Better Living Through Chemistry

I enjoyed this, but then again, I was helping promoting small scale raves and house parties in the mid 1990s in the San Francisco Bay area, so this came just after that, and I understand where this material is coming from and why. I typically don't listen to this sort of thing for pleasure, it's great to dance to, and that can leave some people cold. That said, it's creative, good loops, interesting breaks, and in a genre where a lot of stuff is really repetitive and formulaic, this isn't.

8/10 not as good as YCALWB, but still pretty great

I’ve never been much of an uppers guy, so this isn’t exactly the kind of music that I’d choose to dance to regularly. Still, it’s fun for a change occasionally. None of the songs have the same kind of impact as Fatboy Slim’s big hits, but they’re all still pleasant, well produced, and danceable, which is really what it’s all about

Big Beat at its best. Cracking

Good for running, with a good beat throughout, but it does not have any of Fatboy Slim's best songs.

While I prefer the second album, this was a great debut and great listen.

Solid big beat goodness. Hard to go wrong with Fatboy Slim.

Solid dance house music. Definitely the type of thing you need to be in the mood for. 3.5 stars

Repetetive, but in a good way. You'd think it would be more annoying but it's not.

Quite good

Good electronic music

More important to listen to than a full album. You can clearly see the influence this had on electronic music. 3.5/5

Fun listen. I’m almost surprised that it is dated. Still a fun listen.

crazy sounds. felt like surfing the web in 1999. fingerless glove type beats. funky techno shizzlewizzle

Je trouve ca très entrainant et pour vrai je me suis surpris a aimé quand meme les album de Fat boy slim sur cette liste, car oui, i y en a plusieurs. celui-ci est osn premier et ca déménage quand meme. Surtout pour motivaiton de course. 4

Better Living is notably more abstract than Long Way, but it has every bit as much punch. An exhaustively impressive debut.

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: First down, Going out of my head

I love Fatboy Slim but you can tell this is an early work. The sampling isn't quite as catchy or iconic as his later work, and that joyous pop sound isn't quite perfected. It's still v enjoyable and as a huge fan of 90s big beat/electronic sounds in the UK, its really good background listening. Best suited as a soundtrack to relaxed, monotonous office work, to spice up your life and get your foot tapping, imagining yourself in a 90s underground rave. 04/10/23

4/5. A quite enjoyable and danceable electronic album, somehow better than his sophomore album. Although his second one definitely has some better induvial songs, this one flows so nicely and each has some passion and drive behind it. It also never slows down which is a plus. Although it is a little long, it's still really good.

I found it fun but also can't disagree with the repetitive assessments

Good dance music. I didn’t really think it would be any different, since I liked the one I heard already, but whatever (I prefer that one, just so you know). Something interesting about this one is that I think it was mistakenly thought to be one of the albums here that wasn’t on the list when it really was, since I’m only the fifth or so review since 2021. Cool.

Big Beats = Best Beats

A fun ride.

Favoriete nummers: - Santa Cruz

real funky bass. 8/10 but not for me

Fat boy slim albums back to back…enjoyed this one better than you’ve come a long way baby

I liked this a lot more than I thought I was going to.

Very cool album!

Magnífico, old class dj magic.

Various electronic music in the one album. A pleasant combination of a lot of sounds in each track. But this isn't Fatboy Slim best album.

So far I only knew Fatboy Slim by name. I'm not entirely sure what I expected his music to sound like, but it wasn't this. I sort of liked it though, I think. I'll need to listen to this one more than once to be able to deliver a final verdict, but for now a 4 will do.

Saved Prior: None Off Rip: Song For Lindy, Santa Cruz, Going Out Of My Head, Everybody Needs A 303, Give The Po' Man A Break, First Down Cutting Edge: None Overall Notes: I had prior exposure to his bigger hits, but this was fun head-bopping dance music. The repetition hits perfectly and this would be super fun to dance to at a party. Not what I would call essential listening, but a fun listen nonetheless.

energetic, diverse, and very 90s. really enjoyed it. some of these will be in rotation on workout playlists

Klassisk electronica-album dette. Jeg var kanskje hakket mer team chemical brothers enn fatboy slim i gamledager, men er jo noen flotte låter her med big beat souffle, everybody loves a filter, song for lindy og going out of my head.

never heard this one before. I'ts great even though its not full of hits as YCALWB.

Each song has interesting build ups

Good, but I preferred "You've Come A Long Way, Baby"

Thumbs up

The weekend starts here Give po man a break 10th and crenshaw Punk to funk

Really interesting album. This album is convincing me that I should give more of their stuff more listens. I'm giving this one 4 stars.

Most of us lack the privilege of enjoying this in a party context but what I can say as an armchair listener is that Fatboy Slim possesses a lot of youthful energy and creativity and knows what he wants out of a record but I'd enjoy this more if it were 20 minutes shorter. But again, this wasn't made for me to enjoy as an album, it was made to provide an hours worth of ass shaking for DJs. Also sounds like you could flip some dope samples off this.

I remember seeing this set in Brighton 97. Fun night.

It’s no ‘You’ve come a long way baby’

Decent background music but could be much shorter.

decent club music

Yes he’s important. Yes one of his albums like so many on this list tells us an important thing about popular music and the notion of the album.

I love You’ve Come A Long Way Baby, so was excited to hear this. Didn’t quite live up to my excitement, but still enjoyed it.

Liked a few tracks. A bit too long for me. Need to be in the mood for electronic music.

Not bad, but not their best 3/5

So, this was his debut as Fatboy Slim; I listened recently to the follow-up (You've Come A Long Way Baby) because it popped up on here first. I think he's really good at what he does, but imo it would have been enough just to have the follow-up on here; it's better, and many of its tracks have become part of life's soundtrack (judging by how often they still get played all over the place). As for this album, I suppose with so much guitar-based rock on this list, it's good to have a decent chunk of electronica, but I'm not sure this contributes anything that the follow-up doesn't.

Album #126, Fatboy Slim, Better Living Through Chemistry ⭐⭐⭐ This could be the most 90s sounding 90s album I’ve ever heard. Also, this might be the first electronic album I’ve gotten on the generator so far, so this was a real welcome change of pace. I liked it, but context matters when you’re listening to this kind of stuff. This isn’t half as interesting or innovative as some of his contemporaries at the time, like Aphex Twin or The Prodigy or DJ Shadow, for example. But it’s also not trying to be. This is rave music. It’s made for dancing, and I’ve seen Fatboy Slim live multiple times, so I do really enjoy it. It’s a three-star album when you’re sober. It would be a five-star album if you were on ecstasy.

Was cool, hadn't heard before

Good little background jammer while working. Tempo and beats are all very similar, but this strangely makes the otherwise lengthy tracklist kinda fly by. 3.4/5.0

Dis was mmm’k

Overall: 6/10 Maybe I'm just in a good mood today but I got a lot more enjoyment out of this than I usually do with repetitive dance music. I found myself humming along to a good majority of the songs and they get stuck in your head pretty easily. Nice one, Fatboy. Fav Song: Give the Po' Man a Break

Solid but nothing to write home about. Better than the last fatboy slim album we had though. But also doesn’t have praise you, so…

It’s a very fun listen. My teenager said it was really good.

I’ve heard this before. This was spinning at a lot of parties my first few years of college. There are a lot bangers here and it’s a fun party album, but there are only a few that stand out as recognizable while the rest of it runs together. This is a general problem with a lot of electronic music from the 90s and onward where artists and even whole genres are based on one type of beat. There is more than just one type of beat here but it still becomes indistinguishable after a while.

Is it just me, or are there far too many white producers in fields pioneered by Black artists on here? I mean, obviously all modern music is derived one way or another from that of Black people, but like… whatever. I’m not gonna turn anything into any moral conversation or whatever, I just think it’s worth discussing. Especially since this album is SO BORING. “Santa Cruz” is real tight, but everything else is so whatever. It’s numbing. They all feel like numbing little jingles that repeat until you’re bored as shit. Except “Santa Cruz.” That song is bomb as fuck. 5.6/10

I struggle to sleep, I have a sleeping headband that I listen to soothing beats prior to sleep. This was like a more propulsive version of that, and trust me that’s a good thing. In the days when I went out till the early hours this would have been a great comedown record despite all the acid lines. However, I favoured Revolver at the time. Yeah… anyway back to the point. Not what I expected at all. An immersive groove

its okay. it just felt too generic compared to their other albums. Also weirdly industrial in places like a Prodigy album.

Uninspired electronic music. Disappointing entry from Fatboy

I don’t generally like strictly instrumental albums but Fatboy Slim always keeps them entertaining.

