Songoftheday 10/9/21 - We've come a long long way together, through the hard times and the good...
"Praise You" - Fatboy Slim
from the album You've Come A Long Way, Baby (1998)
Billboard Hot 100 peak; #36 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 3
Today's song comes from Fatboy Slim, the recording moniker for DJ/producer Norman Cook. Born and raised in south-east England, Cook started his music career as a member of the indie-rock band the Housemartins as their bass player. That group's debut album, London 0 Hull 4, had a big hit in the UK with "Happy Hour", which peaked at #3 in 1986. The album, which went to #3 in Britain, also popped on to the American Billboard 200 sales tally at #124. Later that year, their cover of the Isley-Jasper-Isley soul nugget "Caravan Of Love" released as a stand-alone single went all the way to #1 in the UK. A second album, The People Who Grinned Themselves To Death, also made the UK top ten at #9, while landing at #177 on the Billboard 200, but with three singles that made the top-20, with "Five Get Over Excited", nearly making the top ten at #11, the group split.
Cook went solo under his own name at first, releasing a couple of alternative-dance singles that sounded nothing like the Housemartins, with the double-sided single "Won't Talk About It" and "Blame It On The Bassline" reaching the top-40 at #29 in 1989. But shortly after, he assembled a group called Beats International, featuring singers Lindy Layton and Lester Noel and a backing band, and re-recorded those songs for their debut album Let Them Eat Bingo in 1990. Lead single "Dub Be Good To Me", a dub remake of the S.O.S. Band's post-disco jam "Just Be Good To Me", went to #1 in the UK. In America, the single spent a week at #1 on Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart, rose to #76 on the pop Hot 100 list, and crossed over to #74 on the R&B chart. A redone version of "Won't Talk About It" followed it into the top ten in Britain at #9, while in America it also hit #76 on the Hot 100 and #4 on Billboard's Dance chart. The Bingo album peaked at #17 in the UK and got to #162 on the Billboard 200, but again after a less successful second album Cook shuttered the act in 1992.
Norman had the same fortune with his next act, Freak Power, which veered from the dub soul of Beats International into the popular acid jazz of the time. Their first album Drive-Thru Booty spun off a British top ten hit with "Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out" which peaked at #3 in 1995, but again after a disappointing second effort called it quits a year later. At the same time, Cook worked with John Reid in the electronica duo Pizzaman. Their sole album together Pizzamania scored four top-40 hits in the UK, with the 60's retro-sounding "Happiness" going the highest at #19. He also recorded under the Mighty Dub Kats name with acid house material; the single "Magic Carpet Ride" went to #24 in the UK, and top ten in Spain, Sweden, and The Netherlands, while making it to #9 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart and #58 on the pop Hot 100 in America. A second song, "It's Just Another Groove", hit #3 on the American Dance chart in 1997.
Amidst all this record between different names and styles, Cook adopted the moniker he would mostly be known for, Fatboy Slim. His first disc under the Fatboy name, Better Living Through Chemistry, went to #69 on the British albums chart, and produced a minor hit with the song "Going Out Of My Head", which peaked at #57 before hitting the top-40 with a re-release of the first single "Everybody Needs A 303 (Everybody Loves A Carnival)" at #34 in 1997. In America, "Going Out Of My Head" popped on to the Alternative Rock radio chart at #28. The album established his signature "big beat" sound, mixing break-beats with heavy drums and a hella ton of sampling.
Cook returned as Fatboy Slim in 1998 with what would be the biggest success of his career, the album You've Come A Long Way Baby. The first single from the set would be "The Rockafeller Skank", which sticthed together samples of a handful of records including Bobby Fuller's 60s hit "I Fought The Law" as well as an unnoticed track from James Bond movie score master John Barry (not for those movie, but a cheesy teen movie instead), but the main hook was from a hip-hop record "Vinyl Dogs Vibe" from Lord Finesse, which gave the song its tagline "the funk soul brother". The single scored Cook's first top ten hit under the Fatboy name at #6, while in America it was hit first to make the Hot 100 at #78 (at first), while getting to #39 on the Alternative Rock radio chart. That was followed in the UK with "Gangster Trippin'", which hit #3 there, following the same sonic pattern.
