The Prodigy
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
ave scene even while leaning uncomfortably close to arena-rock showmanship and punk theatrics. True, Flints spiky hairstyle and numerous piercings often made for better advertising, but it was producer Liam Howlett whose studio wizardry launched the Prodigy to the top of the charts, spinning a web of hard-hitting reakbeat echno with king-sized hooks and unmissable samples. Despite electronic musics diversity and quick progression during the 1990s -- from
ave/hardcore to ambient/downtempo and back again, thanks to the reakbeat/drumnbass movement -- Howlett modified the Prodigys sound only sparingly; swapping the rave-whistle effects and
agga samples for metal chords and chanted vocals proved the only major difference in the bands evolution from their debut to their worldwide breakthrough with their third album The Fat of the Land. Even before the band took its place as the premiere dance act for the alternative masses, the Prodigy had proved a consistent entry in the British charts, with over a dozen consecutive singles in the Top 20.
Howlett, the prodigy behind the groups name, was trained on the piano while growing up in Braintree, Essex. He began listening to hip-hop in the mid-80s and later DJed with the British
ap act Cut to Kill before moving on to acid house later in the decade. The fledgling hardcore reakbeat sound was perfect for an old hip-hop fan fluent in up-tempo dance music, and Howlett began producing tracks in his bedroom studio during 1988. His first release, the EP What Evil Lurks, became a major mover on the fledgling
ave scene in 1990. After Howlett met up with Keith Flint and Leeroy Thornhill (both Essex natives as well) in the growing British
ave scene, the trio formed the Prodigy later that year. Howletts recordings gained the trio a contract with XL Records, which re-released What Evil Lurks in February 1991.
Six months later, Howlett issued his second single Charly, built around a sample from a childrens public-service announcement. It hit number one on the British dance charts, then crossed over to the pop charts, stalling only at number three. (It wasnt long before a copycat craze saw the launch of
ave takeoffs on Speed Racer, The Magic Roundabout and Sesame Street) Two additional Prodigy singles, Everybody in the Place and Fire/Jericho, charted in the U.K. during late 1991 and early 1992.
The Prodigy showed they were no one-anthem wonders in late 1992, with the release of The Prodigy Experience, one of the first LPs by a
ave act. Mixing chunky breakbeats with vocal samples from dub legend Lee Scratch Perry and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, it hit the Top Ten and easily went gold. During 1993, Howlett added a
agga/hip-hop MC named Maxim Reality (Keeti Palmer) and occupied himself with remix work for Front 242, Jesus Jones and Art of Noise. He also released the white-label single Earthbound to fool image-conscious DJs who had written off the Prodigy as hopelessly commercial. Late 1993 brought the commercial release of Earthbound (as the groups seventh consecutive Top 20 singles entry, One Love).
After several months of working on tracks, Howlett issued the next Prodigy single, No Good (Start the Dance). Despite the fact that the singles hook was a sped-up diva-vocal tag (an early
ave staple), the following album Music for the Jilted Generation provided a transition for the group, from piano pieces and
ave-signal tracks to more guitar-integrated singles like Voodoo People. The album also continued Prodigys allegiance to reakbeat drumnbass; though the style had only recently become commercially viable (after a long gestation period in the dance underground), Howlett had been incorporating it from the beginning of his career. Music for the Jilted Generation entered the British charts at number one and went gold in its first week of release. The album was also nominated for a Mercury Music Prize, as one of the best albums of the year.
The Prodigy spent much of 1994 and 1995 touring around the world, and made a splashy appearance at the 1995 Glastonbury Festival, proving that electronica could make it in a live venue. The group had already made a transition from the club/
ave circuit to more traditional rock venues, and the Glastonbury show set in stone the fact that they were no longer just a dance group. Flints newly emerged persona -- the consummate in-your-face punk showman and master of ceremonies for the digital-age crowd -- provided a point of reference for rock critics uncomfortable covering Howlett (whom they saw as a glorified keyboard player).
The Prodigys incessant road schedule left little time to record, but Howlett managed to bring out the next new Prodigy single in March 1996. Firestarter entered the British charts at number one, though the video was almost banned due to complaints about arson fixation; many Top of the Pops viewers also complained that Keith Flint had scared their children. An unmissable guitar hook and Flints catcall vocal antics -- his first on record -- made it a quick worldwide hit and though Firestarter wasnt a major success in the U.S., its high-profile spot in MTVs Buzz Bin introduced the Prodigy to many Americans and helped fuel the major-label push for electronica during the following year (though the Prodigy did reject collaborative offers from David Bowie, U2 and Madonna). In the middle of the electronica buzz, the Prodigy dropped their third album, The Fat of the Land. Despite rather obvious attempts to court mainstream rock fans (including several guest-vocalist spots and an L7 cover), the LP entered both British and American charts at number one, shifting several million units worldwide. The next Prodigy full-length was 1999s The Dirtchamber Sessions, a mix album helmed by Howlett.
The Babys Got a Temper single -- one Howlett would later disown -- appeared in 2002 and soon after Leeroy Thornhill left the band. Maxim and Keith Flint were still in the band but they werent to be found on 2004s Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. Instead the album featured guest spots from Oasis Liam Gallagher, Kool Keith, Twista, and actress Juliette Lewis. Flint and Maxim did join Howlett for a worldwide tour to support the album that launched in October 2004. A year later Their Law: Singles compiled the big hits.
