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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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