Starprofile - The Prodigy

The Prodigy are easily the most influential and internationally successful crossover dance act ever, and one of my favourite bands, or should that be artists (Liam Howlett).
Okay, for beginners, The Prodigy are;

Liam Howlett; Creator of all musical output, writer and/or co-writer of all tracks, samples, beats and all-round visionary genius. Or; the skinny guy in shades with short, spiked blond hair nowadays, behind all the equipment.
...live venues, excites the crowd, and performs vocals on some tracks, e.g. 'Breathe' and 'Poison'. Or; Bald, intimidating black guy with tiger-eye contact lenses. Otherwise known as 'Keeti'.

Keith Flint; Originally just a dancer, Keith is the most visually outrageous and therefore visible member, and performs vocals on some tracks, e.g. 'Firestarter' and 'Baby's got a temper'. Or; Short, demented attention-seeker, with outlandish hair ... more

The Prodigy are easily the most influential and internationally successful crossover dance act ever, and one of my favourite bands, or should that be artists (Liam Howlett).
Okay, for beginners, The Prodigy are;

Liam Howlett; Creator of all musical output, writer and/or co-writer of all tracks, samples, beats and all-round visionary genius. Or; the skinny guy in shades with short, spiked blond hair nowadays, behind all the equipment.

MC Maxim Reality; Master of Ceremonies at live venues, excites the crowd, and performs vocals on some tracks, e.g. 'Breathe' and 'Poison'. Or; Bald, intimidating black guy with tiger-eye contact lenses. Otherwise known as 'Keeti'.

Keith Flint; Originally just a dancer, Keith is the most visually outrageous and therefore visible member, and performs vocals on some tracks, e.g. 'Firestarter' and 'Baby's got a temper'. Or; Short, demented attention-seeker, with outlandish hair and piercings with a sneering 'Johnny Rotten' wannabe voice.

Leeroy Thornhill; Gangly dancer with seemingly elastic legs and very cool demeanour. Or; Very tall black guy with goatee and shades, who would dance up a storm and/or help out with instruments.

But where did it all start? Well, The Prodigy all hail from deepest, darkest Essex. Liam Howlett went through phases, but at the time of the rise of the rave movement, Liam was heavily into hip-hop. He worked with a hip-hop act, Cut to Kill, but it didn't work out, and by chance, got more into the rave scene and dance rhythms. He eventually recorded a mix tape, and two local dancers, the enigmatic Leeroy Thornhill, and the loveable goof Keith Flint, were highly impressed, and asked to become part of his band.

Liam had decided on 'The Prodigy' after his favourite Moog Prodigy Keyboard, but it could just as easily have been applied to his own situation of a child prodigy. Soon, the guys ran into Maxim, and they got together officially, making a big mark on the flourishing British rave scene in 1991, with their debut release, the 'What Evil Lurks' EP. The Prodigy had signed up with a new underground dance label, XL, having been rejected elsewhere.
The lead track 'What Evil Lurks', was a calculating piece of hard dance, fusing techno and breakbeat, with a wacky house piano thrown in, and memorable vocal samples. It was a fine taste of things to come.

The next step was the big break, the first peep of the mainstream. Their second release was club hit 'Charly', a deviously cynical piece of satire, sampling the vocal line from a government safety advert; "Charly says; always tell your mummy when you go off somewhere". Charly was an animated cat, but the spelling of it is unclear; 'Charly' is also obviously a slang term for cocaine. Make what you will of that, but it was visionary thinking, wry and witty, and very danceable. Unfortunately, the satire was lost on some, who pathetically tried to cash in with imitations, particularly the ludicrous 'Sesame Street' sample. This is one reason why The Prodigy were accused of killing rave; they took the mickey, other people thought they were serious.

The following releases; 'Everybody in the Place', 'Fire', and the magnificent looniness of 'Out of Space' took the rave scene by storm, and were played everywhere that was anywhere. They all appeared on The Prodigy's debut album; 'The Prodigy Experience', a masterful collection of wacky, funky and just fun hard-dance tracks that would light up any club at the time. Idiots who say that The Prodigy appeal too much to the mainstream might like to note that the band refused to appear on 'Top of the Pops' when 'Everybody in the Place' hit number 2 at Xmas in 1991.
The mainstream was listening, especially on the release of 'Out of Space', a psychotic swirl of dopey effects and samples built around a famous vocal sample from a reggae dub track.

The ecstasy generation lapped it up, and The Prodigy were kings and destroyers of rave, which was quickly dragged down and sunk by envious and poor imitators. With Maxim whipping up the crowd, Leeroy would blow them away with incredible dance moves, while Keith would just jump around and dance like he was off his head (full of long, blond hair at this time).

A drastic change was needed to take The Prodigy forward in 1993, and following rave's demise, Liam absorbed many influences, and came up with the defining dance album 'Music for the Jilted generation', an eclectic mix of tracks spanning the dance spectrum, spawning the hits; 'Voodoo people', 'One love', 'Poison' (including Maxim on vocals), and 'No good (start the dance)'. 'No good' in particular took their popularity on a stage further, with it's immortal rhythm and helium-esque vocal samples. The wackiness was cut out in favour of more adult themes (i.e. 'The narcotics suite'), and Gizz Butt joined as a temporary member, playing live guitar signatures at gigs for tracks like 'Voodoo people'.

What made this album truly special was that it had enormous mainstream appeal, but maintained it's cutting edge underground credibility throughout. There were even notes and artwork on the ongoing war between rave organisers and the Government inside. The Prodigy could do no wrong, and Liam enlisted outside help to make tracks better, like the collaboration with Pop Will Eat Itself; 'Their Law'. This was a groundbreaking LP, but what could Liam possibly do to increase their popularity further while still maintaining artistic credibility?

