Editing Fatboy Slim (section)

== Style ==
Cook pioneered the 1990s electronic genre [[big beat]], which ''[[Sound on Sound]]'' likened to a "[[pop art]]-styled [[collage]]" of samples.<ref name="Doyle-2017" /> The ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]'' writer Brad Shoup described ''You've Come A Long Way, Baby'' as "pure pop", unlike the stranger or harsher music of other big beat acts such as the Chemical Brothers or [[the Prodigy]].<ref name="Shoup-2024" /> Another ''Pitchfork'' critic, [[Marc Hogan]], characterised the Fatboy Slim formula as "eclectic samples, sloganistic vocal snippets, and an all-around drunken good-time spirit".<ref name="Hogan-2006" /> ''[[DJ Mag]]'' wrote that Cook created "big brash party tunes for big communal occasions" and was a "showman" and entertainer.<ref name="Whitehurst-2014" /> Cook said he differentiated himself from other dance musicians by using traditional songwriting structures, such as verses, choruses and [[Thirty-two-bar form|middle eights]], to arrange "dance floor ingredients ... in a manner that the human brain would associate with pop music".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Spencer |first=Roy |date=2020-10-30 |title=Fatboy Slim on ''You've Come a Long Way, Baby'': 'At this point, I'd cracked the big "drug build"' |url=https://www.musicradar.com/news/fatboy-slim-on-youve-come-a-long-way-baby-at-this-point-id-cracked-the-big-drug-build |access-date=2025-03-29 |website=[[MusicRadar]] |language=en}}</ref> 

Cook estimated that most of his tracks contained only 20% original material, with some containing none at all, and said: "I'm just as proud of the achievement of having made a record totally out of other people's, but without it sounding like their records. That's half the gag for me."<ref name="Heath-1999" /> He avoided sampling hit songs, which he said would be "like shooting fish in a barrel".<ref name="Doyle-2017" /> Instead, he would buy used vinyl records and sample vocal and drum parts, creating a library of sounds.<ref name="Doyle-2017" /> Cook said his approach was to "take the best bits out of all the music you've grown up with – [[the Beatles]], punk, rap and acid house – and you have an attractive and accessible package".<ref name="Nichols-2011" /> He said he was unable to write traditional songs.<ref name="Heath-1999" />

Most Fatboy Slim tracks are assembled from samples combined with synthesiser lines from a [[Roland TB-303]] and parts played on a [[Studio Electronics]] keyboard.<ref name="Doyle-2017" /> Cook manipulated samples through methods such as [[Time stretching (audio)|time-stretching]] and distortion.<ref name="Doyle-2017" /> He creates drum tracks by sampling individual drum hits from vinyl [[Break (music)|break]] beats, then programming new patterns.<ref name="Doyle-2017" /> On most tracks, he has two drum kits playing simultaneously: "One a lot more modern and crisp and clean-sounding, and one much older and dirtier that didn't have the punch."<ref name="Doyle-2017" /> Cook continued using the same equipment even as more sophisticated hardware and software emerged. He began using a [[MacBook]] with [[Ableton Live]], but found the lack of limits and no opportunity to "bend the rules" made the process less exciting.<ref name="Doyle-2017" />

Cook said he had never created overtly political music, and that when he tried to make "angry" music it "comes out slightly light-hearted ... so it's about the party and the rhythm".<ref name="Whitehurst-2014">{{Cite web |last=Whitehurst |first=Andrew |date=2014-05-23 |title=Fatboy Slim's Brazilian love affair |url=https://djmag.com/content/fatboy-slims-brazilian-love-affair |access-date=2025-03-23 |website=[[DJ Mag]] |language=en}}</ref> He took accusations that he had "made dance music for people who don't like dance music" as a compliment, saying he made it more accessible.<ref name="Nichols-2011" /> He said his music was for "people who do shit jobs all week and on Friday and Saturday nights they get to be glamorous and exciting ... My music is for the hips not the head{{nbsp}}... It's not supposed to be dissected by journalists, you're not supposed to sit at home with the lyric sheet wondering what they mean, reading the sleeve notes."<ref name="O'Brien-1998" /> 

Cook performs in [[Hawaiian shirts]] with no shoes, and said: "I decided I had to be like [[James Brown]] without the band. I started cheerleading the crowd and showing off."<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pires |first=Candice |date=2015-05-23 |title=Norman Cook: 'Nobody knows the retirement age for a DJ. I'll step down when either the crowds or I stop enjoying it' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/may/23/norman-cook-fatboy-slim-this-much-i-know |access-date=2025-03-23 |work=[[The Guardian]] |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> He believes DJs should communicate with the crowd through their expressions and body language and respond to them, and said: "The more the crowd give me back, the more I wanna give them and it becomes a cycle of nonsense – sometimes to ludicrous extremes."<ref name="Whitehurst-2014" /> He described [[Jon Carter]] and [[Carl Cox]] as DJs he learned from and whose stage styles he adopted.<ref name="Whitehurst-2014" /> He resisted pressure from record companies to perform with live musicians, as he felt the appeal of his music was in "the grit and character" of the samples, and to recreate them would be "like hearing a wedding covers band".<ref name="Cardew-2023" />