The Rolling Stones have finally cleared the release of one of the most talked-about bootlegs of the mash-up era: Fatboy Slim’s Satisfaction Skank.
The Brighton-based DJ (real name Norman Cook, of course) created the bootleg by combining the riff from Satisfaction with his own Rockerfeller Skank, after he said he grew “bored” of playing the original. But Stones' management, who have always tended to take a harsh view over unofficial uses of the band’s material, said no go.
"I got a call from Mick Jagger, and he said he'd heard it and he liked the mix," said Cook in an interview with the BBC. “But his management was just like, 'No, not even negotiable'."
This was back in the early Noughties, when hardly a week went by without the release of a new bootleg that co-mingled two contrasting pop hits.
Some producers made entire careers out of these – Richard X, who combined Adina Howard’s Freak Like Me and Gary Numan’s Are ‘Friends’ Electric to create We Don’t Give A Damn About Our Friends, ended up producing the Sugababes ‘cover’ of his mash-up and nabbed an album deal from Virgin out of it.
Soulwax, a somewhat drab Belgian indie duo, reinvented themselves as 2manyDJs and created whole mix albums out of the phenomenon.
Due to the Stones’ intransigence, they missed out on all this fun. Later, the band asked Cook to remix Sympathy For The Devil for a single release. Satisfaction Skank was due to be the B-side - but the deal ended up falling apart. "We've had a pretty flat 'no' for 20 years," said Cook. "I think we asked four times, and I wouldn't have dared to ask them again."
Recently though, the Stones’ management seem to have softened their stance on sampling. In 2019, they finally signed over their share of the publishing of The Verve’s Bitter Sweet Symphony back to Richard Ashcroft, after he had lost 22 years’ worth of royalties because of the sample of an orchestral version of The Last Time on the track.
It seems that the belated release of Satisfaction Skank was prompted by the Stones camp this time. They even gave Cook the master tapes of the song, so he could create a higher-quality version of the original mix.
In a statement, Cook sounded made up that the track will finally get a proper release: “Over countless years I have always dreamed of an official release for this mash-up. It has been a favourite in my DJ sets for over a quarter of a century, I can confirm it is thoroughly road tested and fit for purpose….”
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.