5: I will happily play this album anytime 4: I may occasionally play this album of my own free will 3: I will happily listen to this if someone plays it in the background 2: I will tolerate this if it is playing in the background 1: I will leave the room if someone plays this in the background

So I had You've Come a Long Way, Baby before this album a few months back, and I have to say I've been listening to at least 1 song from that album on a daily basis. It's just so fun in a non-committal way and it's personally transformative for introducing me to Big Beat/Techno which is a genre I'd never considered listening to. So without transforming this review into a personal retrospective, when I saw this pop up I was immediately excited. I knew Fatboy Slim only had a handful of records in his discography, and I did not know that this list included a multiple of them. When listening to this with the perspective and love I have for the second album, this feels a bit colder and more unrefined honestly. It's not bad by any means, but it does feel a bit in the nature of a typical debut album that's overshadowed by the artist's sophomore record. I'll also say with the way that YCALWB is more impressive, more important, and Fatboy Slim doesn't have that many records to begin with, this can handily be trimmed from the list in a future edition if it wasn't already.

When dance music was better, but not that much better... Recently listened to Moby's 'Play', and they're from similar eras and similar genres. I prefer Moby because he's more varied and less repetitive. This album really is DANCE music, like for loud speakers in a clubbing environment. I saved some songs to a new Instrumental Dance playlist, so that's good, but like... It's ok. Not the kind of music I would listen to that often. When you're in the mood it's great.

Listened on: Spotify Listening experience: Single sitting I was super hungover and did not feel like listening to this - the repetition was hurting my brain. Certain parts also sounded like a Teams call. By the end I didn’t hate and it almost had me off to sleep.

after years of my dad calling fall out boy (one of my favourite bands) fatboy slim i finally listened to a fatboy slim album and it was just fine

I don't think I recognize any of these tracks by title. This is the first time I'm listening to this album start-to-finish. I ended up recognizing a few of these tracks. I feel like this album starts a little slow and improves over its duration. It's not great, but good. I'm not sure it's something I feel compelled to listen to again though.

Insane to have 2 fat boy slim albums on this list?! Fun but I don't think anything super special.

Better than orbital

Nisu sve trice iste, ovo je lošiji album Fatboya ali ne bez nekih pozitivnih elemenata.

Tämähän oli ihan hyvää kuunneltavaa kotitöitä tehdessä. Biiseissä oli vähemmän jankkausta, kuin sillä toisella Fatboy Slimin levyllä, jonka kannessa oli "fatboy".

First listen

I like "Santa Cruz" a lot; I don't recall ever hearing that before. I am finding this to be a good soundtrack to do focused work to. I'm sure that's not how he intended it!

It changes enough that I don't hate it, but it is still repetitive and just okay. If I was at a 2000's rave, feeling the beats and the music maybe, but for me its just okay. Santa Cruz was my favorite, but other than that they were just fine.

Really god album

How can he be both fat and slim?

A nice fun album to listen to. Can definitely see myself enjoying listening to this again.

I mean, was pretty decent background noise to clean my house with. 3/5

Pretty fun big beat album. It hit harder when I was 16 though.

Liked it! Somewhere between a 3 and a 4 but I think it would round down to a 3.

RATING: 6/10 HIGHLIGHT: First Down LOWLIGHT: Santa Cruz

Doesn't have any hits like its follow-up but is overall nice. Favorite track: Santa Cruz

I love Fatboy Slim even if his formula is old. But it's such a fine formula!

Decent.

Fun album, not one for one sitting however.

3/5

2.5

Listened in the car. It was fine! I really liked how goofy it was at times. I always appreciate when a musician is able to not take themselves so seriously. That said this kind of electronic music just doesn't speak to me. Like did all the British EDM musicians at the time use the exact same CD of drum samples or something? At times I thought I was listening to The Prodigy with a sense of humour. Not bad, totally get why people like this guy.

Neat listen that I'm sure gets better with repeated sittings. You could kinda tell he's caught between making traditional electronic songs and radio-style cousins to EDM (which wasn't even a term when this came out). This signifies a shift in electronic away from early 90's longer dance songs to more pop friendly electronic bops. I've seen him multiple times and he's one of my absolute favorite party DJ's. The guy just gets good music!

Nothing wrong with this album, but unsurprisingly it just feels like a soundtrack to a 90s montage.

As a teenager, I loved Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" and "Weapon of Choice" music videos (both directed by Spike Jonze), but it never occurred to me to check out their earlier work. Well, now I have. At first I tried listening to "Better Living Through Chemistry" with my morning coffee, but it didn't work at all. On a run after work, the album sounded better but it's still just decent and a little outdated big beat stuff.

I like it

Individually, the tracks were fun (especially Going Out of My Head) but as an album it gets a bit wearying.

coole ahfang. bin nöd so ufmerksam merki gad aber jo weekend starts here findi najaaa soo nüt ufgschriebe aber s macht easy spass! de ufepitched synthi(?) brucht er zwar fnueg hüfig aber finds au sehr cool 1, 2 lieder weniger chönnteds scho sii, villes isch au chli ah mier verbii aber jo drai

some nice electronic tunes on here brother

I still have fat boy slim is fucking in heaven stuck in my head which says something Will I listen to again: 25%

Música para escuchar si quieres relajarte y estás drogado o algo asi

Nice i enjoyed it, chill sinthy music

A good album, I liked pPunk to Funk the most.

Fine in parts. Full album was a bit much

Un genere che è invecchiato male

Vanilla EDM. I love electronic music, but find this a little too repetitive (I know that's the point of EDM!). But if it has to be repetitive, i prefer something with a bit of mood, not just sounds).

It goes on and on and on. Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of electronic music, but I agree with Ian - this lacks personality.

Lowkey repetetive.

Fín fløga

++*: First Down ++: Everybody Needs a 303, Give the Po' Man a Break, 10th & Crenshaw, The Sound of Milwaukee, Michael Jackson +: Song for Lindy, Going Out of My Head, The Weekend Starts Here, Punk to Funk +-: Santa Cruz, Next to Nothing 7,3/10

01) Song for Lindy - 8,0 02) Santa Cruz - 7,5 03) The Weekend Starts Here - 7,5 04) Going Out of My Head - 8,0 05) Everybody Needs a 303 - 7,5 06) Give the Po' Man a Break - 7,5 07) 10th & Crenshaw - 7,0 08) First Down - 7,0 09) Punk to Funk - 7,0 10) The Sound of Milwaukee - 7,5 TOTAL: 7,45 (75/100) Current ranking: 376/887

Not any of his more fun stuff but a lot of energetic instrumentals.

Interesting

Funky but too weird for me. 3/5

I think this is another one of those albums that must have been influential but isn’t really a “must hear.” If I had to guess it was probably pioneering in terms of sampling. A lot of the tracks were pretty flat and repetitive (even by electronic standards).

The next is better

first listen cool stuff

This genre is super repetitive in its nature, so it's hard to listen to a whole album without getting tired of what's going on. Still, this one sounds good and doesn't do annoying stuff.

= the Beatles

Review - much better than I expected for an album of his before any of the big hits. It's true what they say - big beats are the best; get high all the time. Rating - 7/10 Need to hear? YES

So the song "Santa Cruz" starts, and its nice, and placid, and then the super-annoying one-note guitar riff starts, and stops, and comes back and I start to get annoyed. But I push through. The song ebbs and flows, parts come in and drop out, and then at the end the annoying guitar part is playing along with every other layer of the song - and I love it. How I feel about electronic dance music is pretty similar to my feeling about that stupid guitar riff. It's so repetitive and annoying - and then - suddenly the annoying is the fun part. Dance music for me in microcosm. This is a big beat classic. Put this on for a miniature dance party, or while you're cleaning the house. Do they even have raves anymore? Seems like we need them now more than ever. But Good God it's 71 minutes long.... THREE STARS

Not as good as his next album!

Not bad

Bit of the same old, same old vibe.

Mm

Fine, fun, dancey, a bit monotonous, laid groundwork for more popular later stuff

pretty lit. my favorite fatboy slim setup so far. the bangers are a little basic but they're still bangers. Everybody Needs A 303 had a neat progression, and the main riff in Santa Cruz is really tight, hard to pick a favorite between them. strong 3

Rating: 5/10 Not as good as You've Come a Long Way Baby, with more repetitive sampling in a less interesting way, and less fun vocal samples that are present the best songs of Slim's second album. Maybe the 5 is a bit harsh but I only gave the other one a 6

Pretty fine - Good energy but nothing groundbreaking and doesn't have the Fatboy Hits to have me rate this any higher 5.8/10

Good but I couldn't tell it apart from other techno albums

This was good, if a little long. 3.0/5.0: Good

interesting enough but way too long

I wonder why Big Beat faded away from being popular so rapidly. It was everywhere in the late 90s and now it's pretty much gone. Not a bad album, but not a great one. It exists in the background, doesn't stand out in the slightest, has a few highs and lows, but mainly it's even. So I'm going with an even score of three stars.

Solid rock and funk infused dance music. Not as standout now as it was on release. Fun fact for me was never previously having noticed that Going Out Of My Head is based on The Who’s I Can’t Explain.

