Dizzie Rascal
In a way the success story of UK born, electronic, big beat musician Quentin Leo Cook aka Fatboy Slim is a bit of an anomaly. At age 44 he is sort of long in the tooth for a pop star, that’s even in his late 90s peak of popularity. Sonically, he doesn’t have much of an allegiance to any musical genre, making him extremely hard to classify which is a nightmare for marketing purposes. He combines the blare of Burt Bacharach early 60s brass instruments, experimental 80s electronic drum thumps, emphatic 90s dance music and intricate Hip Hop record cuts and scratches. All of this is arguably genius to dance music enthusiasts and vintage record connoisseurs but bewildering to the MTV crowd who prefer their pop straight forward. Fatboy Slim’s infectious songs aside, it is his wildly inventive and innovative music videos that have made him a house hold name.
Fatboy Slim’s video for “Praise You” is a hilarious clip featuring director Spike Jonze leading what seems to be a rhythmically challenged dance troupe in front of a confused live audience. The award winning video for “Weapon of Choice” has veteran actor Christopher Walken energetically dancing through a hotel lobby and then literally flying from wall to wall. Fatboy Slim now hooks up with veteran New Wave musician David Byrne of Talking Heads fame to form the super group, Bridge Port Authority (BPA). While Byrnes’ expertise can be felt in their first single “Toe Jam” featuring Dizze Rascal, the video is vintage Fatboy Slim. It features feathered haired 70s era swingers striping down to their birthday suits and playing musical art with their censor bars. While the video shows no actually nudity it still may not be safe for work, unless your boss is into that kind of thing.
