THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

496-Mr. Oiso-Flat Beat.

1999-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 0.51. It’s Daft Punk for the primary school kids.

Mr. Oiso is the stage name of Quentin Dupieux, who was born on April 14th, 1974, in Paris, France, he has explained how he came about his stage name, ‘Oiseau means ‘bird’ in French. A long time ago I was with a bunch of friends, we were all high, and one of my friends saw me as a bird, so it became my nickname.’ As well as writing, producing, and remixing music, Quentin Dupieux also works in the film, and the video making industry. To date he is the director and writer of 15 movies released between 2001-2024, he has also composed the music for five of them. He has produced 14 music video’s between 1997-2019, including the video for ‘Flat Beat,’ and he has worked for other artists as well. Quentin Dupieux who records in the musical genres of ‘Electronic Music,’ and ‘Experimental,’ uses the name ‘Mr. Oiso’ for releasing his music, but uses his birth name for his film work. In 2019 he was promoted to ‘Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres,’ by the French ‘Ministry of Culture.’

The discography of Mr. Oiso includes seven studio Albums released between 1999-2022, and eight singles released between 1999-2023, there are also three soundtrack Albums, and two official compilation Albums available. He has remixed many tracks for some of the worlds top artists, including, Calvin Harris, and the Scissor Sisters. His only top 40 single chart entry to date (apart from in France) remains ‘Flat Beat,’ which reached Number 1 in seven European countries in 1999, making him a ‘one hit wonder’ in those territories. ‘Flat Beat’ has sold in excess of 3 million copies worldwide, although surprisingly in his home country of France it only reached Number 5, as it didn’t receive a great deal of air play on it’s initial release. In 2020, Mr. Oiso finally had a second top 40 hit in France, when his track ‘Pharmacist,’ featuring the Francophone Belgian rapper Roméo Elvis, reached Number 8 on the ‘SNEP,’ official French singles chart.

‘Flat Beat’ was the second of three singles released from ‘Analog Worms Attack,’ which was the debut studio Album from Mr. Oiso, from October 1999, the song was written and produced by Mr. Oiso. ‘Flat Beat’ wasn’t one of the 14 original tracks recorded for ‘Analog Worms Attack,’ but was added to the Album as a ‘hidden’ bonus track, appearing five minutes after track 14 ‘Analog Wormz Sequel.’ Mr. Oiso has said that it only took him two hours to compose ‘Flat Beat,’ on the monophonic analog synthesizer, ‘Korg MS-20.’ The song has few lyrics, and is regarded as an instrumental, with the heavily repeated bass-line being sampled from the American Funk group the ‘Fatback Band’s,’ (see also best songs 798 and 217) 1975 song ‘Put Your Love In My Tender Care.’

Undoubtedly the songs great success can be put down to it being commissioned by ‘Levi Jeans’ for one of their commercials, which featured the yellow puppet character ‘Flat Eric,’ who was created by Quentin Dupieux. ‘Flat Eric’ was based on a dog-like puppet, but with hands, and originally called ‘Stephane,’ but Levi Jeans’ insisted on re-naming the character ‘Eric,’ as that was more of a ‘international name.’ The original idea for the commercial was to have Eric being involved in a car accident, and having his head flattened, but that idea was dropped, but the name ‘Flat Eric’ stuck.

‘Levi Jeans’ are no strangers to commissioning music for their advertising campaigns, having made 40 commercials between 1985-2007. Other songs on this ‘1000 Best Songs’ list that have been used in ‘Levi Jean’s’ adverts include, Ben E King, with ‘Stand by Me,’ (1987-UK Number 1 single) (see also best songs 804) Eddie Cochran, with ‘C’Mon Everybody,’ (1988-UK Number 14 single) (see also best songs 50) and the Steve Miller Band, with ‘The Joker,’ (1990-UK Number 1 single) (see also best songs 715.) The puppet ‘Flat Eric’ was created by Quentin Dupieux, and built by Janet Knechtel, for the ‘Jim Henson’s Creature Shop,’ who are the special/visual effects company, founded in 1979, in Hampstead, England, by the puppeteer Jim Henson, (1936-1990) who was the creator of ‘The Muppets.’ ‘Flat Eric’ was performed by the American puppeteer Drew Massey for both of the adverts commissioned by ‘Levi Jeans’ to feature the song ‘Flat Beat,’ Massey had previously worked extensively with the ‘Muppets.’

Because of the ‘Flat Eric’ puppet it is not surprising that ‘Flat Beat’ is looked down upon as a ‘novelty’ record, but that could not be further from the truth. ‘Flat Eric’ can be filed under the genre of ‘French Electronic Music,’ which in modern times dates back to the French composer Jean-Michel Jarre, who became famous worldwide with the Album ‘Oxygene’ in 1976. Other notable French innovators from the 1970’s include the group ‘Space,’ and ‘Cerrone’ (see also best songs 547.) In the following decades, up to the present, other names in ‘French Electronic Music’ who feature in this ‘1000 Best Songs’ list include, ‘BBE,’ (see also best songs 510) DJ Snake,’ (see also best songs 943) ‘David Guetta,’ (see also best songs 909-260 and 234) and ‘Daft Punk’ (see also best songs 140.)

‘Oh yeah, I know Quinnan, he’s a real, a real jerk.’