The Chemical Brothers are an English electronic music duo formed by Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons in Manchester in 1989. They were pioneers in bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture. They released their debut album Exit Planet Dust (1995) and it eventually went on to sell over a million copies worldwide. After attracting Virgin Records, the duo achieved more widespread success with their second album Dig Your Own Hole (1997), which topped the UK charts. In the UK, they have had six No. 1 albums and 13 Top 20 singles, including two No. 1 hits.
Norman Quentin Cook, 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 for the Hull-based indie rock band the Housemartins, who achieved a UK number-one single with their a cappella cover of "Caravan of Love". After the Housemartins split, Cook formed the electronic band Beats International in Brighton, who produced the number-one single "Dub Be Good to Me". He then played in Freak Power, Pizzaman, and the Mighty Dub Katz with moderate success.
The Housemartins were an English indie rock group formed in Hull who were active in the 1980s, and charted three top ten albums and six top twenty singles in the UK. Many of their lyrics were a mixture of socialist politics and Christianity, reflecting the beliefs of the band. The group's a cappella cover version of "Caravan of Love" was a UK Number 1 single in December 1986.
Skint Records is a Brighton and Hove based dance music record label owned by JC Reid, Tim Jeffery and Damian Harris. It was created as a sublabel of Loaded Records, also founded by Reid and Jeffery. Along with Wall of Sound, the label was a leader in the big beat music scene of the mid to late 1990s.
Think Tank is the seventh studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 5 May 2003. Continuing the jam-based studio constructions of the group's previous album, 13 (1999), the album expanded on the use of sampled rhythm loops and brooding, heavy electronic sounds. There are also heavy influences from dance music, hip hop, dub, jazz, and African music, an indication of songwriter Damon Albarn's expanding musical interests.
My Game is an EP by British big beat musician Fatboy Slim, released in 2002.
"Praise You" is a song by British big beat musician Fatboy Slim. It was released as the third single from his second studio album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998), on 4 January 1999. It reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and in Iceland, number four in Canada, number six in Ireland, and number 36 in the United States. As of 1999, it has sold over 150,000 units in the US.
"Star Guitar" is a song by the Chemical Brothers, released as the second single from their fourth album, Come with Us (2002). It reached number eight on the UK Singles Chart, number two on the American dance chart and number one in the UK Dance Chart. The song was greeted with praise from critics.
"The Rockafeller Skank" is a song by English big beat musician and DJ Fatboy Slim. It was released as the lead single from his second studio album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998), on 8 June 1998. The single peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart in June 1998 and topped the Icelandic Singles Chart for a week the same month and was the second Fatboy Slim single to chart on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 76.
"Weapon of Choice" is a song by English big beat musician Fatboy Slim from his third studio album, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars. It features American funk musician Bootsy Collins. It was released as a double A-side single with "Star 69" on 23 April 2001, as well as a standalone single release, and a 2010 re-release with remixes. The single peaked at No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart.
"Right Here, Right Now" is a song by British big beat musician Fatboy Slim, released on 19 April 1999 as the fourth single from his second studio album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby (1998). The song samples "Ashes, the Rain & I" by James Gang and an Angela Bassett quote from American science fiction thriller film Strange Days (1995). "Right Here, Right Now" reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and became a top-40 hit in Australia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, New Zealand, and the Walloon region of Belgium. It was voted by Mixmag readers as the 10th-greatest dance record of all time.
"King of Snake" is a song by Underworld. It was played live many times in improv versions, then released on two promo-only 12-inch singles. This was the second single released from the album Beaucoup Fish. The song contained an interpolation of the bassline from the Donna Summer single "I Feel Love". The single peaked on the UK Singles Chart at number 17.
"Slash Dot Dash" is a song by English big beat musician Fatboy Slim, released as a single from his album Palookaville. Cook himself plays bass guitar on the track. It also appeared on Fatboy Slim's greatest hits album The Greatest Hits – Why Try Harder. The single peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart, number six in Spain, and number 27 in Italy. The original version of the track, contained on an advance US copy of the album, uses a different vocal sample which was possibly changed due to sample clearance issues.
"Sunset " is a song by English musician Fatboy Slim from his third studio album, Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars (2000). The song samples Jim Morrison's vocals from the Doors song "Bird of Prey." Released on 16 October 2000, the single peaked at No. 9 in the United Kingdom, No. 20 in Norway, and No. 25 in Ireland.
"Do It Again" is a song by the British electronic music duo the Chemical Brothers, included as the fifth track on their sixth studio album, We Are the Night (2007). The song features Ali Love and was released as the first single from the album on 14 May 2007 as a digital download. "Do It Again" peaked at number 12 on the UK Singles Chart and reached number two in Italy. The music video for the song was directed by Michael Haussman and is set in rural Morocco. The song was nominated at the 50th Grammy Awards for Best Dance Recording but lost out to Justin Timberlake's "LoveStoned / I Think That She Knows".
"Star 69" is a song by English electronic music producer Fatboy Slim, released on 23 April 2001 as the second single from his third studio album Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars (2000). It was released as a double A-side single with "Weapon of Choice", as well as its own standalone release.
Camber Sands is an EP released in 2002 by Fatboy Slim. It is the second in an EP series by Fatboy Slim and was named after the East Sussex beach of the same name.
"Come with Us"/"The Test" is a double A-side single from The Chemical Brothers' 2002 album Come with Us. The vocals in "The Test" are performed by Richard Ashcroft. When released, the single reached number 11 in Spain, number 14 in the United Kingdom, and number 36 in Ireland. In Italy and the United States, only "Come with Us" was released, peaking at number 41 on the Italian Singles Chart and number eight on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart.
The Saturdays are a British-Irish girl group based in London, England. The group formed during the summer of 2007 and have been on hiatus since 2014. The lineup consists of Frankie Bridge, Una Healy, Rochelle Humes, Mollie King, and Vanessa White. They were formed through Fascination Records, a sub-division of Polydor Records, who gave them an instant record deal with the label. As soon as the contract was finalised, the Saturdays went on tour with Girls Aloud during their Tangled Up Tour. The group's music style is pop, but throughout their career, their management has experimented with dance-pop and electropop. Songwriters and producers Ina Wroldsen, Steve Mac, Camille Purcell, and Quiz & Larossi have helped create their music. In July 2008, the Saturdays released their debut single and first Top Ten hit, "If This Is Love". Their debut album, Chasing Lights, released the same year, charted at number nine on the UK Albums Chart; it was certified platinum by the BPI and produced three more top ten singles: "Up", "Issues", and "Just Can't Get Enough". "Work" was also released from the album. The group's first concert tour, The Work Tour, took place in 2009. The group's second album, Wordshaker, produced the Top Ten hits "Forever Is Over" and "Ego". In 2010, the Saturdays released a mini album, Headlines!, which contained the top 10 hits "Missing You" and "Higher", the latter of which featured guest vocals from Flo Rida. The mini-album was supported by the group's second concert tour, The Headlines Tour. Their third album, On Your Radar, was released in 2011 and resulted in two top 10 singles: "Notorious" and "All Fired Up".
Big beat is an electronic music genre that usually uses heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns – common to acid house/techno. The term has been used by the British music industry to describe music by artists such as the Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, the Crystal Method, Propellerheads, Basement Jaxx and Groove Armada.
