Fatboy Slim is Unimpressed by Simon Cowell’s Ultimate DJ Competition!

Very few artists have witnessed the tossing and turning of the EDM wheel, the way Norman Cook has. And when the international dance music superstar, who has better known as Fatboy Slim, has something to say, his thoughts and expressions are heard loud and clear across the Dance Music community. TV’s favorite judge Simon Cowell has promised a brand new DJ competition designed to be a televised reality show called ‘Ultimate DJ‘, partnering his own Syco Entertainment with SFX, and when they approached Fatboy Slim for the offer to judge the reality show, they simply hit a wall as he flat out dismissed the offer!

Simon Cowell was talking about doing a show and … he kind of started approaching us, and we were like, ‘Fuck off. No – that’s a terrible idea!’ That’s the good thing about dance music; it grows organically through drunk people late at night coming up with stupid ideas. It’s not something that can be scripted or transported into a TV studio.

 

Fatboy Slim feels that the competition does not inherit the true nature of DJing, who’s roots lie invariably in the club. He insists that DJing cannot be compared to other performance arts such as singing and dancing, such as to be hosted by judges on a panel, its an art form that grows organically in a club. He even shed some light on why he wouldn’t appear on TV shows to perform as well.

I get offered loads of TV shows and they’re like, ‘Can you perform for five minutes?’ But DJing takes two hours and an audience. It’s not like you can go out there and sing your latest song. Because of that, it will always remain slightly outside the mainstream. At the end of the day, it’s about taking a big bunch of high people and trying to get them higher, which you can’t do on TV.

In spirit, a DJs true test is serving an audience who come to unwind, make friends and/or listen to some good music. To do justice to their expectations of playing a set that’s a symphonic journey, the true art of DJing thrives on being organic and with the presence of an audience around. So while the TV show may bring forth a pool of talent and some rich exchange of cross culture musical styles – the club & the dancefloor will always be the place where the true DJ lives and grows.