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When you delve in to the music of Norman Cook a whole world of excitement opens up.

According to his Wikepdia page, Norman Cook is a British DJ, electronic dance music musician and record producer. But our magical music mystery tour takes us all the way back to the beginning when Norman Cook was nothing but a bass player in a band.

The Housemartins first hit the UK charts in March 1986 with the song Sheep, but it only reached a poor number 56.

Later on that same year though they released the song Happy Hour.

Housemartins - Happy Hour

The song crashed in to the UK charts and peaked at a high of number 3, spending a total of 10 weeks in the Top 40. The Housemartins had arrived but it wasn't to last long. By the end of 1988 they had split. Members Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway went on to form the Beautiful South, who had massive chart success throughout the 1990's and beyond. Housemartin's bass player Norman Cook went on to shape the whole music scene of the 1990's.

On leaving the Housemartins, Norman Cook decided to go it alone and something was certainly cooking when he released the double A-side Wont Talk About It and Blame It On The Bassline.

Norman Cook - Won't Talk About It

Far removed from the style of music that the Housemartins were known for, perhaps this was Norman Cook's way of showing the world what was soon to become the norm. This song here was credited as Norman Cook featuring Billy Bragg and the song Blame It On The Bassline was credited as Norman Cook featuring MC Wildski. It peaked at number 29 in the UK charts in July 1989. Later that same year Norman Cook released the song For Spacious Lies, credited as Norman Cook featuring Lester, but it failed to breach the top 40, stalling at number 48.

It was the last time that Norman Cook would release a song under his own name, but it certainly wasn't the last time he would be in the UK charts. In February 1990, out of nowhere, Beats International hit number one in the UK charts with the song Dub Be Good To Me.

Beats International - Dub Be Good To Me

Beats International had been formed by Norman Cook and MC Wildski and also featured Lester Noel and Lindy Layton on vocals. The whole sound of their debut single caught the imagination of the buying public. The song, which is a 're-working' of the 1970's SOS Band hit 'Just Be Good To Me' with a sample of the bassline of the Clash song 'Guns of Brixton', stayed at number one in the UK for an impressive 4 weeks, and spent a total of 12 weeks on the UK charts. Follow up hit 'Won't Talk About It' reached a peak of number 9, but their next 4 singles releases failed to make the top 40! It was the end for Beats International, but Norman Cook was about to move on to pastures new!

Norman Cook had tasted success with the Housemartins, released a couple of solo songs, and then tasted a number one with Beats International, but there seemed to be no longevity in anything he was doing. So if at first you don't succeed...

In October 1993 a song hit number 29 in the UK charts from a band called Freakpower. Not the biggest hit ever, but things were about to get a whole lot better when the song was picked up by Levi's to be used in one of their adverts.

Freakpower - Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out

The above Levi's ad turned the song in to a hit and in March 1995, on re-release, Turn On, Tune In, Cop Out raced to a peak of number 3 in the UK charts. It was another hit for another band that featured Norman Cook. And yet it was the same old story of one massive hit and nothing much else to report except for a couple of minor chart entries before disbanding and starting afresh.

From August 1994 until September 1996, a UK production group who went under the name of Pizzaman were having a run of chart hits without bothering the upper echelons.

Pizzaman - Trippin' On Sunshine

Trippin' On Sunshine was the debut release from Pizzaman and it peaked at number 33 in August 1994. Follow up single Sex On The Streets peaked at number 24 in the summer of the following year. Third single Happiness reached number 19 in November 1995. By early 1996 they re-released Sex On The Streets and it got to number 23 and then in the summer re-released Trippin' On Sunshine and it reached number 18. Final chart hit for Pizzaman was Hello Honky Tonks (Rock Your Body) which reached a peak of number 41 in September 1996. Pizzaman was the collective work of John Reid and Norman Cook.

Next up for Norman Cook was his work with Mighty Dub Katz.

Mighty Dub Katz - Magic Carpet Ride

This was the only one of three releases by Mighty Dub Katz that managed to penetrate the UK top 40, and despite being released in 1995, it wasn't until1997 that it hit the charts peaking at number 24.

It had nearly been a decade since the Housemartins had split and Norman Cook wasn't quite having the music longevity that he maybe hoped for. The Beautiful South, the band created by two other members of the Housemartins, had seen their stock rise and rise over the years. So much so in fact that by the start of 1997 the Beautiful South had had 17 UK chart hits - 9 of which had gone top 20 and 5 had gone top 10. Granted, Norman Cook had had a lot of chart success with different ventures over the years but nothing that had proved good enough to last.

Perhaps a re-think of things would change all that! Perhaps it was time for Norman Cook to re-invent himself. And that's exactly what he did - Norman Cook became Fatboy Slim.

The first couple of single releases from Fatboy Slim failed to set the heather alight but it was third time lucky when The Rockafeller Skank was released.

Fatboy Slim - Rockafeller Skank

It crashed in to the UK charts in June 1998 and reached a peak of number 6. Follow up single Gangster Trippin reached number 3 in October 1988 and the next single did even better! In early 1999 Praise You was sitting at the top of the UK charts. Since leaving the Housemartins 10 years previously Norman Cook had never managed a run of hits like that before and it didn't stop there. Over the next few years Fatboy Slim took the music world by storm and ran up a score of hits in the UK charts.

But it was in the dance scene itself that Fatboy Slim was working his magic really. Not just on his own stuff but as producer for other bands. Fatboy Slim was hot stuff. In more recent years Norman Cook has been part of the Brighton Port Authority - it's just another chapter in a music career that is still going strong.