In a new interview, Fatboy Slim said he regrets crossing paths with David Bowie after the icon seemed “unimpressed” by the DJ when they met.
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Per Radio X, Fatboy Slim (real name: Norman Quentin Cook) was asked whether he thinks people should meet their heroes. To which, he replied, “Umm…most of them.”
He was then pushed to name anyone he wished he had never met. “It’s David Bowie,” he said. The “Praise You” DJ went on to tell the story of how he met the Thin White Duke at a private show in London. The DJ, who was becoming a big name at the time, later attended the after-party.
“I’d had a few drinks, by the way,” he recalled. He said he then reached out toward Bowie and asked him for a cigarette as a fellow “Bromley boy.”
According to Fatboy Slim, Bowie handed him a cigarette and then looked at him blankly. When Cook said, “I’m Fatboy Slim, by the way,” Bowie reportedly responded by saying, “Yeah, I know,” before turning his attention elsewhere.
“I was just deflated,” Cook said. He reassured Radio X that the singer was “perfectly civil” but just didn’t seem thrilled to meet him.
“Most of the people who you love are lovely really and the bigger they are the lovelier they tend to be,” he said. “They don’t need to prove their ego or that they’re cleverer than you.
“The big ones are just really nice people,” he added.
The DJ has garnered a better relationship with another David – David Byrne. The pair are set to bring their “immersive disco pop musical” to Broadway. The show follows the life of former Philippines first lady, Imelda Marcos, and is titled Here Lies Love.
The show will debut in New York City on Broadway on July 20. Previews of the musical begin on June 17.
(Photo by Martyn Goodacre/Getty Images)
