The Prodigy (Liam Howlett, Keith Flint, Leeroy and Maxim) have had a huge amount of controversy surrounding their music. Whatever your feelings about the band there’s no denying their success. Their album ‘The Fat Of The Land’ has reached number one in 23 different countries, making them even more successful than Oasis.
‘Charly’ was The Prodigy’s second single and has been heralded as the track that put Rave music into the mainstream. ‘Charly’ has a sample from the 70s and has ‘Charly says never go out without telling your mummy first’ repeated throughout it. This catchy track hit the charts at number three, and inevitable imitators appeared (Roobarb and Custard and Sesame’s Treet and others). Many of the underground hardcore dance fans accused The Prodigy as ‘selling out’ by making their music more appealing to the masses. This is just another form of music snobbery in my opinion.
The band took the criticism in their stride and concentrated on their live shows. They pleased their fans and gained respect for the energy-packed shows that they had.
Their debut album, "The Prodigy Experience" was amazing and "No Good" was appreciated by the public whilst maintaining their underground sound. It is still one of their more wellknown tracks.
The bands highest point was in 1997, when "The Fat Of The Land" was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. This was the album which put The Prodigy into the limelight. "Firestarter went straight to number one and was appreciated by both the masses and the underground dance scene. After a lot of hard work the band got appreciation from everyone. Leeroy admitted in hindsight that if he'd known what the aftermath of 'Charly' was going to be he wouldn't have released the song. Does that sound like someone who would 'sell out'?
The controversial "Breathe" and "Smack My Bitch Up" caused an uproar because of its content, and angered parents and the media likewise.
However after such a successful career the stress began to build up. In 1998 Liam decided to take some time off to get to grips with their fourth album. Maxim and Leeroy had their own projects on the side. What is going to happen now? Personally The Prodigy will always remain special to me and ‘Funky Sh*t’ is my favourite song by them to date.
Thanks for reading!
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