The public soon found out in 1996, when the smash hit 'Firestarter' was released. Keith Flint had cut off his hair, shaved it into two halves, and dyed it outlandishly, getting numerous anti-social facial piercings at the same time. This was the persona that Keith now adopted, and he was now a sneering vocalist, who co-wrote lyrics. The Prodigy had gone from comical to threatening, and the kiddies loved it. 'Firestarter' went to number one, as did the menacing follow-up 'Breathe', with a vocal duel going on between Maxim and Keith. The videos highlighted this image change, with intimidating imagery and posing from Keith and Maxim.

Neither of these came close to topping the majesty of the next video for the single; 'Smack my bitch up'. Banned from being showed until the small hours, it contained scenes of a nihilistic character going on a rampage on a night out. The action includes the character; snorting cocaine, brawling, downing copious amounts of alcohol, harassing strippers, vomiting twice, trashing a DJ's decks, stealing a car, drink-driving, and having sex with a stripper. We only find out at the climax (no pun intended!) that the culprit is a fragile-looking lesbian.
The single itself is just brilliant, hard-edged beats and speaker-crunching bass, with a vocal sample from the Ultramagnetic MC's 'Give the drummer some'; "Change my picture, smack my bitch up". Sinister and humourous, it is a delight, and highly original.

The album itself was radically different from 'Music for the Jilted generation'. The Prodigy fused hard-rock with dance on 'The Fat of the Land', and the result is tremendous, a big success in America too. Other highlights included the supreme Beastie Boys sample on 'Funky Shit', a silly but great dance tune, and Kool Keith (of Ultramagnetic MC's) rapping on 'Diesel Power'. Keith Flint provides vocals on four tracks, and a couple are a letdown, unlike previous albums. 'Serial Thrilla' is let down by unmemorable beats, and appalling lyrics from Flint, while the cover of 'Fuel my fire' is only decent for having Saffron from Republica on backing vocals.
An interesting row also erupted on the 'Smack my bitch up' issue, as the Beastie Boys came out publicly to denounce the supposedly misogynistic intent of the song. This was rich coming from a band who were known as hellraisers, and released one or two tongue-in-cheek tracks themselves.
Liam was devestated, and vowed never to sample from or work with them again, feeling that they had disrespected an artist of similar vision and ethos.

Despite those dampeners, The Prodigy were now in the highest bracket of performers, and Liam had made the band as big as they could realistically get. After playing concerts and festivals in a hectic time period, The Prodigy were put on the back-burner. The only other material released in the '90's was 'The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One' under The Prodigy's name, although this was essentially a Liam Howlett pet project, with him making songs completely from famous samples of his favourite artists, including the Chemical Brothers, Beastie Boys (!), the KLF, Ultramagnetic MC's, Primal Scream, Fatboy Slim, the sex pistols, and Barry White!

Soon a short break became a long break, and people were aching for new material in 2001, when Liam claimed a new album was in the pipeline. Many rumours circulated about what the style would be, would it be dance or metal, would Keith Flint be lead singer? Surely The Prodigy couldn't change the world for a fourth time?
2001 came and went, and the public were restless. Then, in summer 2002, five years after 'Smack my bitch up', the last single, The Prodigy resurfaced, without Leeroy Thornhill. The explanation was that Leeroy was not reliable anymore, so he was disposed of. As a threesome, The Prodigy unleashed Liam's new vision upon the world; and found that it was not much different to the material of five years ago.

'Baby's got a temper' was a relative disaster. Trying to stick to the controversial route, the track is basically a rock song about the date-rape drug Rohypnol set to an annoying 'faux-circus' dance beat. Howlett unfortunately embarrasses himself by sampling one of his own tracks, 'Firestarter' as well. It was a huge disappointment all round, and was panned by critics and fans alike. This was not what they had eagerly waited five years for.

Luckily, Liam may be a genius, but he also is not too full of himself to admit when he is wrong, and he immediately destroyed an album's worth of material, and re-evaluated the band's musical direction.
Many bands surely would have released the album, took the criticism, then made another quickly, but Liam preserved the band's credibility, and went back to the drawing board. The widespread feeling was that Keith Flint had made The Prodigy a parody of themselves, and his time in the sun was over. He seemed to take the decision well, having formed his own side-project band; 'Flint'. Although still part of The Prodigy, he took no part in the next album.

So, a whopping seven years after 'The Fat of the land', The Prodigy were back, with 'Always outnumbered, never outgunned', their fourth studio album, led by the funky and occasionally wacky single; 'Girls'. Liam said he needed to go back to the band's roots in dance culture, and get a 'Jilted generation' vibe about the album. Enlisting actress-turned-rock-chick Juliette Lewis, Princess Superstar, the ever-enigmatic Kool Keith, and drinking buddy and namesake Liam Gallagher on vocal duties, the album is not going to change the world again, but is a very hard and danceable album, with many high points, not least the absence of Keith Flint!

With glamorous retro artwork, thunderous drums and fuzzy electronic rhythms, it is an excellent return to form. Some critics argue that it is 'Music for the Jilted Generation' without the underground vibe, but it sounds nothing like '....Jilted Generation'! It is unique, but also familiar, and interesting. No Leeroy or Keith on vocals, but this is high-quality dance, credibility intact.
Liam may be ageing, but still has his finger on the pulse of the sometimes stagnant dance scene, and this is very much a call-to-arms.

So there you have it. The Prodigy will continue as a threesome; Liam, Keith and Maxim, although Liam hopes to entice Juliette Lewis to perform at some gigs. The Prodigy have also done several remixes for various bands, and their b-sides are high quality in the main. What will the future hold? Well, that's all up to the child prodigy and his Moog Prodigy!
Over and out! 

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