The Rolling Stones bless Fatboy Slim’s satisfaction sample after 25 years | Fatboy Slim

A classic bootleg recording by Fatboy Slim that tests the Rolling Stones’ approval (I Can’t Get No) has finally been released, with the band giving it their blessing after 25 years.

Satisfaction Skank was a familiar track in dancefloors at the turn of the century, with Fatboy Slim merging his 1999 hit The Rockafeller Skank with the Stones’ 1965 classic, throwing in Keith Richards’ iconic guitar take on the “big beat” sound of the late ’90s.

The track was shared frequently on Napster and other file-sharing services, where bootleggers also pressed it onto vinyl for use in nightclubs. But the track was never officially released, after numerous attempts at a sample were rejected.

Fatboy Slim, also known as Norman Cook, told the BBC: “I got a phone call from Mick Jagger and he said he heard the song and he liked the mix.” “But his management was like, ‘No, it’s not even negotiable.’ We had a very consistent ‘no’ for 20 years. I think we asked it four times, and I wouldn’t have dared ask them again.”

But the Stones eventually relented, and allowed Cook to build the track anew from the original parts of Satisfaction: the track’s stems were delivered to him in an armored truck. It will be released with a music video directed by Tom Force of goth band The Horrors, who used artificial intelligence to enhance archival images of the Stones.

The Stones’ decision to approve the sample echoes how the band in 2019 relinquished its rights to Verve’s hit song Bitter Sweet Symphony.

The song used four seconds of the orchestral version of the Stones’ The Last Time for the central string motif, the use of which the Stones’ publishing company opposed, and after an out-of-court settlement, royalties from the song passed to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards as part of a joint songwriting credit.

But after what Ashcroft described as a “kind and generous gesture from Mick and Keith”, he was granted all future royalties to the song.

The Rolling Stones have kept a relatively low profile after releasing their comeback album Hackney Diamonds in 2023 and touring in 2024, although guitarist Ronnie Wood said in May that the band was still planning another album.

Cook, 62, is still very active, having just hosted the All Back to Minehead weekend festival featuring acts including actor Simon Pegg, and is planning three big outdoor concerts on Brighton Beach in July 2026. He recently published a book called It’s Not Over Till Fatboy Sings.