It's not 'You've Come A Long Way, Baby' but it's still interesting. It hasn't got the same powerful grooves or hard-hitting rhythms and bass. You can certainly see this as an important step to that great album though, and I'm surprised that's I'd never heard it before!

I can see dancing to this

Some fun moments, but kinda boring

3.5

I’m not usually able to just sit around and listen to electronica. But FBS just knows how to mix beats and samples. Amazingly, it’s very listenable. A 3 (maybe a 4)?

A fun listen. For some get up and go music you really can't go wrong with Fatboy Slim. Every track is a toe tapper, and a couple made me dance around the apartment.

I was looking forward to putting this on the headphones and having a rave party in my kitchen. And to a certain extent I did. But I was expecting better and left at the end of the rave a little disappointed. Strange to say this of a supposed pioneer of the genre, but I found that this album lacked... creativity. He found some good themes but then hung on to them far too long before underdeveloping them. Theres some good stuff. Like 'The Weekend Starts Here'. But generally most tracks just got repetitive. Probably fine at 3am if you're off your face, but not so good in my kitchen.

There are a lot of good songs but then again it's very bloated

Yeah let's dance wa wa wa

I don't know about all of this. Was strangely pleasant while getting my work done and if I was rating based on my productivity level it would be high but will I ever listen to this again? No.

Some fun grooves, but I've never really been into electronic music, so I'm probably not the right person to review this album.

Bit meh

Buen disco de electrónica. No es muy mi género y estos álbumes consiguen cansarme rápido, pero aquí pasó lo contrario: empezó no interesándme mucho y como de la mitad hacia adelante ya estaba bastante más prendido. No mal, pero creo que conecto más con lo que hizo Fatboy Slim más adelante.

Did not expect to like this album as much as I did, this was an awesome listening experience

EDM is not my thing, but having said that, this album really doesn’t sound dated to me, which is surprising since it’s from 1996. I actually liked one of the songs, First Down, which surprised me as this has never been my favorite genre.

Fun. Slightly more chilled out than I expected. Tbh, I enjoyed You've Come A Long Way Baby more. This is fine, but I'd choose his later album over this one.

Inte så mycket för instrumentals, men förstår varför han är så pass samplad som han är.

He can put together a beat that gets you grooving. This is close to a 4 but not quite.

An enjoyable three. I have pleasant listening whenever Fatboy Slim comes on, but I’m unlikely to seek it out again.

It's pretty good, I really liked the Fela Kuti sample he threw in there especially. It's a hitless but groovy album that sure has it's place and time. Not really one that sticks out though. If the samples aren't interesting I don't really find the music to be there on this album. A large part of this album just turns to be really forgettable, not really what I was used to with the other Fatboy Slim album on here.

