Fatboy Slim
Fatboy Slim It’s the late nineties. DJs are the new rock stars and Fatboy Slim’s unique musical blend of vaudeville and vodka has the sweat dripping from the ceiling of Brighton’s infamous Boutique. A grinning Fatboy Slim drops the needle on ‘Santa Cruz’, the record that had kick started the acclaimed Skint record label, and takes a bow before the crowd. The drumfest of the big beat revolution is in full swing and he is most definitely leading from the front. Fast forward ten years and Fatboy Slim has successfully helped take dance music from the clubs, into the living room and to the top of the charts - earning him a unique place in the nation’s heart along the way. Across four acclaimed albums – ‘Better Living Through Chemistry’, ‘You’ve Come A Long Way Baby’, ‘Halfway Between The Gutter And The Stars’ and ‘Palookaville’ – he’s worked with everyone from Bootsy Collins (‘Wonderful Night’) to Blur and even the late Jim Morrison (‘Sunset Bird of Prey’), but Fatboy Slim has become much more than simply the sum of his musical parts. The groundbreaking videos, the awe-inspiring gigs and his devotion to his hometown of Brighton, have all built Norman Cook’s Hawaiian shirt wearing persona into an indisputable British icon. Not only did his music define a genre, he has defined the memories of a generation. Whether that be staring in a goggle-eyed amazement, as Christopher Walken glided balletically across our screens in the video for ‘Weapon Of Choice’, or hearing the Hawaii 5-O on acid strains of ‘Rockafeller Skank’ for the first time. Whether it be Spike Jonze’s immortal promo for the Number 1 single ‘Praise You’ (voted the ‘Best Video of All Time’ by MTV viewers), or standing slack-jawed at Glastonbury, dwarfed by the enormous ‘Palookavision’ 3D wall, as Norman dropped ‘Don’t Let The Man Get You Down.’ Sure, he’s sold a few records (eight million over the four albums) and won a few awards (Brits, MTV Videos and Grammies) along the way. But ask him what says more about the power of his music – a golden gong on the mantelpiece or the fact that the traffic jams for his second Big Beach Boutique gig in Brighton, began all the way back at Gatwick, and you can bet you know his answer. ‘Why Try Harder’ is a celebration of the last decade, as much as it is a Greatest Hits collection. Over eighteen tracks, including ten Top 20 singles, a couple of Number 1s and two exclusive new tracks - ‘Champion Sound’ and ‘That Old Pair Of Jeans’ - it will lead you down memory lane, before grabbing you by the shoulders and hurling you toward the dancefloor. From Housemartin, to heralding the sunrise with 300,000 sun-kissed clubbers on Rio’s Flamengo Beach. He’s come a long way, baby.