey, 1998

"[A] groundbreaking rocked-out jam" - excerpted from Rock: The Essential Album Guide by Gary Graff and Daniel Durchholz

"...put the Shabbas back in Black Sabbath, forging a rap/metal fusion..." - excerpted from The Vibe Story of Hip-Hop by Alan Light, 1999

"...arguably one of the greatest arena rock songs of all time" - excerpted from The Vibe Story of Hip-Hop by Alan Light, 1999

In response to the September 11th terrorist attacks, Clear Channel radio corporation, the world's largest radio network, sent out a list of some 150 lyrically questionable songs, including Sabotage, to its radio stations, recommending that the songs not be aired. Some songs were overtly violent in their intent, but the majority simply contained metaphorical language or narrative aspects that connected uncomfortably with the tragedy.