3.5 (57:47 (UK) or 70:52 (US), 9 or 10 tracks, debut, 1996) electronic (Genre defining Big Beat), English Debut – Big Beat, two albums later I get Death in Vegas (208 and 210) pretty sure the algorithm isn’t random. I accidentally listened to his more commercially successful 2nd album You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby so now I have to study this bad boy. Probably fortunate as this album has nothing I recognize. Hard to believe this guy is 7 years older than me, also amazing his is not twisty. His association with Housemartins (a throwback dowop English band) is wild, and apologies to Joe-Jo for not giving credit for an H band as I didn’t know these gayrods in 1992. If this don’t move your booty move, you must be dead! This is a great foundational album but Fatboy’s true break thru was his 2nd album (a solid 4.) I’m going to be honest as cool as Fatboy Slim is I wish he had stayed with Yum Yum Head. Fatboy (Norman) is not gay (an early misnomer due to an association with Quentin Crisp). He is Kosmon (A spiritual era and a religious movement known as Faithism, which emerged in the late 19th century.) The Kosmon Bible (Oahspe) is based on the Oahspe, a book channeled by American dentist John Ballou Newbrough in 1881. According to these teachings, "Kosmon" signifies a "New Age" of harmony and spiritual enlightenment that follows an era of chaos. Modern followers, sometimes called "Faithists," focus on service, angelic communication, and living in harmony with the "All Light" (their term for the Creator). The Kosmon Sanctuary in the UK is one of the primary active organizations today. Fatboy Slim's first work to chart outside of the UK, with the single "Going Out of My Head" notably charting in the U. S. Skint Records founder Damian Harris has described the album as having been "more of a compilation than an album", as some of the tracks had been recorded some time before its release, due to Norman Cook's other musical projects. Three songs from the album were previously released in Skint's first volume of their Brassic Beats compilation album series, which is advertised in the album's booklet. The album's cover features an image of a 3.5-inch floppy disk, paying homage to the cover of New Order's "Blue Monday" single, which featured a 5.25-inch disk. The album's title is a variation of a DuPont advertising slogan, "Better Things for Better Living...Through Chemistry". The album received generally positive reviews from critics. A 1997 review from Rolling Stone claimed the album to be "one of the most fun, shamelessly genre-hopping dance albums of the year". The Philadelphia Inquirer called the album "the first to open the drums 'n' bass world to naturally occurring rhythm patterns... The terrific Better Living Through Chemistry offers a parade of block-rockin' beats not born in a test tube." AllMusic rated it four stars out of five, recommending the album to "those who can't get enough of the popular technoid-sampled alternative dance style of the late '90s". The song "Give the Po' Man a Break" is featured in the 2000 film Traffic. The song "The Weekend Starts Here" is featured in the first episode of the British sitcom Spaced. All tracks are written by Norman Cook, except where noted. 1. "Song for Lindy" 4:50 (Instrumental) 2. "Santa Cruz" 7:30 3. "Going Out of My Head" 5:14 – rockstar! 4. "The Weekend Starts Here" 6:41 5. "Everybody Needs a 303" 5:49 (a 303 is a Roland TB-303 Base Line synthesizer) 6. "Give the Po' Man a Break" 5:50 (Gay poor Meta break?) 7. "10th & Crenshaw" 4:20 (Los Angeles, Nipsey Hussle’s Marathon Clothing store) 8. "First Down" 6:18 9. "Punk to Funk" 4:57 10. "The Sound of Milwaukee" 6:18 US Astralwerks release bonus tracks 11. "Michael Jackson" 5:49 12. "Next to Nothing" 7:16 Fatboy Slim Bio: Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), known professionally as Fatboy Slim, is an English musician and DJ who helped popularize the big beat genre in the 1990s. His music makes extensive use of samples from eclectic genres, combined with pop structures, processed rhythms and "sloganistic" vocals. In the 1980s, Cook became the bassist for the indie rock band the Housemartins, who achieved a UK number-one single with their cover of "Caravan of Love". After they disbanded, Cook moved to Brighton to pursue dance music. He formed the electronic group Beats International and produced their 1990 number-one single "Dub Be Good to Me", and played in the band Freak Power. He also released house records under names including Pizzaman and the Mighty Dub Katz. In 1996, Cook released his first album as Fatboy Slim, Better Living Through Chemistry, followed by successful remixes for Wildchild and Cornershop. His second album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby, was certified platinum and produced the successful singles "The Rockafeller Skank", "Praise You" and "Right Here, Right Now". Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars (2000) produced the single "Weapon of Choice", which won six awards at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards. Palookaville (2004) was less successful, attributed to the declining popularity of dance music and a more obscure style. In 2009, Cook released an album as the Brighton Port Authority, a collaboration with artists including David Byrne. He collaborated with Byrne again on the album Here Lies Love (2010), a concept album that was adapted into a stage musical in 2013. In later years, Cook has focused on DJ performances over creating music. Cook has a Grammy Award, nine MTV Video Music Awards, two Brit Awards and an Ivor Novello Award. He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Original Score for Here Lies Love in 2024. In 2023, he was awarded the Guinness world record for the most UK number-one singles by one musician as a member of different acts. Cook's marriage to the BBC presenter Zoe Ball was highly publicized. Quentin Leo Cook was born on 31 July 1963 in Bromley in Kent, England (now part of Greater London), the youngest of three. His mother was a teacher in a hospital school, and his father was an environmentalist consultant who was appointed an Order of the British Empire for introducing bottle banks (recycling points) into the UK. His family belonged to the Kosmon faith, an obscure religious order. Cook was raised in Reigate, Surrey, which he later described as a "suburban hell". In grammar school, he took violin lessons alongside the future prime minister Keir Starmer. At school, he became a fan of punk music and edited a punk fanzine. He adopted the name Norman when he was bullied for the name Quentin, which his classmates associated with the gay actor Quentin Crisp. He began DJing at 15. At sixth form college, Cook met the songwriter Paul Heaton, with whom he formed a punk band, the Stomping Pond Frogs. He failed his A-level exams as he was focusing on playing music, and had to retake them. Cook moved to Brighton to attend Brighton Polytechnic from 1982 to 1985 and gained a 2:1 in British studies. In Brighton, he worked as a DJ and was taught how to mix by the DJ Carl Cox. He appeared as a porter in the music video for the 1982 song "Goody Two Shoes" by Adam Ant. 1985–1988: the Housemartins: While Cook was in Brighton, Heaton formed a band, the Housemartins. When their original bassist quit in 1985, Cook moved to Hull to join them. Cook said he learned to play the bass guitar in about a week. In 1986, the Housemartins reached number one on the UK singles chart with a cover of the 1985 Isley-Jasper-Isley song "Caravan of Love". Cook was frustrated playing "white English pop" in the Housemartins. He was interested in hip-hop and dance music, but felt it was inappropriate for a white English man to work in this genre, and that no one would take him seriously. He was uncomfortable with acts such as Level 42 or Simply Red, who he felt "kind of pretend to be black". While with the Housemartins, Cook began working on dance music using a TEAC 144 Portastudio and Roland S-10 synthesizer, with no intention of releasing it. He also created a megamix, "The Finest Ingredients", that was played by the BBC DJ John Peel. The Housemartins broke up in 1988. Heaton and the drummer, Dave Hemingway, went on to form the Beautiful South, and Cook returned to Brighton to pursue dance music. He invested in equipment including a mixing console, an eight-track reel-to-reel, an Atari ST computer, an Akai S950 sampler and, later, a Roland TB-303 synthesizer. He released successful remixes such as "Blame It on the Bassline" with MC Wildski, which reached number 29 on the UK singles chart. He also formed a sound system collective, Beats International, with a collection of MCs and singers. Their single "Dub Be Good to Me" (1990) reached number one, but their second album, Excursion on the Version (1991), was a failure. After Beats International disbanded in 1992, Cook's marriage ended and he suffered a mental breakdown. According to Cook, he became a self-destructive workaholic, drank heavily and alienated his friends. When therapy was ineffective, he began self-medicating with ecstasy. Facing bankruptcy, he took work composing for a Smurfs video game. Cook formed an acid jazz band, Freak Power, with musicians including the trombonist Ashley Slater, which released the successful 1993 single "Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out" on Island Records. Cook felt uncomfortable in the band, and recalled thinking on stage: "I'm a really crap guitarist. What am I doing here? I've spent the last 10 years getting pissed in nightclubs, learning how to DJ." In 1993, Cook and John Reid formed the house duo Pizzaman. Their only album, Pizzamania, produced three top-40 singles. Cook also released music as the Mighty Dub Katz, recording two or three tracks a week in his home studio. As Cook's contract with Island forbade him from releasing or promoting music on other labels under his own name, he released them under aliases including Cheeky Boy, Sunny Side Up, Yum Yum Head Food and the Feelgood Factor, often on his own label, Southern Fried Records. Cook said his names reflect the fact that he did not take his work seriously, and that he was not afraid to say "this is me pretending to be someone else, so let's make this fun". 1995–1997: Fatboy Slim and Better Living Through Chemistry Cook adopted the stage name Fatboy Slim in 1995. He said of the name: "It doesn't mean anything. I've told so many different lies over the years about it I can't actually remember the truth. It's just an oxymoron – a word that can't exist. It kind of suits me – it's kind of goofy and ironic." Its first record was the Fatboy Slim track "Santa Cruz" in 1995. It sold only 800 copies, but attracted attention in the underground dance music scene in the UK. Cook was surprised to hear "Santa Cruz" played at an event in London by the Chemical Brothers, then known as the Dust Brothers, and said it was "like meeting the rest of my long-lost family". Cook co-founded a popular club night at the Concorde in Brighton, the Big Beat Boutique, where he played music from genres including northern soul, acid house, hip-hop and reggae, combined with breakbeats. The scene became the foundation of big beat music. Cook later wrote of the "enormous collective pride" in the big beat genre being named after the club night, just as house and garage music were named after venues in Chicago and New York City. Cook described it as a "very productive time", when acts such as the Chemical Brothers, Death in Vegas, Monkey Mafia, Bentley Rhythm Ace and FC Kahuna were "breaking rules and feeding off each other". Cook's friends encouraged him to make music similar to the style he was playing in his DJ sets. Skint released the first Fatboy Slim album, Better Living Through Chemistry, in 1996. According to The Independent, by 1997, Cook had become "part of an elite coterie of superstar DJs" who earned large fees to perform at international venues and were "guaranteed to fill dance floors from Manchester to Madrid". 1998–1999: You've Come a Long Way, Baby and international success In 1998, Cook's remix of "Renegade Master" by Wildchild reached number three on the UK singles chart, and his remix of "Brimful of Asha" by Cornershop reached number one. Cook said the tracks represented a creative breakthrough: "That's when I was like, I've nailed it now, I've got the formula." He began receiving interest from artists such as Madonna and Robbie Williams. He turned down an offer from the Pet Shop Boys to produce their next album, as he liked their music but felt it did not suit his style. For his second album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998), Cook aimed to create a coherent album using "all the ideas that had been brewing and fermenting" in the big beat scene. He created three successful singles in one week: "The Rockafeller Skank", "Praise You" and "Right Here, Right Now". "Praise You" was the first Fatboy Slim UK number-one single, and its music video, directed by Spike Jonze, won numerous awards. On 9 September 1999, Cook performed "Praise You" at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City and won three awards, including Breakthrough Video. Four days later, You've Come a Long Way, Baby was certified platinum. That year, Cook won the Brit Award for Best British Dance Act. He also married the BBC presenter Zoe Ball, triggering attention from the tabloid media. 