The Prodigy navigated the high-wire, balancing artistic merit and mainstream visibility with more flair than any
electronica act of the 1990s. Ably defeating the image-unconscious attitude of most
electronic artists in favor of a focus on nominal frontman Keith Flint, the group crossed over to the mainstream of
pop music with an incendiary live experience that approximated the original atmosphere of the British
rave scene even while leaning uncomfortably close to arena-rock showmanship and
punk theatrics. True, Flint's 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 breakbeat
techno with king-sized hooks and unmissable samples.
Despite
electronic music's diversity and quick progression during the 1990s -- from
rave/hardcore to
ambient/
downtempo and back again, thanks to the breakbeat/drum'n'bass movement -- Howlett modified
the Prodigy's sound only sparingly; swapping the rave-whistle effects and
ragga samples for metal chords and chanted vocals proved the only major difference in the band's 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 group's 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
rap act Cut to Kill before moving on to
acid house later in the decade. The fledgling hardcore breakbeat 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
rave scene in 1990. After Howlett met up with Keith Flint and Leeroy Thornhill (both Essex natives as well) in the growing British
rave scene, the trio formed
the Prodigy later that year. Howlett's 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 children's 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 wasn't long before a copycat craze saw the launch of
rave 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
rave 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
ragga/
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 group's 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 single's hook was a sped-up diva-vocal tag (an early
rave staple), the following album
Music for the Jilted Generation provided a transition for the group, from piano pieces and
rave-signal tracks to more guitar-integrated singles like "Voodoo People." The album also continued
Prodigy's allegiance to breakbeat drum'n'bass; 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/
rave circuit to more traditional
rock venues, and the Glastonbury show set in stone the fact that they were no longer just a dance group. Flint's 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 Prodigy's 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 Flint's catcall vocal antics -- his first on record -- made it a quick worldwide hit and though "Firestarter" wasn't a major success in the U.S., its high-profile spot in MTV's 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 1999's The Dirtchamber Sessions, a mix album helmed by Howlett.
The "Baby's 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 weren't to be found on 2004's
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. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide
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