I would assert that the two biggest forces in making electronic dance music accessible to mainstream culture were the 30-second Mitsubishi car commercials and the career of Fatboy Slim (some apologies to the bald vegan). To this day as I DJ, people still come up and cite those two phenomenons as motivating them into giving "techno" a serious look. Well, as far as I know the Japanese company hasn't released a greatest hits, but the Englishman has.
In short, unless the Taliban controlled your culture during the 1990s, you should be well familiar with at least half the cuts. Everything from the "funk soul brother song" ("The Rockafeller Skank") to "the one with Christopher Walken dancing in the video" ("Weapon of Choice") to mixes of other people's hits you may've not known Mr. Cook had a hand in (Cornershop's "Brimful of Asha" and Groove Armada's "I see you baby") are all here. And if you're a rabid fan, you should have almost all of these tracks, as that there's not much in the way of "unreleased" or "bonus" cuts.
The biggest significance of Why Try Harder is important, in that when listening to this collection, its presentation of an ace artist may bum a few out wishing there was another force of the slim fat fella's caliber these days, or that even that said artist doesn't live up to that example as much as he did a few years ago. But if it helps remind a few musicians the potential of dance music, then this CD should be welcomed and celebrated!
