Prodigy

The Prodigy spearheaded the popularity of U.K. electronica in the '90s. The group's mastermind, Essex native Liam Howlett, was inspired by U.S. hip-hop and grew up learning the skills of D.J.'ing and breakdancing; he was an early participant in the U.K. rave scene. He met singer/dancer Keith Flint at one of those events and began making tapes with various collaborators, including singer Maxim who would become the other continuing member of the group. Out of the demos came the first Prodigy single, "Charly," which sampled cartoon voices from U.K. public-service videos, thus creating a trend for cartoon samples. Another club hit, "Everybody in the Place" followed, and with the debut album Experience (1992), the Prodigy became the soundtrack of many a rave, and a fixture on the U.K. charts. The U.K. press coined the term "big beat" to describe the style of music, built on sampled breakbeats and synth loops, that the Prodigy and their contemporaries (Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers) were popularizing. Meanwhile Howlett was feeling the sting of reviewers who criticized the Prodigy for the cartoon samples and dismissed them as a commercial rave act; in response he began moving the Prodigy to a harsher metallic sound. This first emerged on the 1996 single "Firestarter," whose musical intensity was matched by an arson-themed video that the BBC banned-not the last time the Prodigy would flirt with controversy. It entered the U.K. charts at Number One and was the first Prodigy track to make any waves in the U.S. (It was also the first Prodigy track on which official singer Flint actually appeared). The same album, The Fat of the Land, included the worldwide hit "Smack My Bitch Up" which caused more controversy, including a complaint from the National Organization of Women. (Howlett claimed it wasn't literally about violence, and the album also covered a song by the feminist punk band L7). During the Reading Festival in 1988 the Beastie Boys demanded onstage that the Prodigy drop the song from their set; this request wasn't honored. The album hit Number One on both sides of the Atlantic, setting a Guinness record as the fastest-selling U.K. album. The next four years brought no group activity other than a non-LP single, "Baby's Got a Temper" which brought more misogyny charges (it mentions the date-rape drug Rohypnol), Howlett later disowned the song. However the group's success would continue on the next two albums, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned and Invaders Must Die, both of which included collaborations with notable rockers (both of Oasis' Gallagher brothers on the former, Dave Grohl on the latter). They outlasted the rave trend but became less prolific during the 2010s, though later albums like 2018's No Tourists still summoned the fire of old. The group's future was cast in doubt following the death of Keith Flint at the age of 49 of a reported suicide on March 4, 2019.