The third release from the album, though, would blow him up worldwide (like the items in the video for "Gangster Trippin'"). "Praise You" puts together a bevy of samples, including dancer/poet/singer Camille Yarborough's black civil rights anthem "Take Yo' Praise", along with such left-field sources as an electronics company's sound-testing record and Disney's Mickey Mouse Disco. The result was a surprising combination of gospel and breakbeat, with the piano anchoring the tune's hook. But what really made this record was the music video. Spike Jonze, a director who had worked on highly influential music videos of the 1990s from Weezer and the Beastie Boys, gave mainstream America and the world its first true taste of the "flash mob", with a troupe of amateur dancers setting up shop in front of a theater in Los Angeles and having Roman Coppola direct Jonze and his team dance until they're kicked out. It's crazy, and it's hilarious, and you can't keep your eyes away from the nerd paradise that brought a little joy to the nearing end of the millennium. The lack of cell phones give such an innocence to this that we'll never have again...
With the buzz from the video on MTV, "Praise You" crossed over to radio and the record stores, and became Cook's first and only top-40 pop hit in May of 1999. The song spent seven weeks at #2 on Billboard's Alternative Rock radio chart, while rising to #19 on their older-skewing Adult Top-40 format list. Surprisingly, even though the single went to #5 on Billboard's Dance Singles Sales chart, it never placed on their Dance Club Play list at first (though I know it was played in clubs at the time). Internationally, the single went to #1 in the UK and Iceland, and made the top ten in Belgium (#2F), Canada (#4), Ireland (#6), and Hungary (#10). It also reached the top-40 in New Zealand (#11), Australia (#28), Austria (#31), and Sweden (#32). The You've Come A Long Way, Baby album, released in October of 1998, spent a month at #1 on the British Albums chart, eventually going on to spend 100 weeks on the list, while making it to #34 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, selling over a million copies in the States. At the Grammy Awards in 2000, "Praise You" was nominated for Best Dance Recording, losing out to Cher for her #1 smash "Believe". You've Come A Long Way, Baby was also up for Best Alternative Music Album, which went home with Beck for his Mutations set. The video won three "moon men" at the MTV Video Music Awards for Best Choreography, Best Direction, and Breakthrough Video (it truly was ahead of its time).
In America, with the success of "Praise You", they re-released "Rockafeller Skank", which climbed just a little higher on the Billboard Hot 100 at #76. Meanwhile internationally, the song "Right Here, Right Now", which sampled actress Angela Bassett for the title hook and sported an equally compelling but completely different music video, was released as the fourth and final single from the album. It made the top ten in the UK (#2), Iceland (#2), Belgium (#5F/#37W), and Greece (#6).
Cook as Fatboy Slim returned in 2000 with his third effort Halfway Between The Gutter and The Stars. The first single "Sunset (Bird Of Prey)", which samples the classic rock band the Doors, finally gave him a hit on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart at #35, while going to #9 on the British Singles chart. The third release from the set had two big hits on it; "Star 69 (What the F**k)", which sampled a deep house record from Roland Clark, was Fatboy Slim's first big club hit in America at #3, while going to #10 on the British singles chart. The companion song, "Weapon Of Choice", had a music video just as well-loved as "Praise You" which featured actor Christopher Walken doing a dance number completely deadpan-style. The song went to #33 on Billboard's Alternative Rock radio chart, and won Cook his sole Grammy so far for Best Music Video. The Halfway album scored a second Best Alternative Music Album Grammy nomination, which went to British modern rock giants Coldplay for their debut album Parachutes.
After an unusual four year break, Cook returned as Fatboy Slim in 2004 with Palookaville, which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Dance/Electronic Album, losing out to the Chemical Brothers for their Push The Button set. From the record, the track "Wonderful Night", which went to #51 on the British Singles chart, was also up that year for Best Dance Recording, which also went to the Chemical Brothers for their cut off Push The Button "Galvanize". It would be his most recent studio album under the Fatboy moniker.
In 2010, Cook collaborated with ex-Talking Head David Byrne for the album Here Lies Love, which went to #96 on the Billboard 200 and #76 in the UK Albums list. He also released a set under the moniker the Brighton Port Authority, I Think We're Gonna Need A Bigger Boat, which also had Byrne on it in 2009. In 2013, Cook re-emerged as Fatboy Slim for the one-off single "Eat, Sleep, Rave, Repeat", which climbed all the way to #3 in the UK, while hitting the American Dance chart at #37. Cook released new remixes of "Praise You" in 2018, and ended up claiming his first #1 on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart at the beginning of the following year. His most recent single, "All The Ladies", featuring DJ Eats Everything, came out in 2020.
(9/10)
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Cook and Jonze recreated the "Praise You" video for their performance at the 1999 MTV Music Video Awards...
Here's Cook doing complete rework of "Praise You" live in Brazil in 2009...
Fast forward to 2015 for his stint at London's Tea In The Park...
The following year, Fatboy Slim performed in at the legendary Glastonbury Music Festival...
Up tomorrow: Country singer isn't talking about you.
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