THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

95-Fatboy Slim-The Rockafeller Skank.

1998-Number 6 single.

Best Bit-At 4.02.’My favourite artist right now is Fatboy Slim, that guy kicks ass.”How tremendous is Fatboy Slim?”The band of the 90’s, if you wanna call it a band, because it’s a one man name,’ ‘Wow, Fatboy, and you wanna hear that new Fatboy song?”Absolutely!”Which one?”The huh…it’s funk soul brother, check it out.’

Fatboy Slim (see also best songs 950-760 and 387) was born Norman Leo Cook, on July 31st, 1963, in Bromley, Kent, England, in 1996 he adopted the name ‘Fatboy Slim,’ of which he has said,’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.’ During his music career which began in 1979 he has used at least 25 different stage names including ‘DJ Quentox,’ ‘Drunk Soul Brother,’ and ‘Margret Scratcher.’ In the 1980’s Cook encouraged the youth of Brighton, England, to get involved in music by staging events, which proved to have a positive effect in the city. This was acknowledged with Cook being awarded a star on the city of ‘Brighton’s Walk of Fame’, next to that of Winston Churchill.

Cook holds the UK record for most top 40 chart entries under different names, these are, as ‘Fatboy Slim’, and also with ‘The Housemartins,’ (see best songs 387) ‘Beats International,’ ‘Freak Power,’ and ‘Pizzaman.’ As ‘Fatboy Slim’ he has recorded four studio Albums between 1996-2004, and 28 singles between 1996-2020, he has also remixed tracks for dozens of other artists including ‘Brimful of Asha’ which was a UK Number 1 for ‘Cornershop’ in 1998. As Fatboy Slim, 12 of his singles have reached the UK top 40, with ‘Praise You’ making Number 1 in 1999, while in America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, only ‘Praise You (Number 36) has ever charted.

‘The Rockafeller Skank’ was both written and produced by Fatboy Slim, and was the first of five singles to be issued from his second studio Album ‘You’ve Come a Long Way Baby,’ which was released in October 1998. ‘The Rockafeller Skank’ features a total of six different samples, and in order to get clearance so that he could release the song, Fatboy Slim ended up having to pay 100% of the tracks royalties to the original writers, meaning he made no money from the song himself. The ‘Right about now, the funk soul brother,’ is a vocal sample by the rapper ‘Lord Finesse’ from the 1990’s Hip-Hop song ‘Vinyl Dog Vibe,’ by ‘Vinyl Dogs,’ Lord Finesse has said that the money he has made from ‘The Rockerfeller Skank’ is his ‘retirement money.’ The other prominent sample on the record is the 1972 instrumental ‘Sliced Tomatoes’ by the ‘Just Brothers,’ which is a popular ‘Northern Soul’ song. The drum intro to the 1966 hit ‘I Fought the Law,’ by ‘The Bobby Fuller Four’ can be heard prominently, although I can’t hear the David Bowie song ‘Join the Gang’ from 1967, which is also stated to be another song sampled. The other two samples are ‘Beat Girl,’ by John Barry, from 1960, and also a guitar line from the song ‘Twistin’ ‘N’ Twangin” by Dwane Eddy, from 1962.

‘Right about now, the funk soul brother, check it out now the funk soul brother.’