'The Prodigy' (or just 'Prodigy')
[1] are an
English band. Their music consists of various styles ranging from
rave,
hardcore techno and
industrial in the early 1990s to
alternative rock and
bigbeat with
punk vocal elements in later times. The current band members include
Liam Howlett (composer/keyboards),
Keith Flint (dancer/vocalist) and
Maxim (MC/vocalist).
Leeroy Thornhill (dancer/very occasional live keyboards) was a member of the band from 1990 to 2000, as well was a female dancer/vocalist called
Sharky who left the band during their early period. The Prodigy first emerged on the underground rave scene in the early 1990s, and have since then achieved immense popularity and worldwide renown. Some of their most popular songs include "
Charly", "
Out of Space", "
Smack My Bitch Up", "
Voodoo People", "
No Good (Start the Dance)", "
Breathe" and "
Firestarter".
The name changed from "The Prodigy" to "Prodigy" between ''
Music for the Jilted Generation'' and ''
The Fat of the Land'' in 1996 and back again with the release of ''
Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned'' in 2004. This was only done to fit the changing logos, according to Howlett.
History
Beginnings
The Prodigy began with an initial 10-track demo by
Liam Howlett, put together on a Roland W-30 sequencer keyboard in
Essex,
England.
XL Recordings picked up the demo and an initial 12" pressing of ''
What Evil Lurks'' was released in February 1991. There are some few thousand bootlegs of this release; it should have "the exchange" carved in the vinyl around the center of the single. The Prodigy's name was a moniker Liam had chosen as a tribute to his first
analogue synthesiser, the
Moog Prodigy.
The Prodigy's first public performance (with Howlett augmented by dancers
Keith Flint and
Leeroy Thornhill) was at the Four Aces in
Dalston,
London. ''Charly'' released six months later, became a huge hit in the rave scene at the time, catapulting the band into the wider public consciousness for the first time. The
Kaos Theory compilation of contemporary hardcore tracks also contained the Prodigy Track "G Force (Energy Flow)":
The music charts were filled with unsophisticated "hardcore" rave tracks to which
speed and ecstasy-filled clubbers had danced all night to but which did not appeal to critics in "the music press" such as Urban Hype's ''Trip to Trumpton'', and Smart E's (a reference to
Ectasy) ''Sesame's Treet'', instigating death-by-publicity to the underground "hardcore rave" scene. ''Charly'' (a contemporary reference to
cocaine), with its memorable sample of the "
Charley Says" children's
Public information films and The Prodigy were thus identified as "kiddie rave".
''Charly'' was soon followed by the band's first full length album, ''
Experience'', a landmark release in the history of British rave music. After ''Experience'' (album track "Death of the Prodigy Dancers" featured Ragga MC band member
Maxim Reality) and the run of
singles that accompanied it, the Prodigy moved to distance themselves from the "kiddie rave" reputation that now dogged them. The rave scene was beginning to move on from its hardcore phase, with the
Criminal Justice Act's "anti-rave" legislation on the horizon. In 1993, Howlett released an anonymous
white label, bearing only the title ''Earthbound I''. Its hypnotic, hard-edged sound won wide underground approval. Many former critics of the band were astounded when Howlett finally acknowledged responsibility for the record. It was officially released as "One Love" later that year, and went on to chart at #8 in the UK.
In 1994, the Prodigy's second album, ''Music for the Jilted Generation'', displayed a wider spectrum of musical style. Heavyweight dancefloor tunes still abounded, but were complemented by more unusual tracks such as the concept piece ''The Narcotic Suite'', and rock-oriented inclinations ("Their Law", featuring
Pop Will Eat Itself). The album was nominated for a
Mercury Music Prize. In the sleevenotes, however, Howlett reaffirmed his dedication to the rave music scene.
The international success of ''Music for the Jilted Generation'' meant that touring beyond the UK was now a viable prospect. The band augmented their line-up with guitarist
Jim Davies (who, later, joined the group
Pitchshifter) in 1995 for tracks such as ''Their Law'', ''Break And Enter 95'', and various live-only interludes and versions. The 1996 release of ''Firestarter'', featuring vocals for the first time courtesy of a new-look Keith Flint, helped the band break into the
U.S. and other overseas markets, and reached number one in the UK. In this year the Prodigy also headlined the prestigious
Lollapalooza festival. The Prodigy have toured all over the world, including
Beirut and
Moscow's
Red Square.
