Zahlen, bitte! 3½ inch DJ – How Fatboy Slim produced hits on the Atari ST
The world-renowned DJ and producer Fatboy Slim produced his biggest hits on 1980s hardware: an Atari ST 520. We look back.
Released at the end of 2025, “The Satisfaction Skunk” is a mash-up between the hits “Satisfaction” by veteran rockers the Rolling Stones and “The Rockafella Skunk” by English DJ and producer Fatboy Slim.
The song itself isn't entirely new: The Stones, fronted by singer Mick Jagger, refused permission for its release for a quarter of a century, so it only circulated as a bootleg until they relented and released it together with Fatboy Slim.
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However, the song contains another curiosity that will particularly pique the interest of retro fans: It was created on an Atari 520 ST – the home computer that was launched 41 years ago and vied with the Commodore Amiga for the home computer crown.
And the ST wasn't just the starting point in this one instance; it was a crucial component in the production of Fatboy Slim's biggest hits. Amiga nerds will have to brace themselves: The legendary DJ – who certainly can't be accused of being boring – is an Atari fan. But how did Fatboy Slim come about?
First an Indie Rock Bassist
Norman Cook was born on July 31, 1963, in Bromley, London. He gained his first musical experience as the bassist for the indie rock band The Housemartins (biggest hit: “Caravan of Love”) from 1986 until their breakup two years later.
During that time, an Atari 520 ST, along with an Akai S-950 sampler, moved into the studio. Due to its standard MIDI interface, the Atari ST became established in music studios, and the combination was a classic setup in music productions of that era.
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Cook founded the band Beats International, which landed a number 1 hit in the UK charts in 1990 with “Dub Be Good to Me,” even reaching number 4 in Germany. Since subsequent singles couldn't come close to matching that success, it was over after two albums in 1992.
After that, various dance and house songs were released in the mid-1990s under names like Mighty Dub Katz or Pizzaman, with his involvement.
Debut Album with a Floppy Disk Cover
Cook first appeared under the name Fatboy Slim in 1996. The debut album “Better Living Through Chemistry” already referenced the Atari in its cover: The back of a 3½-inch floppy disk is shown, naturally Double Density, like those used in the Atari.
With his second album, “You've Come a Long Way, Baby,” released in 1998, Fatboy Slim achieved his definitive breakthrough: the album featured four very successful songs – “The Rockafeller Skank,” “Gangster Tripping,” “Praise You,” and “Right Here, Right Now.”
Alongside The Chemical Brothers and The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim dominated the Big Beat genre at the time, characterized primarily by fast and distorted drumbeats. By 2000, Big Beat was already out of fashion – in the new millennium, clubgoers were seeking new sounds. By then, the Atari ST had long been out of vogue anyway.
1990 Atari in a Paris Concert
Its peak undoubtedly came on July 14, 1990, when synthesizer icon Jean-Michel Jarre gave a concert in Paris La Défense for an estimated up to 2.5 million people, and a total of 11 Atari Mega STs were visibly in service on the enormous stage.
Despite this product placement, the ST quickly lost market share with the increasing spread of IBM PCs and Amiga competition and disappeared from the market in the mid-1990s. However, it remained in studios for a long time afterward, not least due to powerful software like Creator/Notator Logic or Cubase.
(Image: Felix Winkelnkemper, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Fatboy Slim remained productive as a musician, producer, and DJ, producing hits like “Weapon of Choice,” whose video won numerous awards. He remained loyal to his studio setup around the Atari 520 for a long time. It wasn't until 2012 that he switched to a MacBook Pro, and not entirely voluntarily. His management and the musicians he worked with pushed Cook to upgrade to the present day.
Fatboy Slim Knows His ST
In a lighthearted podcast by The Retro Hour, he admitted that to this day he knows more about his Ataris than about laptops. He knows his 520 ST so well that he could recognize when an Atari was about to crash from a slight screen flicker, but it still gave him time to save the project.
However, he's not a gamer. According to his words, Fatboy Slim played his last game in 1982 in a pub. The game was Galaxian.
He is also annoyed that software manufacturers once did everything right, so it suited him, but with the new version they reinvent everything with features he neither needs nor wants. That's why he often uses software until the operating system no longer supports it.
Cook Thanks the ST
In any case, he is grateful to his Atari ST. When he gradually stopped actively juggling floppy disks in 2012 and switched to a MacBook Pro, he told musicradar:
“I've been making music on the Atari for over 20 years. Most electro musicians of a certain age probably started the same way – with the Atari and the S950. With just these two devices and a mixer, you could produce a song. That's how I made “You've Come A Long Way, Baby.” The Atari and the Akais bought me this house. They changed my life.” The song “Eat Sleep Rave Repeat,” released in 2013, was the last track created with the Atari setup for now.
However, the Atari setup is still operational today. Cook even has several Ataris on hand in case his work device should ever give up the ghost, which he has so far managed to avoid. Instead, in 2025, the ST once again produced “Satisfaction Skunk” in a truly old-school fashion.
(mawi)
