When was Beastie Boys’ ‘Sabotage’ released? Band sues Chili’s Owner for unauthorised use of the hit song in advertisements

Rapper trio Beastie Boys are reportedly suing the owner of the popular restaurant chain Chili’s over the alleged unauthorized use of their song Sabotage in social media advertisements from November 2022. The hit number Sabotage was released in 1994.

The rap trio filed a lawsuit at Manhattan federal court on Wednesday, July 10, accusing Chili’s owner, Brinker International, of infringing their copyrights by using their track Sabotage without a license.

The band does not allow the use of their music in advertisements. The band’s attorney mentioned that one of their deceased members, Adam Yaunch, prohibited such usage in his will.

“Use of the ‘Sabotage’ sound recording, music composition and video was all without permission,” the group’s attorneys wrote. “The plaintiffs do not license ‘Sabotage’ or any of their other intellectual property for third-party product advertising purposes, and deceased Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch included a provision in his will prohibiting such uses.”

The Beastie Boys claimed that Chili’s advertisement included three men dressed in 70s-style clothing and wigs carrying out a supposed robbery of certain food ingredients from the popular restaurant chain.

They alleged that the video was intended to emulate the Sabotage music video, which featured the band members in a similar fashion, leading to “violated federal trademark law.”

“The public was confused into believing that plaintiffs sponsored, endorsed and are associated with defendant Brinker in promoting defendant Brinker’s ‘Chili’s’ restaurants and products,” the lawsuit mentioned.

The Beastie Boys are reportedly seeking compensation worth $150000 in case of copyright infringement, attorney fees, permanent injunction, and three times the profits gained from false usage of their work.

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The Beastie Boys first released Sabotage in January 1994

The Beastie Boys first dropped Sabotage in January 1994 as the first single from their then-upcoming fourth studio album, Ill Communication. Upon release, the song was met with immense critical acclaim and has since been heavily referenced in pop culture.

The music video for Sabotage, released alongside the song, was directed by Spike Jonze and featured the members of the band Adam 'Ad-Rock' Horovitz, now deceased Adam 'MCA' Yauch, and Michael 'Mike D' Diamond. The video depicted them as starring in a 1970s-style fictional crime show named Sabotage.

In their latest lawsuit against Chili's, the Beastie Boys claimed that the restaurant chain copied the same style for their advertisement, despite the band's strict stance about using their music in advertisements. Adam Yaunch reportedly included a specific clause in his will prohibiting the use of his work, image, or music in any kind of advertisement.

This is not the first time the band has sued another party for alleged unauthorized usage of their work. In 2013, the Beastie Boys sued a toy company called GoldieBlox for releasing a viral parody of their 1987 number, Girls.

The company used the song in a promotional video to promote its procedure of constructing different toys for girls. The Beastie Boys eventually won the lawsuit, with the company apologizing and donating a portion of its profits to charity.

In 2015, the band won a lawsuit against Monster Energy for the unauthorized usage of many of their songs in a promotional video. They claimed $1.7 million in compensation following the verdict.

However, the rap trio has allowed certain kinds of usage of their music. For instance, in 2016, the song Sabotage appeared in the trailer for Star Trek: Beyond. The group also allowed the same hit number to be used for a 2017 advertisement for the video game Destiny 2.

As per Billboard, neither of these projects was considered an advertisement, as they promoted artistic content.

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