History of Beastie Boy's Grand Royal Magazine

When word spread that the Beastie Boys had put out their very own magazine, newsstands and bookstores were swamped with requests for a title they had previously never heard of: Grand Royal. The very first issue of the magazine was indeed a Beastie Boys production through and through; all three members had contributed to what would become the very sought after premier issue. By issue number six, the magazine had become more of Mike D's venture than that of the two Adams. Adam Horovitz went so far as to actually have a disclaimer printed inside the pages of the sixth issue. "I was a fashion (I mean, super model) in the first issue of Grand Royal. But since then I've had nothing to do with the magazine. So not only are my views and opinions not expressed, but I don't agree with everything in the damn thing." Yet even without Adrock's input, the publication grew from a limited initial print run (1993) to a worldwide phenomenon by the time it was all said and done (1997).

According to Chris Johnsen (Head of Sales, Marketing & Promotion at Grand Royal 1993-2000) "We manufactured only 7,500 of Issue #1 and it sold immediately. With the long awaited Issue #2 we printed 50,000 and ended up sitting on 10's of thousands left over... With issue one, only 7,500 were made, approx 1,000 were given away and roughly 6,500 were sold directly to retail stores and we shipped many out to newstands through a distributor who never paid us a dime and told us most of the magazines he had shipped for us didn't sell, could not be returned to us due to cost issues and were subsequently destroyed by the newstands he sold them to. It's realistic that perhaps only 3-4,000 actually survived."

In what is perhaps the best published account of the once great Grand Royal empire, Mike D explained to Select magazine (June 1997) how they came up with the idea to publish the magazine. "We didn't sit down and think, Hey, lets make a magazine. It was more pathetic than that. We had all of these people writing to us (using the address listed within the Check Your Head liner notes) about the band and we weren't getting back. We had this simple ambition of a newsletter, but then we saw a couple of other bands' fanzines and they were just like, This is what the band is up to now and this is what they'll be doing. We were like no way! So we made it into a proper magazine."

Pathetic or not, the magazine met with huge consumer demand and soon potential advertisers were lining up to get their name splashed across the magazine's glossy pages. However things got sort of sticky for Grand Royal editors when the magazine would continually miss release deadlines. Issue number two, which is considered by many to be the War and Peace of "generation X" culture, took an extra year before it finally hit store shelves. Perhaps the ongoing deadline battles was what prompted Grand Royal to have what seemed like a revolving door of editors. Jamie Fraser, who was the Associate Publisher long after Bob Mack left, explained to Select magazine that the wait was part of the magazine's appeal. "Oh yeah, they (advertisers) can get pretty irate, but that's part of the allure. You can advertise in any magazine that comes out on time."

Although the lack of a predictable release schedule weakened Grand Royal's ability to sell subscriptions, the end of the print magazine was not a result of waning interest. As former editor Eric Gladstone recounts, "the staff at Grand Royal realized selling and fulfilling subscriptions was really a big pain (without a fulfillment service, which is how most magazines do it, it's a lot of work!), and that selling the magazine through record stores and newsstands worked much much better. It was through these venues that the final issues sold well. The latter issues were its best sellers, and we held to very tight budgets. The cessation of Grand Royal magazine was entirely a creative decision on the part of the group." The inevitable happened and the publication went to strictly an online 'zine. At first fans were excited because new features were being added to the site almost weekly, but soon the novelty wore off and the masses longed for their favorite pound of pulp.

Sadly, we now live in a post-Grand Royal world. With the fall of the record label came the end of the website and thus the end of the magazine in any format. Fortunately for us the content in the old issues of Grand Royal magazine are as fresh as the day they hit the stands. It is amazing how the magazines hold up nearly ten years after their creation. Mike D often would compare the magazine to a fine wine saying, "each issue is designed to age gracefully, with mellow undertones, and a fruity finish."

So to conclude, if you don't own the magazines it is time to make your way over to eBay.com and pick them up. Or as Mike D said, "this is an extremely collectable magazine. All the time I hear about people going to other people's houses and reading it. It's phenomenal! Its shelf life is just huge!" (June 1997, Select).