2000–2003: Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars and Brighton beach Big Beach Boutique II in 2002, when more than 250,000 people saw Fatboy Slim perform at a free concert on Brighton beach. In 2000, dance music was at peak popularity, controlling 13.3% of the UK album charts. Cook was a key figure in the rising popularity of club culture in the UK, along with acts such as Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx, Underworld, Groove Armada and Leftfield. That year, Cook released the third Fatboy Slim album, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, featuring collaborations with Macy Gray and Bootsy Collins. He attempted to create a less radio-friendly album, saying: "I'm much happier at number nine in the charts than at number one because you're still top ten but it's a lot less work and stress." The video for "Weapon of Choice", directed by Spike Jonze and featuring Christopher Walken dancing through a hotel, won six awards at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards. Cook earned the Guinness world records for the most MTV Video Awards won by a DJ and the most MTV Video Awards won for a single video. The album also included "Sunset (Bird of Prey)", whose video used the 1964 "Daisy Girl" campaign ad. In the same year, Cook released The Fatboy Slim / Norman Cook Collection, a compilation of his remixes from the 1980s and early 90s. In 2001, Cook held a free beach concert, Big Beach Boutique, in Brighton. It was attended by around 60,000 people. The set was released as the 2002 album Live on Brighton Beach. By 2002 Fatboy Slim was the "world's biggest DJ". That July, he played a second free concert on Brighton beach, Big Beach Boutique II. It was attended by around 250,000 people, four times more than expected. Local authorities were severely underprepared, which led to more than 170 injuries and six arrests. Two people died in the hours after the concert. The cleanup operation lasted days and cost over £300,000, with 160 tonnes of rubbish collected from the beach. However, Cook was supported by Brighton residents. The Brighton newspaper The Argus printed a supplement to publish the letters supporting him, and BBC Southern Counties Radio received many positive calls. In 2001, Cook won his second Brit Award for Best British Dance Act. Cook released a live album and DVD of the Brighton beach performance, Big Beach Boutique II, in 2003.He contributed production to "Crazy Beat" and "Gene by Gene" on the 2003 Blur album Think Tank. 2004–2008: Palookaville: By 2004, dance music was in commercial decline, replaced by a resurgence of guitar bands. That year, Cook released his fourth album, Palookaville. It sold far fewer copies than his previous albums, which Cook credited to its more obscure musical style. Cook said he was "happy to take my foot off the gas for a bit" and receive less tabloid attention. After the Big Beach Boutique II DVD became a bestseller in Brazil, Cook played to an estimated 360,000 people in Rio in 2004. He returned many times in the following years, and performed on the reality TV show Big Brother Brazil in 2005. New Year's Day, 2007, Cook held another performance on Brighton beach, Big Beach Boutique 3. Tickets were only available to residents of Brighton and Hove, capped at 20,000. Big Beach Boutique 4 took place on September 27, 2008, with the same ticket procedures. 2008–2012: the Brighton Port Authority and Here Lies Love In 2008, Cook remixed the track "Amazonas" for the charity Bottletop. That year, Cook formed a virtual band, the Brighton Port Authority, featuring Iggy Pop, David Byrne, Dizzee Rascal, Martha Wainwright and Ashley Beedle. They released an album, I Think We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat, in 2009. Cook produced two tracks on The Revolution Presents, a 2009 compilation album by various Cuban musicians. He later expressed regret about the album, saying: "I'm not Paul Simon – I'm not the world's best musical ambassador, it wasn't my forte." In 2008, Cook played at Glastonbury Festival, the O2 Wireless Festival, Rockness Festival and Coachella. He played an unadvertised concert at Glastonbury 2009, and headlined the east dance stage at Glastonbury 2010. Cook collaborated with Byrne again on Here Lies Love (2010), a concept album about the life of the Philippines First Lady Imelda Marcos. In the 2010s, as EDM grew in popularity worldwide, Cook began performing more frequently in the United States. On 18 June 2010, he performed at the Cool Britannia FIFA World Cup music festival at the Cape Town International Convention Centre in South Africa. On 30 May, he was the headliner at Movement Electronic Music Festival in Detroit. Cook performed "Right Here, Right Now" and "The Rockefeller Skank" at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London. On 1 September, he performed at Brighton Pride. In March 2012, Cook hosted a ten-part radio programme, On The Road To Big Beach Bootique 5, on XFM. 2013—present: singles and performances In 2013, Cook performed at Ultra Music Festival in Miami. On 6 March, Cook became the first DJ to perform at the House of Commons in Westminster, London, in aid of the Last Night a DJ Saved My Life Foundation, which encourages young people to become involved in their communities. Cook said later that it was a "milestone" to perform there years after the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which clamped down on raves: "Isn't it brilliant that finally we've wormed our way into the public's consciousness to the extent that we're not seen as a bunch of drug-taking anarchists any more? Dance music is here to stay." In 2013, Cook released "Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat", with Riva Starr and Beardyman, which reached number three in the UK and introduced Fatboy Slim to younger audiences. Supported by a remix from Scottish DJ Calvin Harris, it topped the UK Dance Chart that year. As of 2015, Cook was performing about 70 DJ sets a year and declined many opportunities to perform more. He was not interested in further fame or success, saying "Nowadays I'd rather go sideways than up. I don't want to do things on a bigger scale. I want to do things that are interesting." On 15 May 2016, he played a private two-hour set "Baby Loves Disco" for preschool children and their parents during the Brighton Fringe. At a concert in Gateshead, England, in October 2019, Cook performed a mashup of his track "Right Here, Right Now" and Greta Thunberg's speech at the United Nations, which went viral. Cook made a cameo as a DJ in the 2019 film Greed, and played himself in the third series of the Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls, broadcast in 2022. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Cook posted mixes online and worked at the cafe he owned in Hove. He said he had not done "an honest job" for years and that it "kept him sane". In May 2021, Cook performed in Liverpool as part of the government's trials to restart mass audience events following the COVID-19 pandemic. October 2023, he was awarded the Guinness world record for the most UK number-one singles by one musician as a member of different acts. He also performed a secret gig at the Prince Albert pub in Brighton to support its campaign against property development in the North Laine. In June 2024, Cook released the single "Role Model", featuring the vocalist Dan Diamond. The music video, his first in nearly 20 years, features celebrities edited with deepfake technology, such as David Bowie, Bill Murray and Muhammad Ali. In July, Cook joined his former bandmate Paul Heaton to play bass on the 1986 Housemartins song "Happy Hour" at Glastonbury 2024. Cook estimated that his performance at Glastonbury 2025 was his 100th Glastonbury performance, including performances on large stages and small tents. On 11 December 2025, Cook released "Satisfaction Skank", a remix of "The Rockafeller Skank" incorporating elements of the 1965 Rolling Stones song "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". Cook had played the remix in his DJ sets for years, and it became one of the world's most bootlegged recordings. It was blocked from release until the Rolling Stones' management agreed to license its sample after several refusals. As he grew older, Cook lost interest in creating music focused on DJ performances, which he said he still had "100% passion for". He said in 2025: "If I did make a new record then it would be a very average record. I prefer not to waste mine or other people's time with that. I feel like I've made enough records and there's a body of work there that's good enough." Equipment used by Fatboy Slim. Roland TB-303 synthesizer, Akai S900 sampler, Atari ST computer Cook pioneered the 1990s electronic genre big beat, which Sound on Sound likened to a "pop art-styled collage" of samples. The Pitchfork writer Brad Shoup described You've Come A Long Way, Baby as "pure pop", unlike the stranger or harsher music of other big beat acts such as the Chemical Brothers or the Prodigy. Another Pitchfork critic, Marc Hogan, characterized the Fatboy Slim formula as "eclectic samples, sloganistic vocal snippets, and an all-around drunken good-time spirit". DJ Mag wrote that Cook created "big brash party tunes for big communal occasions" and was a "showman" and entertainer. Cook wrote that his method was to combine breakbeats from hip-hop, the "anarchic rebellion" of punk, the energy of acid house and the hooks of pop music. He differentiated himself from other dance acts by using traditional song structures, such as verses, choruses and middle eights, to arrange "dance floor ingredients ... in a manner that the human brain would associate with pop music". Cook estimated that most of his tracks contained only 20% original material, with some containing none at all, and was proud of creating music that did not resemble the acts he sampled. As he felt sampling hit songs would be too easy, he instead sampled vocal and drum parts from vinyl records, creating a library of sounds. He likened his process to collage, and enjoyed finding "that one little bit of magic" in an obscure track and turning it into a hit. Cook's approach was to blend elements from several popular styles, such as pop, punk, rap and acid house, to create "an attractive and accessible package". He said he was unable to write traditional songs. Most Fatboy Slim albums are assembled from samples combined with synthesizer lines from a Roland TB-303 and parts played on a Studio Electronics keyboard. Cook manipulated samples through methods such as time-stretching and distortion, using Akai S900 and S950 samplers, and sequenced them using an Atari ST computer running C-Lab Creator. He created drum tracks by sampling individual drum hits from vinyl break beats, then programming new patterns. Most Fatboy Slim tracks have two drum tracks playing simultaneously: one "modern and crisp and clean-sounding" and another "older and dirtier" with less "punch". Cook continued using the same equipment even as more sophisticated technology emerged. He began using a MacBook with Ableton Live, but found the lack of limits and no opportunity to "bend the rules" made the process less exciting. Cook said he had never created overtly political music, and that when he tried to make "angry" music it "comes out slightly light-hearted ... so it's about the party and the rhythm". He took accusations that he "made dance music for people who don't like dance music" as a compliment, saying he had made it more accessible. He said his music was for "people who do shit jobs all week and on Friday and Saturday nights they get to be glamorous and exciting ... My music is for the hips not the head ... It's not supposed to be dissected by journalists, you're not supposed to sit at home with the lyric sheet wondering what they mean, reading the sleeve notes." Fatboy Slim tracks have been used extensively in adverts, film and television. Cook said: "I make a certain kind of instrumental music they like using. You can hear 15 seconds of my stuff and it makes complete sense." Cook performs in Hawaiian shirts with no shoes, and said: "I decided I had to be like James Brown without the band. I started cheerleading the crowd and showing off." He believes DJs should communicate with the crowd through their expressions and body language and respond to them, and said: "The more the crowd give me back, the more I wanna give them and it becomes a cycle of nonsense – sometimes to ludicrous extremes." He described Jon Carter and Carl Cox as DJs he learned from and whose stage styles he adopted. He resisted pressure from record companies to perform with live musicians, as he felt the appeal of his music was in "the grit and character" of the samples, and to recreate them would be "like hearing a wedding covers band". Cook's first marriage, to a nurse, ended in the early 1990s. Cook met the BBC presenter Zoe Ball in Ibiza in 1998. They married in 1999 and had their first child in 2000. Their relationship attracted extensive tabloid attention, and Cook said he was a victim of the News International phone hacking scandal. The Independent described Cook and Ball as "the It Couple (or, one of them) of Cool Britannia". They separated in 2003, but reconciled and had a second child in 2010. As of 2004, they lived on Western Esplanade in Hove. On 24 September 2016, Cook and Ball announced their separation after 18 years. For several years, Cook used drugs including cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine and performed while intoxicated. After he became a father, he worried that his drug use affected his relationships. On 4 March 2009, Cook checked into a rehabilitation clinic in Bournemouth for alcoholism. His performance at Snowbombing, a week-long winter sports and music festival held in the Austrian ski resort of Mayrhofen, was cancelled, with the slot filled by 2ManyDJs. Cook left the clinic at the end of March. As of March 2022, he had been sober for 13 years. Cook said performing sober gave him stage fright for the first time. In 2002, Cook changed his name by deed poll to Norman Quentin Cook. In the same year, he purchased a 12% share in Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, which he has supported since moving to Brighton in the 1980s.[13] In June 2013, Cook opened the Big Beach Cafe in Hove in a property previously owned by Heather Mills, and worked there during the COVID-19 lockdowns. He sold the cafe in November 2025, saying he no longer had time to run it as his business partner was retiring. Cook also owned a Japanese restaurant in Brighton, Oki-Nami, and the Spotted Pig, a Michelin-starred gastropub in New York City that closed in 2016. He collects objects bearing the smiley symbol, and in 2019 he curated a smiley exhibition in Lisbon with the Portuguese artist Vhils. Studio albums Better Living Through Chemistry (1996) You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998) Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars (2000) Palookaville (2004)

