Beats International were a British

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

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 as Fatboy Slim, is an English musician and DJ who helped popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. His music makes extensive use of Sampling (music), samples from eclectic ...

) based in

Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

, England, after his departure from the Housemartins. A loose confederation of musicians, the line-up also included vocalist Lindy Layton, former North of Cornwallis vocalist Lester Noel,

rappers Rapping (also rhyming, flowing, spitting, emceeing, or MCing) is an artistic form of vocal delivery and emotive expression that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and ommonlystreet vernacular". It is usually performed over a backing b ...

DJ Baptiste (The Crazy MC), MC Wildski and keyboardist Andy Boucher. Unusually, the band's live line-up also incorporated a

graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

artist, REQ, 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'' 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, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic th ...

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 of the bassline from

the Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

's " Guns of Brixton". 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 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 during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

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 " Let Them Eat Bingo" and would be re-credited to Beats International on this album.

Singles

Samples list

;'' Let Them Eat Bingo'' *"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 music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

/ bassline *"Blame It on the Bassline" **"Get into Something" by Isley Brothers / 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 / saxophone in beginning ;''Excursion on the Version'' *"Echo Chamber" **"Could You Be Loved" by

Bob Marley and 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 (Robert ...

Biography

Discography

Albums

Norman Cook singles

Singles

Samples list

See also

References

Further reading