Today marks the birthday of Quentin Cook, better known as Norman Cook, or far better known as Fatboy Slim, who was born today back in 1963.
Most folk are aware that as well as his work as Fatboy Slim, Cook was also a member of the Housemartens during the late 80s, but you may be surprised to find that he was also members and sometimes founder to at least five other groups, as well as putting out solo project music under various aliases.
Cook has always loved music of all varieties, but it wasn't until he was 14 years old that he begun looking at the prospect of creating and performing music, spurred on by his brother buying him a copy of The Damned's first album, Damned Damned Damned, which turned him to the emerging punk genre.
This led into his first musical outing, Discque Attack, in which he was the drummer and eventual vocalist, after the original vocalist Charlie Alcock was forbidden by his parents from being in the band anymore so that he could concentrate on his O Levels - which isn't very punk rock at all, but Discque Attack were more new wave than punk rawk, so there is that.
Cook would later meet a dude called Paul Heaton, and together they formed a band you might be familiar with - Stomping Pondfrogs.
Okay you probably aren't familiar with them, but you might be familiar with their next band, The Housemartens. Cook wasn't an original member of the band, as during the Housemartens' early days Cook was living in Brighton where he was attending university, and whilst here he was doing a lot of DJ work and making a name for himself at local Brighton venues, as well as playing a hand in the emerging hip hop scene flourishing there around this time.
It wasn't until 1985 that Cook would be welcomed into the band, having jumped ship from Brighton to Hull in order to play bass for the band, as Paul had contacted him following the previous bassist's departure, right before their first ever national tour. A year later, Cook also achieved his first ever number one hit with The Housemartens, Caravan of Love.
In 1988 the band split and Cook returned to Brighton, and whilst here he handled a few other groups - some didn't cause too much of a ripple in the music scene, such as his outfits Pizzaman, Freak Power, and The Might Dub Katz (although Freak Power did get a song featured in a Levi's ad, which I guess is pretty big if you're into Levi's) however one act did cause a splash, for better or worse - Beats International.
Beats International's biggest trackand Cook's second number one single, Dub Be Good to Me, may have been a major hit, but it caused far more trouble for Cook than it was worth, as because of the track he found himself tied up in a court case that demanded compensation for him using numerous unauthorised samples in the song, which in the end, meant Cook was forced to pay double what the record actually made. Bummer.
From 1996 though, Cook begun going by the name Fatboy Slim, an oxymoron that Cook has stated means absolutely nothing, though is just interesting enough for people to question its background, which has given Cook plenty of opportunities to lie to reporters about the title's backstory.
Fatboy Slim's second album, You've Come A Long Way, Baby, was released in 1998 and it found huge acclaim worldwide, notably for featuring the hit tracks The Rockafeller Skank and Praise You, the latter of which won an MTV award for its video, directed by Spike Jonze. Jonze collaborated with Fatboy Slim a second time two years later when he directed what is possibly Fatboy's most famous music video, Weapon of Choice, which featured Christopher Walken dancing around an empty hotel lobby, as well as featuring lyrics that feature quotes from the Sci-Fi book Dune, performed by Bootsy Collins.
Rad.
One of the most impressive things about Cook's work as Fatboy Slim however is by far his live performances, which he has played all over the world, visiting such unique locations as Cuba, South Africa, and Shanghai, as well as more obvious places such as the UK, America, Australia, and of course, Ibiza. Cook has called the Shanghai show the worst show he's done, stating that the audience didn't really get the music they were hearing, and as well as having to battle with the police at the show, Cook was continuously bombarded with demands to play slower songs and power ballads.
This seems to be the only hiccup in his touring career however, as on the topic of his best shows, there are plenty of moments to choose from. Folk big on Coachella Festival, though specifically the Sahara Tent, are quick to state Cook's tent closing show in 2008 is the best closing act the tent ever saw, and likewise fans of other huge festivals Fatboy Slim has played such as Glastonbury and Creamfields will fondly tell you of their experiences seeing him play these shows.
The shows he is probably most famous for though, for better or worse, are his Big Beach Boutique shows, which were started as free shows for the residents of Brighton, but saw a hiatus between 2002 and 2007. Why the hiatus? Well it all boils down to Big Beach Boutique II, which was expected to play out like the previous Boutique, however things went horribly wrong.
See in 2002, Fatboy Slim was probably at the peak of his career, and with word spreading of a show in Brighton where you could see him play for free, the entire nation and then some descended upon the pier. Organisers and local police were under the impression the show would see a crowd of 60,000 people, however what they ended up with was 250,000 people, though more had arrived and were simply unable to access the beach due to the sheer number of party goers.
This led to the show having to be ended early due to fears of safety to the thousands of people packed onto the sands, and one attendee tragically died. To make matters worse, traffic caused by the show was so bad that people were said to be stuck in traffic until the next morning, which is insane given the event finished about 10pm.
The chaos caused by Big Beach Boutique II, which is partially documented on the later released CD and DVD, meant that the police put a ban on Fatboy Slim ever playing Brighton again, at least until things settled down that is, which came around in 2006, when once again Cook was given permission to play his adopted hometown once more, leading to the third Big Beach Boutique in 2007. A safety measure was put in place however to avoid the problems of the past, as this time the event was ticketed and only available to those in Brighton with a BN post code.
As well as playing all of these incredible shows during his career, two final unique Fatboy Slim sets worth mentioning are his show he put on at the House of Commons to support an initiative to raise awareness of community music, and at Brighton Fringe one year he played a one-off set entitled "Baby Loves Disco", which was aimed at pre-schoolers in attendance with their parents.
One final notable rad feat of Cook is that in 2009 he checked himself into rehab for alcoholism, and as of 2020 he has been sober for 11 years.
Fatboy Slim, you've come a long way, baby.
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