"Most artists struggle with the difficult second album. Not wanting to sound big-headed, but this was not the case for me. The early success, especially of tunes such as Going Out of My Head and Everybody Needs a 303, had crystalised in my mind where all of this was going. I knew what was turning people on and had kinda cracked the formula of how the next album should sound."
"The formula was: breakbeats from my love of hip-hop, the anarchic rebellion of punk, the energy of acid house and hooks from the pop music I grew up on. I had all the thrift store samples built into a library for audio collage, and a club to test out new tunes. This new movement in music so far had no name to pigeonhole it."
"Our style of music was crossing over to the mainstream, which tickled me no end. Someone wrote: Fatboy makes dance music for people who don't like dance music. I took it as a huge compliment. The Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx and Groove Armada were converting the rock and indie kids into rave monkeys, and it felt good. The dancefloor was for all."
Early success of singles like Going Out of My Head and Everybody Needs a 303 clarified a creative direction that blended breakbeats, punk rebellion, acid house energy and pop hooks. A personal sample library and a club provided a testing ground. The Big Beat Boutique night gave the movement its name and fostered collective pride. The style crossed into the mainstream and attracted rock and indie audiences. Recording of the second album You've Come a Long Way, Baby was swift and productive, producing hits like Praise You, Right Here, Right Now and Fucking in Heaven. The album released in October 1998 received excellent reviews and massive sales, propelling renewed pop stardom and celebrity.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]