Diabolical

Fatboy Slim: #20WhyTryHarder

It’s hard to believe that 20 years have passed since Fatboy Slim’s iconic record You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby, hit the shelves. With four big hit singles, and going triple-platinum in the UK in just one year, the album guaranteed Norman Cook a place in the music hall of fame.

The album cover in itself became iconic, making a star of the rather large teenager on the front and his t-shirt, which brandished the slogan “I’m #1 so why try harder”. At the time of release there was even a search to find the man in question, but despite a series of enquiries he was sadly never identified.

To celebrate the special 20-year anniversary reissue of the album, delivered complete with pizza box, we teamed up with BMG to renew the hunt for the unknown star of the record. On the day of Fatboy’s huge gig at Ally Pally in February, a series of cryptic “missing” posters popped up around the venue with the tear off #20WhyTryHarder. A special cut-out standee also made its way around London, journeying from Soho to Brick Lane, onwards to Camden, and finally finding its place at Ally Pally for the fans to enjoy and get snapped ahead of the gig.

Those that stumbled across the posters or standee were encouraged to upload pictures to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram to be in with a chance to win a limited edition Fatboy Slim Box Set – with often hilarious results. Even Norman Cook himself added to the hunt, posting a “missing” poster on his Instagram account. The picture posed the question #HaveYouSeenFatboy? and received over 5k likes ahead of his north London show.

To further add to the hunt on the day of the album reissue, the teenage Fatboy mysteriously popped up in locations around London and Brighton. If fans were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of him, they were encouraged to tweet Norman with #20WhyTryHarder for an opportunity to win a special prize. The competition garnered over 15k likes on Fatboy Slim’s Instagram in just one day.