The third Prodigy album, ''
The Fat of the Land'', was released in 1997. Like its predecessors, the album represented a new milestone in the development of both the band and the wider mainstream dance scene. Featuring simplified melodies, sparser sampling, and more sneering, punk-like vocals (supplied by a shockingly madeover Flint), the album nevertheless retained the bone-jarring breaks and buzzsaw synth so idiomatic of the band. The album cemented the band's position as one of the most internationally successful acts in the hard dance genre, entering the British and American charts at number one. The best selling single, ''Breathe'' (1996), was taken from this album, as was ''Firestarter'', the group's first UK number one.
The Prodigy have been nominated twice for the
Mercury Music Prize, in 1994 with
Music for the Jilted Generation, and again in 1997 with
The Fat of the Land, however they failed to win both times.
"Smack My Bitch Up" controversy (USA)
Prodigy were getting a lot of airplay on rock stations with their track, "Smack My Bitch Up," and were getting even more negative backlash for the song.
Time-Warner, Prodigy's parent company, was feeling the heat from the
National Organization for Women (NOW) over the track. Although the song's lyrics are few but repetitive (in their entirety, the lyrics are "Change my pitch up, smack my bitch up"), NOW stated that the lyrics are a "...dangerous and offensive message advocating violence against women." Howlett responded to the attacks by claiming that the song's lyrics are being misinterpreted: (the song means) "...doing anything intensely, like being on stage – going for extreme manic energy." The band did not write the lyric, but rather sampled it from the classic
Ultramagnetic MCs' track "Give The Drummer Some" which also appears on the ''
Dirtchamber Sessions'' (they had also sampled another Ultramagnetic MCs song "Critical Beatdown" on their earlier "Out of Space" single).
[3] Several radio stations defended the song, yet only played the track at night. The
music video (directed by
Jonas Ã…kerlund) featured a first-person point of view of someone going clubbing, indulging in large amounts of
drugs and
alcohol, getting into fist fights with men,
abusing women and picking up a
prostitute. At the end of the video the camera pans over to a mirror, revealing the subject to be a woman.
MTV only aired the video between 1 and 5 a.m. in order for mature viewers to see the "groundbreaking" images. The director got the inspiration for contents of the video after a night of drinking and partying in
Copenhagen.
During a performance at the
Reading Festival (August 29th, 1998) The Prodigy and the
Beastie Boys had an onstage disagreement over the track - with the Beastie Boys requesting the song should be pulled from their set as it could be considered offensive to those who had suffered domestic abuse.
[4] Choosing to ignore the Beastie Boys plea, Maxim introduced "Smack My Bitch Up" with the declaration "They didn’t want us to play this fucking tune. But the way things go, I do what the fuck I want". The incident has since become part of festival folklore, and was voted one of the greatest ever live moments by the now defunct
Select Magazine.
Wal-mart and
Kmart later announced they would pull ''The Fat of the Land'' off their shelves. Even though the
LP had resided on their store shelves for over 20 weeks, the two stores found the marketing campaign for the new single release offensive.
In mid-2002, the complete, unedited video was aired on
MTV2 as part of a special countdown showing the most controversial videos ever to air on MTV. This countdown was only shown late at night because of the graphic imagery of "Smack My Bitch Up" and several other videos on the countdown. This video in particular was deemed the "Most Controversial Video" by MTV and showed at the #1 spot on the countdown.
Later works
1999 saw the release of The Prodigy's ''
Dirtchamber Sessions Volume 1'', a DJ mix album by Howlett, produced as an official record of a successful guest appearance on the British
Radio 1.
In 2002, after a break from touring and recording, the single "Baby's Got a Temper" was released to critical disappointment. The song was written by Keith Flint's sideband,
Flint, and also featured Jim Davies. Howlett produced it. Once again, the band courted controversy by including references to the so-called "
date rape" drug
Rohypnol in the song
lyrics, although it is unclear whether or not the band "glorifies" or presents the drug in a negative light. In the same year, however,
''Q'' magazine named The Prodigy as one of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die".
