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You have likely heard the song entitled "The Man Who Sold the World," but have you ever wondered about the man who sold the Beastie Boys to the world through the medium of music videos? That man is Adam Dubin and through his work on both "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (to Party)" as well as the "No Sleep Till Brooklyn" music videos, the Beastie Boys became one of MTV's favorite groups. To this day MTV often selects those Licensed to Ill era music videos in their all time best countdown specials, a testament to the endurance of Dubin's work. "'The (You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (to Party)' music video did the best thing that a video can do...it gave an identity to the band. Who are the Beastie Boys? These are the Beastie Boys. They are the kids that invade a boring house party, wreck the place and leave with the beer and the chicks. End of story. It was great to see these guys who we had known as 'just guys around the way' blow up to be huge stars around the world. It was hilarious."
Adam Dubin met the Beastie Boys through his New York University roommate, Rick Rubin. In an interview with Beastiemania.com, Dubin said that he recalled seeing Adam Horovitz's band The Young and The Useless open for the UK Subs at CBGB and OMFUG December 10th 1982, in New York City. This is important because it sets the time frame and reveals that a pre-Def Jam Rick Rubin was already interested in Horovitz long before the Beastie Boys would gain notoriety with their 1983 hit single "Cookie Puss." To add another piece into the puzzle, enter Ric Menello who co-directed the "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (to Party)" music video. Dubin explained that the Beastie Boys-Rubin-Menello-Dubin connection dated back to the days of hanging out in NYU dorms. "Menello worked the front desk at Weinstein dorm from midnight to 8am. On many a night while eating food from Cozy Soup and Burg on Broadway, Rick Rubin, the Beastie Boys and I would sit with Menello and get a first class film history lesson. So when it came time to direct the video, the Beastie Boys wanted Menello to do it. The problem was that Menello didn't know how to produce a video and Rick Rubin wasn't putting up a lot of money to do it. That is where I, Adam Dubin, entered in."
Having achieved so much success and notoriety for his work on the two Beastie Boys music videos, Adam went on to work on other projects including music videos for Metallica. His credits include having directed the multi-platinum selling A Year And A Half In The Life Of Metallica Parts 1 & 2. Also, Adam Dubin directed a feature comedy Drop Dead Rock starring Adam Ant and Deborah Harry. In 1999, Adam began working with cutting edge stand up comedians and went on to direct the short film, Sidesplitters: The Burt & Dick Story starring Lewis Black and Jim Norton. His second short film, American Dummy stars Otto & George, Jim Breuer, Lewis Black, Jim Norton, Pete Correale, Greg Giraldo and Nina Hartley. He just finished directing a Jim Breuer feature concert and documentary called Heavy Metal Comedy. If Jim Breuer's name seems familiar, it is because he starred in Tamra Davis' movie Half Baked and used to be a regular on Saturday Night Live.
To this day Adam Dubin and Rick Rubin remain friends. "I still talk to Rubin sometimes, but Menello talks to him like every day." Adam Dubin has so many great memories of his days with Beastie Boys that some day he should pen a book. Until that time comes though, Beastiemania.com would like to tell the following story that Dubin shared with us. "Once the "(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (to Party)" video was out, I remember going to the December 26th, 1986 show at Ritz (New York City) with Rick Rubin, Ric Menello, and a lot of other folks. We sat in a reserved box at the Ritz. I brought eggs and some ground bloom flower fireworks. I can remember throwing eggs at the Beasties while they were on stage. This was not easy, because if the bouncers saw you they would kill you before throwing you out. My first shot hit a kid in the head. He was just someone who was in the audience. My next shot just missed MCA by inches. They couldn't see who was throwing it. I never did hit them. However, then I threw the ground flower which went off on stage. It started spitting sparks and spinning around. It almost set the banner on the DJ platform on fire. The Beasties ran away from it. Rubin loved that."
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