''Better Living Through Chemistry'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English electronic music producer

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known by his stage name Fatboy Slim, is an English musician, DJ, and record producer who helped to popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. In the 1980s, Cook was the bassist f ...

. It was released on 23 September 1996 in the United Kingdom by Skint Records and in the United States by

Astralwerks Astralwerks is an American record label primarily focused on electronic music owned by Universal Music Group. Its material is distributed via Capitol Music Group in the United States. The label was founded in 1993 and, in its early years, featur ...

. It was Fatboy Slim's first work to chart outside of the UK, with the single "

Going Out of My Head "Going Out of My Head" is a song by British big beat musician Fatboy Slim. It was released as a double A-side single with "Michael Jackson", released as the third and final single from his debut studio album ''Better Living Through Chemistry'' ...

" notably charting in the US, and was certified gold by the BPI.

Background

Skint Records founder

Damian Harris Damian David Harris (born 2 August 1958) is a British film director and screenwriter. He is the eldest son of the actor Richard Harris and socialite Elizabeth Rees-Williams. Career In 1968, Harris debuted on screen playing Miles in the film ' ...

has described the album as having been "more of a compilation than an album", as some of the tracks had been recorded some time before its release, due to Norman Cook's other musical projects. Three songs from the album were previously released in Skint's first volume of their ''Brassic Beats''

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

series, which is advertised in the album's booklet. The album's cover features an image of a 3.5-inch

floppy disk A floppy disk or floppy diskette (casually referred to as a floppy, or a diskette) is an obsolescent type of disk storage composed of a thin and flexible disk of a magnetic storage medium in a square or nearly square plastic enclosure lined w ...

, paying homage to the cover of New Order's " Blue Monday" single, which featured a 5.25-inch disk. The album's title is a variation of a

DuPont DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in ...

advertising slogan, " Better Things for Better Living...Through Chemistry".

Critical reception

The album received generally positive reviews from critics. A 1997 review from '' Rolling Stone'' claimed the album to be "of the most fun, shamelessly genre-hopping dance albums of the year". AllMusic rated it four stars out of five, recommending the album to "those who can't get enough of the popular technoid-sampled alternative dance style of the late '90s".

Legacy

The album was included in the book ''

1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die ''1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die'' is a musical reference book first published in 2005 by Universe Publishing. Part of the ''1001 Before You Die'' series, it compiles writings and information on albums chosen by a panel of music critics ...

''.

In popular culture

The song "Give the Po' Man a Break" is featured in the 2000 film '' Traffic''. The song "The Weekend Starts Here" is featured in the first episode of the British sitcom '' Spaced''.

Track listing

Charts

Certifications

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1996 debut albums Fatboy Slim albums Astralwerks albums Skint Records albums