Beats International were a British

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded da ...

band and hip-hop collective, formed in the late 1980s by Norman Cook (later in his career known as

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist ...

) based in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

, England, after his departure from the Housemartins. A loose confederation of musicians, the line-up also included vocalist

Lindy Layton Belinda Kimberly "Lindy" Layton (born 7 December 1970) is an English singer. She was a founding member of and vocalist for dance music band Beats International. She has released a number of solo albums and singles and worked with other musicians ...

, former North of Cornwallis vocalist Lester Noel, rappers DJ Baptiste (The Crazy MC), MC Wildski and keyboardist Andy Boucher. Unusually, the band's live line-up also incorporated a

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

artist,

REQ Ian Cassar (born 20 February 1966), better known as Req (stylized as REQ), is an English DJ, record producer, and graffiti artist. Career In the words of AllMusic's Sean Cooper, Req began in his native Brighton as "one of the U.K.'s most respe ...

, who painted designs on a backdrop while the musicians played.

Biography

After having a few small hits under his own name such as "Blame It on the Bassline", a 1989 hip-house crossover single featuring MC Wildski, and "For Spacious Lies" with Lester Noel, Cook decided that further releases would be under the collective name "Beats International" - just one of the names he went on to use in the 1990s. Beats International's debut studio album, ''

Let Them Eat Bingo ''Let Them Eat Bingo'' is the debut album by British electronic project Beats International, released in spring 1990 on Go! Beat in the United Kingdom and Elektra in the United States. The project was founded and led by disc jockey and former ...

'' included these solo hits and the original version of "Won't Talk About It" which featured

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music i ...

singing in a soulful falsetto. The album also spawned the UK number-one single " Dub Be Good to Me", a re-working of the SOS Band's chart-topper " Just Be Good to Me", based on a

sample Sample or samples may refer to: Base meaning * Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set * Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal * Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of ...

of the bassline from

the Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...

's "

Guns of Brixton A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, pr ...

". This song was the first to be credited under the Beats International name and featured sometime actor Layton on vocals. The collective followed their number-one single with a re-recorded version of "Won't Talk About It", which replaced Billy Bragg's vocal with that of Layton and Noel, and "Burundi Blues", a track which featured samples of Bessie Jones, the

Thrashing Doves The Thrashing Doves were a London-based rock band. Their line-up consisted of Ken Foreman (vocals/guitar) with Brian Foreman (keyboards), Ian Button (guitar) and Kevin Sargent (drums). The original bass player was Hari Sajjan. Subsequent bass ...

and, on the album version, Brian Cant's introduction from '' Camberwick Green''. The second Beats International album was 1991's '' Excursion on the Version'', which featured a greater use of dub and

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

sounds, but failed to repeat the success of its predecessor. This was the final Beats International recording, with Cook next going on to form Freak Power.

Discography

Albums

Norman Cook singles

Note: these singles are from "

" and would be re-credited to Beats International on this album.

Singles

Samples list

;''

'' *"Burundi Dub" **"Thank You for Talkin' to Me Africa" by Sly & The Family Stone / bassline *"Dub Be Good to Me" **"Just Be Good to Me" by The SOS Band **"The Guns of Brixton" by

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...

/ bassline *"Blame It on the Bassline" **"Get into Something" by

Isley Brothers Isley is an English surname. The name can also be used as an anglicized variant for the German surnames Eisele and Eisler. Notable people with the surname include: *The Isley Brothers, American musical group **Ernie Isley (born 1952), American mus ...

/ phrase "Come on now / give the drummer some" *"Won't Talk About It" ** "Thank You Mr. DJ" by Silver Convention / intro ** "Levi Stubbs Tears" by

/ guitar *"Dance to the Drummer's Beat" **"Dance to the Drummer's Beat" by Herman Kelly & Life *"Tribute to King Tubby" **"Unwind Yourself" by

Marva Whitney Marva Whitney (born Marva Ann Manning; May 1, 1944 – December 22, 2012) was an American funk singer commonly referred to by her honorary title, Soul Sister #1. Whitney was considered by many funk enthusiasts to be one of the "rawest" and "brass ...

/ saxophone in beginning ;''Excursion on the Version'' *"Echo Chamber" **"Could You Be Loved" by

Bob Marley & The Wailers Bob Marley and the Wailers (previously known as The Wailers, and prior to that The Wailing Rudeboys, The Wailing Wailers and The Teenagers) were a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae band. The founding members, in 1963, were Bob Marley (Rober ...

Biography

Discography

Albums

Norman Cook singles

Singles

Samples list

See also

References

Further reading