Oh the soundtrack of the 90s - Fatboy Slim. Very creative artist that set a distinctive tone with unique and upbeat compositions. Truly not much else out there that sounds like Slim. It's not something I'd listen to regularly, but it does remind me of my high school days, going to raves and parties. Good sounds overall though.

Cool vibe

Best Song: Give the Po' Man a Break. I don't know why this song isn't bigger than it is, because that's one hell of a vocal sample. My only complaint is that it wasn't used more liberally. Worst Song: 10th & Crenshaw. I think literally every sample in this song annoyed me in one way or another. Overall: Give the Po' Man a Break.

Huge grooves and a playful attitude, but it’s very one-note across a full run. Great in the right mood, less so when you want depth.

Perfect example of an album that doesn't need to be here because he surpassed it with a better (and probably more influential) album

Album #52: Better Living Through Chemistry - Fatboy Slim Genre (W): Big beat Singles: Everybody Needs a 303, Punk to Funk, Going out of My Head I have not listened to this album. Thoughts?: For a little while, the album is catchy. After a while, it slowly becomes background music. Fun for a bit, but boring after a long time. Favorite songs: Song for Lindy, Santa Cruz, Going Out of My Head, Everybody Needs a 303, Give the Po’ Man a Break, The Sound of Milwaukee

Did not hate it. It had some nice moments. Which is better than I can say about most EDM albums, but in the end it is an EDM album and very hard but not impossible for such an album to rise above a 3.

I don't think this guy makes bad music ever but this is definitely the least hardhitting of the records I've checked out. Definitely feels like he was still defining his sound which made him a little more adventurous but also made it a little less unique/vibrant. Some good cuts throughout otherwise.

No. 374/1001 Song for Lindy 4/5 Santa Cruz 3/5 The Weekend Starts Here 4/5 Going Out Of My Head 3/5 Everybody Needs a 303 2/5 Give The Po'Man a Break 3/5 10th and Crenshaw 2/5 First Down 3/5 Punk to Funk 2/5 The Sound of Milwaukee 3/5 Average: 2,9 Started of pretty good, but lost some steam towards the end.

This was meh.

The album starts out fine but it becomes incredibly boring and repetitive. A lot of the tracks here feel very simplistic, and admittedly they do work on a moderate level, but wouldn’t be hyped to hear on a regular basis. Overall the natural repetitiveness did go along with the songs.

The only thing I can really say is that it showcases the talent Mr. Slim has; just not fully realized.

Nice album

Maybe this stuff would be more enjoyable live at a Brighton beach party, but i do like it "blasting" from my small desktop speakers too. Feel good beats from one of the best dance DJ's on this planet.

This whole album feels like restrained Prodigy to me. I've listened more to jungle, drum 'n bass and trip-hop styles, than this type of big beat dance/house music and it's really not for me. Nothing wrong as such, but it feels... manufactured to certain taste. It might be just that I don't care for the (more mainstream?) music of the 90's british club scene.

Enjoyed this more than i thought I would. Lots of interesting sounds and beats. As an album though it’s not as sophisticated as other similar dance/electronic music from the genre - it feels like a collection of tracks rather than a complete experience. And some tracks themselves are interestingly eclectic but again, don’t always feel like being 'carried through' a track - some of the samples jar a bit. The extract in the 1001 book I have says that (some) fans would trawl the sleeve notes for clues of where original samples came from and trace back to source material. That's immediately what I want to do. The drums on 'The Weekend Starts Here' sounds like the beat from Led Zep's When the Levee Breaks, but not so. Samples from Idris Muhammad, Black Sabbath, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Grateful Dead, Sweet Salvation, I have already spent more time with those original recordings than I have with this album this morning. Could be a bit addictive. So… what to do what to do… this is a grower, and maybe could be more influential for me to finding other stuff in Norman Cook's record collection that I like more than Fat Boy Slim's djing. Not yet a 4. not a 3 either. 3.5. Number tracks: 10 Fave track: 3: The Weekend Starts Here Others: Punk to funk. 24/02/26

Oh come on, we’ve had enough of this.

I usually really don't like this type of music, but for some reason I can't explain, I do like this electro/dance/funk. I find these songs to be fun and upbeat, with really good use of samples and some vocals thrown in for good measure.

It's not bad, but it is the rare album that needs to be an hour and 11 minutes, and this is not one of them. It's good, don't get me wrong, but it's very basic. I enjoyed my time with it, but I think Moby's Play, which is from the same era, shows more creativity and interesting ideas. Which is to say, I think this is a very good 90s electronic album, but it's not really one of the tentpole electronic albums that made a huge cultural impact, or influenced later generations.

Very meh but better than Romi Size

It's aight

Good sound but a bit samey! 3.4

I don't know if I would come back to a lot of these, but there's some really good stuff here. I was really only familiar with his big hits before this album.

I generally like the music but just like just about everyone else I found it repetitive and long.

I was not a rave kid, but I enjoyed a lot of this. It actually made me want to dance, or at least move, and I don’t dance. This is great background music for cleaning the house, and that’s not a knock. Some great beats, albeit a bit repetitive at times. I appreciated the sampling of the harmonica from Black Sabbath’s “The Wizard” on “The Weekend Starts Here”

Not my favourite fatboy slim album (that's You've come a long way baby), but some good tracks here, (Going out of my head and Everybody needs a 303). Is it repetitive, yes, but it it bad? No. Solid 3 star album for me.

Better than the follow up "You've Come A Long Way, Baby". A few songs (the first 3-4) actually don't have the mind-numbingly long build-ups that destroyed every song on that album. I'm conflicted again by Fatboy Slim. I generally liked all the songs on here, but because of the breakdown / build-up, whatever they are called, sections of most songs... (I never thought Tina Turner's name could be annoying... but here we are) I didn't enjoy it as much as I would have if these had been radio edits or something along those lines. 3 stars, but better than the similarly scored "You've Come A Long Way, Baby".

A solid electronic record. Of course it's predictable and infinitely looping around itself, making you feel like you're falling through a computer simulation. I'd have loved a little bit more out of it. A bit of surprise or nuances, but it tends to remain in its own regularity. A solid background anyway.

This felt like a bit of a do nothing album. It was a bit too lively to be fully background or relaxing music but no where near lively enough to make me want to dance. I suppose it would fit as background music for a relaxed house party but that's about it.

Fair

good

Electronic from 96.

It's a throwback but not something I would listen to on a regular

3.5, great but too busy for me at times.

Tough one; creative, different & at the time cutting edge of sorts. Can’t say I really liked it but I do have modest appreciation for the artistry.

3/5 - While I would have loved a reason to listen to You've Come a Long Way, Baby it was a fun ride of hearing the first album released. While I wasn't deeply familiar with the tracks the talent did shine through and reminded me to go dig into his discography again.

Not nearly as good as his next project, but was vibing at times. Low 3

My main thought listening to this is 'why am I not just listening to the Chemical Brothers instead?' It's fine, but for some reason sounds very dated compared to other stuff from the same era like Orbital or Underworld, whose albums I still listen to a lot.

Big beats! But I always preferred the later albums.

Cut-n-paste bigbeat blueprint. On balance I like this record better than its more successful follow-ups. Some of this is big bouncy fun, some of it's just a bit annoying.

Sicher gwüssermasse es revolutinärs album mit vill versuech is neue elektronische genre. Aber halt au zu experimentell zum mega schön chöne zuelose. Darum isch 3 nice trys vlt die richtig antwort druf

A view of future success. Lacking more vocal samples later releases had but still enjoyable

This starts off very sloely and boring but builds during the middle. Some great stuff ftom there but the start kills it from getting anymore than a 3

This album was definitely repetitive and long. However, it wasn’t that bad either.

Some Fatboy Slim tunes I love, some I don’t. I’m probably more of a fan of his ambient stuff, e.g. Song for Shelter, than I am of his Gangsta Trippin’ stuff. Sadly, some have been massively overplayed on the radio so I don’t love them anymore. This album is different to the Fatboy Slim that was everywhere in the late 90s and early 00s. It’s more house music than I suppose what could be referred to as EDM these days. Some tracks are good, some are not. Overall, fine, but not probably his best album overall.

Makes me want to go rollerblading.

Well...that was disappointing. This album is certainly a more straightforward dance album than Fatboy Slim's next album, You've Come a Long Way Baby. That latter album, and Dig Your Own Hole by the Chemical Brothers, are great examples of big beat with tons of samples, fillers, compression and other noise-inducing elements to accompany the dance beats. This album has some of that, but not enough to effectively hold my interest across the breadth of the album. Of course, this isn't to say I didn't like it. I did. But, I'm clearly going to have to read the book to help me understand why this was chosen over the next one.

I think I was beaten down by the string of records that ended with Mariah Carey, but I enjoyed my trip with this album, especially Santa Cruz and Going Out of My Head.