The Prodigy's fourth studio album, ''
Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned'' was released on
23 August 2004 (
14 September 2004 in the USA.) A precursory and experimental single, "Memphis Bells", was released in very limited numbers, followed by the traditional release of the single "Girls". The U.S. version of the studio album contained a bonus track; a remix of "Girls" entitled, "More Girls".
5,000 digital copies of "Memphis Bells" were sold over the
Internet. Each copy was a combination of customer-chosen instrumental, rhythmic, and melodic options, of which 39,600 (of 660,000 total) choices were available. Five mixes were sold in three file formats,
WAV, two audio mixes in
MP3, and a 5.1
DTS surround sound mix and all were free of
Digital rights management. The experiment was a success, with the 5,000 copies being sold in just over 36 hours in spite of server problems from the demand.
In 2005, they released a compilation, '', which spawned a
single containing new remixes of the songs "Out of Space" (the "Audio Bullys Remix") and "Voodoo People" (the "
Pendulum Remix"). The latter was also followed by a music video which featured on the DVD release of the compilation. Sharky, the group's only female member, is shown running and winning the race depicted in the video.
Their work has been featured in several
video games,
TV shows and
movies. For instance, the video game '' featured the song "You'll Be Under My Wheels", which was also used in an advert for the
BMW 1 Series as well as the closing credits for the film ''. As from the album ''The Fat of the Land'', songs like "Firestarter" appeared in its instrumental version in the videogame ''
Wipeout 2097'', while "Mindfields" appeared in the film ''
The Matrix'', and the track "Funky Shit" in the closing scene and end credits of ''
Event Horizon''. The title "Voodoo People" and "One Love" appears in the soundtrack of the movie ''
Hackers'' and also in the French movies ''
Wasabi'' and ''
Dobermann''. In 2006, "
Spitfire" from ''
Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned'' appeared in the opening scenes of an episode of ''
Las Vegas'' on the NBC network in the USA. It also appeared in the movie ''
House of Wax''. The song "
Breathe" was also featured in a FLIP skateboard companies video entitled "Sorry" and was used by Rune Glifberg. Interestingly, the film ''Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle'' made extensive use in its soundtrack of the controversial track "Smack My Bitch Up" which was also used on the successful film ''
Scary Movie 2''. The 2007 film ''
Smokin' Aces'' used "First Warning" as the soundtrack to its violent climax.
Development
The Prodigy are a difficult band to classify, because they have developed significantly with time. Each of their albums represents a distinct stage in the band's musical development. From their initial inception as a psychedelic
rave band with scene staples such as "Your Love" and "Out of Space", to the much more mainstream dance of "No Good", to the rock-oriented "Their Law" to punk tracks such as the
L7 cover "Fuel My Fire" in more recent years, the Prodigy continue to innovate and surprise. The Prodigy have had the ability over the years to appeal to widely varying cross-sections of music fans; from the purist dance festival Creamfields, to the more general appeal of T In The Park, to the heavy metal oriented
Download Festival.
Because of their broad appeal to fans across several genres, The Prodigy have been described as "A rock band that plays dance music,"
2005–2007 recording sessions
During the
Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned tour the band debuted two new songs, "Warning" and "Dead Ken Beats". "Warning" features
Keith Flint on vocals and consists of heavy basslines and guitar riffs, whilst Dead Ken Beat contains a sample of the
Dead Kennedys song "
California Uber Alles" that features prominently throughout, and has
Maxim doing vocal duties.
Both these tracks have undergone significant development during the recent tour, and on at least one occasion
Liam Howlett has confirmed that Dead Ken Beats would feature on the next Prodigy record,
:"Dead ken beats will definitely be on that record, we were talking about it tonight. Dead ken is a track we really like, we like the groove and the beat and it’s really fucking tough. its still developing. It’s a different groove; it’s really kind of fresh sounding. It’s a track I'm really going to have to go and find the right vocal for, which is one of the things I am doing right now."
A track that mixed "Spitfire (Nitebreed Remix)" with "Wake Up Call" has been played frequently live by The Prodigy, and was released in January 2006 as "Wake The Fuck Up" on Liam's ''
Back To Mine'' compilation.
