Rolling Stones Finally Unleash Fatboy Slim’s Legendary ‘Satisfaction Skank’ After 20-Year Ban
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The Rolling Stones have finally approved the release of one of the most talked-about mash-ups of the early 2000s: Fatboy Slim’s Satisfaction Skank.
The Brighton DJ, Norman Cook, originally created the bootleg by blending the Stones’ Satisfaction riff with his own hit Rockefeller Skank. He said he made it after growing “bored” of playing the original track in his sets. Although Mick Jagger personally told Cook he liked the mash-up, Stones management refused to clear it at the time and maintained a strict stance against unofficial uses of their music.
“I got a call from Mick Jagger and he said he had heard it and liked the mix,” Cook told the BBC. “But his management was just like, ‘No, not even negotiable’.”
This was during the height of the mash-up era, when producers regularly blended two contrasting pop hits and some even built entire careers on the trend. Richard X, for example, transformed a mash-up into a hit single for the Sugababes and later signed an album deal.
The Belgian duo Soulwax reinvented themselves as 2manyDJs and became pioneers of the style.
Because of the Stones’ refusal, Cook never had the chance to release Satisfaction Skank officially. When the band later asked him to remix Sympathy for the Devil, the mash-up was intended to be the B-side, but that plan also fell apart.
“We have had a pretty flat ‘no’ for 20 years,” Cook said. “I think we asked four times and I would not have dared to ask again.”
In recent years, the Stones’ camp has shown more flexibility regarding sampling. In 2019, they returned their share of publishing rights for The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony to Richard Ashcroft after more than two decades of dispute.
The release of Satisfaction Skank appears to have been encouraged by the Stones themselves. They even provided Cook with the original master tapes for Satisfaction so he could rebuild the mash-up in higher quality.
Cook celebrated the decision in a statement. “Over countless years I have always dreamed of an official release for this mash-up. It has been a favorite in my DJ sets for over a quarter of a century. I can confirm it is thoroughly road tested and fit for purpose.”