I saw Jason’s review and couldn’t help diving in to see if it was really that bad. For whatever reason, this worked for me.

I might be going too easy on this album but after hearing like 30 90s electronica albums, this is the first one that doesn’t make me want to rip my hair out. It’s a low bar, but I feel like at least one of them on this list deserves a 3.

I probably need to listen to this another time through

Meh. Pretty much what I expected when I saw Fatboy Slim pop up. Some parts were better than okay, but others were just alright.

прям якась дискотека 90х це тіпа брат чарлі хсх свого врємєні

perfectly decent electronic album but way too repetitive and "boring" to me esp if i just listen to it and not use it as background music, i enjoyed the other fatboy slim album a lot more as it had more vocal bits to it and felt less "same thing all over again" kind of a thing. fave song: first down 3/5 ⭐⭐⭐

Dance music is an absolute favourite and I'm sure some tracks on this album would be good for dancing. Unfortunately not my era so I wasn't inspired to get to my feet. Meantime it made perfectly acceptable background music as I went about my day. Nothing memorable.

I’m a big ’90s electronica fan, but Fatboy Slim is one artist who's largely escaped me until now. Most of the tracks here were fine, but I wasn’t massively impressed. A fair few of the songs dragged on and didn’t strike me as the kind of big dancefloor hits this album seems to be aiming for. Overall, not bad by any stretch, but I’d rather listen to Slim’s contemporaries like The Prodigy, Aphex Twin, or Daft Punk.

An entertaining album with imaginative sound, but it didn't grab me as much as I would have liked. Maybe it's just not my favourite type of electronic music, but Santa Cruz is definitely a highlight.

Interesting album. Not my cup of tea.

When I listen to Fatboy Slim I think its great for the first fifteen minutes

I probably won't have much to say about this, I do like that sound, that late 90s big beat sound, I'm sure I'll enjoy this to some extent. It started strong, but the rest of the record wasn't too memorable to me. I fucking love Santa Cruz for some reason, like really.

I thought this was pretty okay, but overall pretty average. It definitely feels like music you’d hear whilst making your way through a club at like 2AM. Definitely not album where I have a lot of standouts but I don’t think that’s what the album was going for. Not much to say, just a cool little album that I don’t see myself coming back to a lot if ever.

3 Stars (8/15)

Probably won't listen again, but it wasn't bad.

I'd heard some of the singles but ever the entire album. I'm glad that I've got up my collection now because that was fabulous.

At first, I considered Fatboy’s music to be chock full of interesting concepts, within songs that overstayed their welcome. Then I took a step back and took into consideration that our society’s attention spans have drastically diminished in the nearly 3 decades since this album released. But even with that in mind, I’d still consider his brand of electronic music to be, while pioneering in some respects, a sort of one-trick pony. Though I have no doubt hearing these songs live would be a much bigger thrill.

Nice instrumental album with some nice grooves. I listened to this album the day Sarah left for Seattle to meet Breanna. And when the dog at the corner got injured on the fence.

Some bits ok, some bits not so. was surprised by the Sabbath sample. compared to recent albums got to be a 3. though I didn't think I'd ever say that.

This could well be the best dance album I've ever listened to. I don't think there was a duff track. That said, im not going to make a habit of listening to this or any other dance record too often. Im now cleansing my pallette with the Butthole Surfers

I thought I was 5 songs in and then realized I wasn’t even done the 2nd song. This is very Fatboy but it’s also very stale to me. I get it, he was developing his standout sound and was almost there. I’d choose Prodigy and Massive Attack over this. Choice cut: Going Out of my Head

First time listening to a whole album by Fatboy Slim, even though I love big beat. When it came out I had a bit of a hipsterish dislike of it because it was so popular. But having listened properly I'm still not taken with it. It doesn't have the playfulness of Bentley Rhythm Ace or Propellerheads, or the transcendent euphoria of the Chemical Brothers. It just feels emptily hedonistic, a perfect soundtrack for the mad-fer-it laddishness of Cool Britannia.

i live in a country where drugs have been outlawed. and i dont like the album. not because i need to use drugs to enhance. 3/5

Great seat-bouncing, afternoon-work fuel. The grooves are solid, but it’s all the same vibe — same tempo, same loops, same nod. I like it fine, I just don’t need this much of it.

Bought this when it was first released as was early adopter of Brassic Beats laterly Big Beats and the Skint label -fun times. Listening again it sounds quite basic relative to the far more commercial / poppy tracks the he would go onto release. Good retro fun.

Whilst 'You've Come a Long Way, Baby' remains his commercial pinnacle, this is a nice warm-up with touches of melodic brilliance. His use of rock samples amongst the beats are often great. 'Going Out of My Head' mashes 'I Can't Explain' with Zepp and The Doors, into a pumping piece of party pop (the seeds of 'Rockerfella Skank' are here). The trip hop/ambient feel of 'The Weekend Starts Here' effectively integrates the harmonica of Sabbath's 'The Wizard'. This one shows some courage to not hide behind big beats and it's one of the standouts. I was pleasantly surprised and think it not far behind the next album. In some ways it has more variety. In any case, it stands it ground.

Huh. I was surprised to enjoy this as much as I did.

This is my second album from Mr. Slim. It’s good background listening with a few standouts.

Very listenable for this kind of music, but kinda aimless

While I like this album, I don't see a real good reason why Fatboy Slim needs to have 2 albums on this list.

FatBoy Slim. Liksom Prodigy är detta en artist som jag vuxit upp med och som jag introducerats till via min äldre bror som alltid varit mer inne i det elektroniska som jag. Mina förväntningar är höga när jag drar igång det första spåret. Halvvägs igenom så lyssnar jag fortfarande rätt aktivt och diggar med. Fatboy Slim är en av artisterna som gjorde genren Big Beat populär och detta är väl ettväldigt big beatig album. Jag gillar hur spåren är mixade och samplingarna är coola. Det är fan en bra skiva helt enkelt om man gillar äldre elektronisk musik. För mig är det mestadels lättlyssnat. Det ska understrykas att jag vuxit upp med sådan här musik så det låter inte obekant i mina öron. Jag kan förstå att det kan låta stökigt mot färska trumhinnor dock. För vissa partier i vissa låtar är ganska stökiga med extremt konstiga effekter och syntar. Det är lite ojämnt dock. Det finns bra stunder och hemska stunder. Jag lägger en 3a.

I think I would have enjoyed this more if I had been drunk off my ass and attempting to go dance out on the dance floor while listening to this album. This was fine, although it was a bit repetitive, and a good 25 minutes too long.

Solid electronica album though repetitive and annoying in parts.

3-

In "Give The Po' Man A Break" it sounds like "gay porn gay porn gay porn gay porn" at one point. Good electronic music, but not earth-shattering.

150/1001 Fatboy Slim - Better Living Through Chemistry Heard before? ❎ Revisit? ❎ Whilst I did enjoy this overall, I can't see a time when I would actively pick this up again. The repetition of the beats are both its strength and weakness, as once you're engaged, it becomes trance-like, but over the course of 50 odd minutes, it does take its toll.

495/1001 🌕🌕🌕🌑🌑

A DJ releasing an album in 1996 is all you need to know. I listened to this via YouTube and the ads were more interesting. Heard before ❌️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit ❌️ Boring★★★☆☆ (5/10)

Great classroom and grading music

Why must there be so many electronica albums on this thing? This isn’t even the album with his good hits on it. Mr. Slim did incorporate some rock instruments into some of the mixes, so a few of the songs were tolerable, which is about the highest praise I can give one of these albums. Still, it was too fucking long (each song is 5-7 mins, totaling almost 80 mins), and way too repetitive. This music is only useful for dancing and nothing more. 3/5 just because I could tolerate the whole thing without skipping.

Decent debut with consistently solid songs that go a little bit long. You can tell the potential, but nowhere near as good as his later work in my opinion

I’m not really into this kind of dance music so I found this perfectly listenable but it didn’t do a lot for me.

This was decent but I liked other albums more.

I had a good enough time driving with this playing, but it is kind of basic as far this kind of sampling goes. Personally I would look towards DJ Shadow's album Endtroducing..... from 1996 over this, but I get it.

If I could give this negative stars I would

Probably about 20 minutes too long, but if you truncated the back, I would have missed the "Michael Jackson" song.

Ugh, not this guy again. Was okay but a bit repetitive towards the end

If I had heard this in the 90’s when it was released I think my little mind would have been blown. Hearing it now some of it sounds a little dated but it hooked me in the second half. And I didn’t want it to stop by the end. 6/10 Favorite tracks- “10th and Crenshaw” “First Down” “Next to Nothing”

Bof

Sometimes a little annoyingly repetitive, but it's mostly fine.

Does what it says on the tin. Not bad, not life changing. Decent, standard, good background noise Decent 3

Feels like the same drum track on every song

The ideal "soundtrack your chores" music. You need this kind of music in your life. 3.5

Pretty cool

Would probably sound fantastic if you were high

6 / 10

Sunset 303 <3

Repetitive, but takes me back to high school.

