Norman Cook, DJ and musician
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast from BBC Radio 4. Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury, that they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island. For rights reasons, the music's shorter than on the original broadcast, but you can find a version with longer music tracks on BBC Sounds. Listeners will also get access to episodes 28 days earlier than everyone else. I hope you enjoy listening.
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My cast away this week is the DJ and musician Norman Cook. Perhaps better known as Fatboy Slim, he's previously operated under many aliases. Pizza Man, Cheeky Boy, Freak Power, Sunny Side Up, the Brighton Port Authority, Beats International, the Mighty Dubcats, the House Martins. And before any of that, when he was growing up in what he calls suburban hell, but which you might know better as Reigate, Quentin Leo Cook. As a DJ, he's played everywhere from Bondi Beach and the Great Wall of China to the House of Commons. He's played every Glastonbury Festival since 1997, though has famously never invoiced for a performance. His awards include the Guinness World Record for most number one singles by one musician in different acts, the Outstanding Contribution to UK Music from the Music Producers Guild and a Gold Award from the Sussex Partnership Trust for the DJ workshops he provides to those struggling with their mental health
Thank you very much. Can I just say I'm probably one of your more welcome castaways?
Just the sound of the waves and the inch. I'm throwing myself off the boat. I want to be castaway. I'm very, very honoured to be here on this island.
Well, what I love is that you're perfectly set up for life as a castaway because the Hawaiian shirt is your trademark and you get to have a turntable and records with you. So tools of the trade.
We were questioning what format the music would be in. I'm very honoured to be here. Thank you.
All right, Norman. Well, of course, another reason that you're perfectly positioned to take part in Desert Island Discs is that you are an expert selector, but I have been a bit worried in the run-up about you narrowing down your music choices to just eight. How has that been for you?
It's a bit like saying, which of your children would you like to kill first? So there's so many tunes that I would love to have, but I think these are... I've kind of picked eight that would endure and they would have some purpose rather than just... It would have some purpose for me.
On the island, interesting. At home, you are a self-confessed vinyl junkie. How big is your collection?
It topped off at 8,000. It was basically kind of two walls. And then I kind of thought that should be it. So I would cull to stop it going up.
One in, one out after that?
Yeah, yeah. When vinyl kind of, you know, we stopped using it and then I carried on using it until I was like the last man standing. But when I went digital, I was like, what do I do with this? And then Zoe, my... Then wife said, you know, what are you going to do with all those records? You know, should we just bin them? And I was like, no, I can't. These are part of my life.
Who is Norman Cook and what are his Desert Island Discs choices?
Yeah. They really are part of my life. So I decided I would leave them to my son. And everyone said, oh, yeah, he's really going to love that.
You know, like half.
Half a tonne of old, you know, completely redundant... Well, just a redundant thing, but as he's grown up, vinyl's sort of come back and now he absolutely loves it, treasures my vinyl collection. So I'm glad I kept it.
Oh, how lovely.
It's meticulously catalogued. As you will find out about me, I do like things in order.
Ah, I'm very excited to hear that. OK. In a way, this challenge is kind of the opposite of the day job for you as well, because obviously, you know, being a DJ is all about creating a vibe for other people, reading the room, like responding to the audience, the people who are kind of there to see you play. But here on the island, there's no crowd to please. Has that been a nice part of it for you?
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:33
2
Who is Norman Cook and what are his Desert Island Discs choices?
3:33–20:55
3
How did Grandmaster Flash's Wheels of Steel change Norman Cook's approach to DJing?
20:55–29:37
4
What childhood influences shaped Norman Cook’s musical tastes and family background?
29:37–51:20