Another new track was played during the '
Their Law' tour, which was printed on a setlist as being called "Heatwave". It is thought that it has been renamed "Heatwave Hurricane", due to Liam listing it as this among his current favourite songs for a recent interview. It has been described as "something like a cross between Hotride (live version) & the Firestarter remix". A short clip can be seen on
YouTube, revealing that the song includes a sample of "I'm Five Years Ahead Of My Time" by The Third Bardo, a song which is also featured on Liam's ''
Back To Mine'' compilation. The new album was set to be released in summer 2007, however in a recent interview Liam Howlett quoted "The album will be first quarter of next year, with 1 single before. It is going well and we are loving it. There are a lot of ideas, maybe 25 ,we are now starting to finish the best tunes and getting vocals written". It will be released on their own
Ragged Flag record label in association with
Cooking Vinyl Records.
Recently, The Prodigy released a new track "First Warning", which is available on ''
Smokin' Aces'' soundtrack.
In September there will be an new track tentatively titled "Shadow" on the
Xbox 360 videogame ''
Project Gotham Racing 4''. This is their first recording under the new label. This track has also appeared in a slightly different form as "Shadow of the Devil" played over the end credits to the British horror movie ''
Reverb''. A third possible variation of the track titled "The Shadow" is included on the soundtrack to the Japanese anime ''
Vexille'' released on the 8th of August.
The Castbreeder
In 1998 an album being passed off as a Prodigy release began circulating, entitled ''
The Castbreeder''. However, it was not an official Prodigy album, nor did it have anything to do with The Prodigy or their record label XL Recordings. Many believed it to be a real release due to the high quality and craftmanship, but it is actually nothing more than a bootlegged compilation of various live and studio recorded tracks from the fellow big beat artists
Junkie XL and
Lunatic Calm. In fact, the music on the album is similar enough in style to The Prodigy's to have fooled quite a few people, however there were a few dead giveaways that the album was fake. The "thanks to" section was taken directly from the cover of ''Music for the Jilted Generation'', and the wrong font for the XL Recordings clearly proved it to be a fake.
Members
Current members
★
Liam Howlett –
keyboards,
programming (1990 - )
★
Keith Flint – Dancer, Vocalist (1990 - )
★
Maxim – MC, Vocalist (1990 - )
Ex-members
★
Leeroy Thornhill –
Dancer, very occasional live
keyboards (1990 - 2000)
★
Sharky – Vocalist, dancer (1990)
Live members
★ 'The Rev' - Live guitarist from
Towers of London (May 2007 - present)
★ 'Brian Fairbairn - Live drummer (May 2007 - present)
Former live members
★ Snell -
Drummer, was playing on drums on 2 of The Prodigy concerts in 2007 (July 2007)
★ Kieron Pepper –
Drummer and occasional
guitarist, he is playing guitar with
Victory Pill (December 1997 - May 2007)
★
Rob Holliday – Guitarist, now he is bass player for
Marilyn Manson (2005 - May 2007)
★
Gizz Butt – Live Guitarist
★
Jim Davies – Live and studio guitarist, he has his own band
Pitchshifter &
Victory Pill (1995 - 1996, 2002 - 2004)
★
Alli Maclnnes – Live Guitarist (four gigs in summer 2001)
Discography
The Prodigy have sold more than 16,000,000 records worldwide. The British Phonographic Industry sales: 2,200,000+ albums, 1,400,000+ singles.
Main articles: The Prodigy discography
Notes and references
1. ''Howlett L'', ''Nekozine'' online zine (November 2005), name's changes mentioned in an interview with Liam Howlett by Andrea Schnepf, last accessed 25 May 2005 (link).
2. ''James M'', ''Prodigy'' book (2002), pg. 44, Sanctuary Publishing, mentions that Liam chose the name to attribute his Moog synth.
3. Liner notes from ''Out Of Space'' single and ''Experience'' album.
4. http://www.brainkiller.it/prodigy/readingincident.html
External links
★
The Prodigy - Official website.
★
TheProdigy.nl - Frequently updated fansite.
★
Nekozine - Features interviews, news, tour dates, concert reviews, information, some visuals, and a forum.
★
Juge's Prodigy Site - Contains most of the stuff you would ever like to know about the band.
★
Brainkiller - The site features news, downloads, concert reviews, pictures, discography and a forum.
★
- Detailed discography website
★
The Prodigy's profile at
MySpace
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