Current obsession: Beats International - Dub Be Good To Me

I recently came across a TikTok about the 1990 Beats International song Dub Be Good To Me. Although I was familiar with the track, I’d never really listened closely.

It sounds cavernous, crisp and uncluttered. And of course, it is an undeniable bop, moving along at a casual pace. The song leans hard on a sample of the bassline from the Clash’s Guns of Brixton and, in an inspired pairing, sets it off against a sample of Ennio Morricone’s harmonica theme from Once Upon A Time In The West.

Beats International was a collective started by Norman Cook (who would later become better known as Fatboy Slim) after departing his previous group the Housemartins. Members of the Housemartins would go on to form The Beautiful South. This last bit is wonderfully strange to me. I never would have guessed that Fatboy Slim and The Beautiful South had a shared origin.

My primary recollection of The Beautiful South is their very under-seasoned single Rotterdam which was unavoidable on VH1 for so many years in the 90s.