It has the same song structures as his later work, with lots of sample-heavy build ups and crescendos but isn't quite as catchy. Still a lot of fun, but I don't think any of the songs stand out enough to go on the playlist.

No es mi estilo, pero ta bien, qué se yo. 5/10

Já conhecia o nome do Fatboy Slim, mas nunca havia ouvido nada dele. Curti até, mas tenho alguns problemas com o disco. Primeiramente, a sonoridade desse tipo específico de eletrônica costuma me agradar, mas é inegável que é um som bem datado, e até mesmo antiquado. Em curtas doses, é perdoável… mas o álbum não é entregue em curta dose. Com quase 1 hora de duração, a experiência de ouvir esse álbum acaba ficando um pouco maçante lá pela metade. Mas não é ao todo ruim. Como eu disse, eu até gosto dessa sonoridade específica, apesar de ser um som datado. Até salvei algumas das canções. Há aqui samples interessantes, e o disco é ao todo bem produzido. De todo modo, é o clássico CD que eu gostaria de ter na coleção, mas não ouviria com extrema frequência. OK no que propõe, mas com algumas falhas que o impedem de ascender para além da mediocridade. 3/5

It was ok, not a must listen in my opinion

It was alright, just had it on in the background

I tend to not vibe with this era of digital music (FBS, Moby, Prodigy. I think it is objectively cool shit. And I can hang with it for like 15 minutes, but then I'm pretty much over it. Santa Cruz was a jam. I really like that song.

Good listening while running 🏃‍♂️ 🏃‍♀️ 🏃‍♂️

Beter dan ik dacht gewoon beetje acid

2.5

2.8 Can honestly say I never bothered to explore his debut, despite loving YCALWB when it came out. The reason was probably, as I later realised, bar a few tracks it's really not fantastic music. Extremely repetitive, most ideas not very exciting, but each one sticks around for way longer than necessary. It's a good entry level into electronics, which is why I think it exploded on to the mainstream. This album then, is a step behind that. It's easy to hear why this didn't have the same reach, as it's lacking the killer instinct of tracks like Rockefeller skank and right here right now which burrow into your head as earworms and make you want to go back. Here it's a just a hodge podge of sounds mashed together, there's talent there to bring it together but not to make it land right. Interesting to hear what came before YCALWB, but can't help but feel this is a lost opportunity to hear so many other great electronics albums but lesser known artists that haven't made it on to this list.

Spesielt. Men funget veldig bra å arbeidet til, så veldig situasjonsbetinget album.

On a single straight-through listen, this lacks the specific energy that made You've Come a Long Way Baby pop. At its best, this album will get you moving with plenty of boom-bap, shuffling drum beats, and cascading layers of sounds/vocals/effects. At its worst, it is downright boring and certain concepts feel overstretched where they were thin to begin with. Take, for example, First Down, which takes a jazz trumpet loop and repeats it ad nauseum while doing very little underneath to create any meaningful arc. Its not so much "bad" as it is just completely bland and forgettable. Unfortunately the number in this category outnumber the good, though there are a few worth mentioning. Everybody Needs a 303 is a bright bopper and my favorite on the record (also has a synth loop that I could swear LCD Soundsystem ripped in the middle). Give the Po' Man a Break is another fun one with some really solid layering. Overall this lands pretty low in my book. Like a really low 3 or a really high 2.

Some (presumably) groundbreaking stuff here. A bit boring - lots of the breaks and build ups lead to the same places. Can hear echoes of what's to come. The follow-up is better.

I wasn't aware of this album at all. I thought "you've come a long way baby" was his debut album..... Didn't recognise any of the tracks I don't think. Not a patch on you've come a long way baby, he did clearly! I know that's what this music is, but it's very repetitive and nothing overly interesting here. 3

Fantastic & memorable title. Repetitive and uninspiring music.

I guess we’re just gonna keep getting these techno-y albums. This was at least a bit more interesting than the others. Still, I’m good, list.

You can hear the potential of the artist in these, but they sound like demos compared to the full tracks of his brilliant second album.

Liked this better than the last Fatboy we got. The Sabbath sample was cool. Much more listenable. But still not really my thing. 3

Some really nice EDM that is not too aggressive. Great mix of beats and themes throughout the album. I can't think of anything that dragged on or I didn't like, the whole thing maintains the energy. I don't know that I have ever actually heard this album until today and I think it's great, will be listening to this one many more times.

Electronic, fine in the background

The 90s was loaded. Something about even just the word itself - LOADED! - screams 90s for me. There was the magazine, stylised lowercase loaded, named for the Primal Scream song that was named for the feeling of being so, yep, but there was also the video game I spent large parts of 1997 playing (one level I must have wandered through for an hour before giving up and restating the game – I hope my moment comes again). Funny given the outsized impact of that one magazine brand on British 90s culture, but it’s the video games that best explain my attachment to that word LOADED. Not because I so rued the wasted hour spent traversing a scorched alien landscape looking for a door at which to use the green pass card I’d just wasted 600 crustacean-looking things to earn … but very specifically because of the impact on my young life of the phenomenon of the loading screen. I must have spent an actual full percentage of my life by 7 looking at loading screens. Some were intergalactic and groovy, the sparse polygons of the Sega Saturn’s cruise through deep space for example. Most were just a reproduction of the game’s cover art with a bit of exciting music looped over the top. By the time the PS1 had made its way into my life, load screens taken on a life of their own. The developer’s logos were suddenly alive, animated and having sprouted sonic logos to accompany the pixels – IT’S IN THE GAME – and the games had full title sequences. (Perhaps not quite Saul Bass, but I’d gladly sit and watch Bugs Bunny’s Lost in Time’s first cut scene on repeat all over again.) Fatboy Slim, a defining figure of the second half of the 90s, played in the same space that loaded and its ilk had helped to boundary off. And while you’d be hard pressed to force any definition of “lad” onto Norman Cook directly, it’d be impossible to imagine a 90 lad’s CD rack without one of his albums appearing in it. And yet, again; with the wave of 90s nostalgia that carries through when I play this record … it’s the sound of those video game loading screens that most stick in my memory. Which is to say, this is a record full of the sort of exciting patchworks of borrowed sounds that made the 90s so incredibly bouncy. It’s perfectly entertaining, but I get the feeling it’s also the sound of Fatboy Slim loading; not yet the megastar that will play era-defining live shows, but not far off it either. Will I ever find the door destined to receive that green pass card? It’s a Kafkaesque question. Maybe sometimes you’re better off just leaving the game on the load screen. Sometimes it’s more exciting that way.

Like sick beats bro but did it actually need to be an hour?!???!?

Good, but what makes someone think "wow, what a great sample, this needs to be repeated 358 times"?

Enjoyable listen.

Good listen, but I feel with Fatboy Slim you need to do extreme reading between the lines to find anything other than pure entertainment.

Fine

It's one of those albums that the longer they are, the better they get. It started off quite slow and boring but got more fun by the end. His other album was even more repetitive and annoying at some points, though I loved the hits very much. Here there weren't any hit songs but overall it's a good big beat / electronica album.

I find Fatboy Slim good in small doses. Albums that run over an hour start to become diminishing returns. 3/5

Decent electronic album, honestly not enough on this list 3/5

Nice experimentation before better things

Quite enjoyed this

fun album, i really like this kinda of "simple" sound when it comes to electronic music. not sure how much i could realistically go to this album/Fatboy Slim, but nothing to knock against him or the music. this is more of a music choice of what i prefer to listen to. solid album.

Al principio vi que duraba dos horas y pensé que al fin había encontrado el disco que reflejaba lo que más odio de la electrónica: la duración de sus discos. Pero no, estaba escuchando la edición aniversario. Afortunadamente, la edición original es más breve, aunque de igual manera cada canción resulta ser más larga de lo que debería. O a lo mejor ese es el género y tengo que aprender a quererlo tal y como es.

It's fine, his better work is yet to come. You need to be there live to really appreciate it. 3/5.

Um álbum que trás um ritmo divertido e diferenciado, comparativamente a outros discos deste tipo de música "artificial". Mas sua duração prolongada e as repetições rítmicas o tornam um tanto arrastado e cansativo, especialmente na segunda metade.

I was not very hopeful I’d like this album as it’s not my thing but really enjoyed it.

Not the best Fatboy Slim album but still a good listen

good

This album had highs and lows. Some songs I was really jamming to and others I thought “ow my ears” Intetesting that one album had me so polarized.

Strong debut album, which must have generated a lot of excitement. My heart really belongs to his next album, "You've Come a Long Way, Baby". Fatboy Slim was really the first electronic music artist to land on my radar--this album came out when I was 14 and the successor when I was 16. He made me excited for the future of music, and I was right to be.

Good ole 90’s DJ music. I like it if I’m in the mood for it.