The Prodigy

There's no doubt that the Prodigy have managed to have a long and successful music career. They are a band that both Rockers and Ravers like and not many people would be ashamed to admit liking them. At the same time they divide opinion, some say they started out as a novelty act but then came good, others say they went shit after their first album. Here's my take on it all.

In January 1992 I heard "Everybody in the Place" for the first time and liked it. A bit later on in the year I hear about this mysterious genre of music called Rave without knowing what it was exactly. I then get told The Prodigy are Rave which gives me an idea of what Rave is. Then even later in 1992 someone plays a tape that has "Everybody in the Place" on it and other tunes I recognised were "Charly" and "Fire" and I assume this to be a Rave compilation, but later discover this was the "Experience" album.

In 1994 during the Grungers vs Ravers era, some Grungers would say the only Rave group they like is the Prodigy. I hear "No Good" and "Voodoo People" and like them and then buy the "Music for the Jilted Generation" album. Shortly afterwards I buy the "Experience" album and next thing I know I'm a Raver.

A question I had after buying "Music for the Jilted Generation" album was who exactly are the Prodigy? I originally bought it on cassette and there was no picture of them, or mention of who the band members were. They didn't do Top of the Pops, or any TV show for that matter. They did appear in their videos, but they could have been anyone for all I knew.

After buying the "Experience" album I saw a picture of them and discovered they were Liam Howlett who made the actual music, Maxim the MC and Keith and Leeroy the dancers. I then saw them in action on stage when I watched Glastonbury 95 on the telly.

In 1996 I was listening to the evening session on Radio 1 when they said they were going to play the new Prodigy record for the first time. I was excited about this, but when they finally played it I was disappointed. The record of course was "Firestarter".

Clearly the record buying public felt differently and it made number one and they were bigger than they'd ever been. Everybody at least knew who Keith was by now as well. I did like their next single "Breathe" but I didn't think it was nearly as good as their older material. In my mind they'd changed their sound to cater for the Rock crowd instead of the Ravers and when "Fat of the Land" eventually came out I didn't buy it.

Following this they all seemed to become celebrities, probably because you had Liam dating Natalie Appleton, Keith with Gail Porter and Leeroy with Sara Cox whilst they'd stopped making new music. When Leeroy left the group I remember thinking it wasn't like they were making anything new anyway.

In 2004 they finally released their next album "Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned". I was mostly listening to Rap and R&B by this point and although I did buy the album it's not one I ever really got into.

When "Invaders Must Die" came out in 2009 I properly got back into the Prodigy. Although I don't consider the album to be as good as the first two, I thought it was a good album and could appreciate the rockier side to them more that I had previously.

I then finally went to see them in concert for the first time and it was a very good show, although they didn't play anything from the first album and from the second album they just did "Voodoo People" and "Their Law" which are the most guitar orientated tracks on the album.

When they released "The Day Is My Enemy" in 2015 it oddly seemed the sort of album that needed to be released. In the time between "Invaders Must Die" and "The Day Is My Enemy" the commercial side of Dance music, or EDM as it was now known, was the worst it had ever been and this album was a big fuck you to all of that. Had the album been made 20 years earlier I'd probably have hated it.

The latest album "No Tourists" is yet to have any impact on me. Maybe I just need to let it grow on me or maybe it just isn't my cup of tea.

Looking back in hindsight, "Experience" is very much a Rave album and is similar in style to a lot of other Rave music at that time. When "Music for the Jilted Generation" came out it was at a time when Rave had split into Happy Hardcore and Jungle. The Prodigy didn't go either route and making a record that sounded like it could have been made in 1992 at that time wouldn't have worked, so whilst you do have ravers who criticise it for going in the wrong direction, I would argue it's the best they could have done given the circumstances and personally I think it's just as good as "Experience".

I still don't own "Fat of the Land" but have streamed it and I don't think much of it to be honest. But that's just me and as they had already alienated some of their original Rave fans with "Music for the Jilted Generation" whilst starting to attract the Rock crowd it makes more sense really to make something to appeal to your new fans rather than those who have now written you off.

At the end of the day, they have made a healthy living out of music for nearly 30 years. The likes of Shades of Rhythm or Altern 8 who were just as big as the Prodigy in the beginning probably don't make a living out of music anymore unless they do something else music related.

In 2014 there were plans for Dreamscape to make a comeback at Milton Keynes bowl. Many of the big names from yesteryear were in the line-up but it ended up getting cancelled due to lack of ticket sales. It could be argued that they were being overly optimistic given the Dreamscapes in the 90s weren't in venues that big. But the Prodigy did a gig at Milton Keynes Bowl and had they been on the line-up they probably wouldn't have struggled to sell tickets.

At the end of the day, aside from their first album they've never really been part of any scene. They've always done their own thing rather than do what music is cool at that point in time and whilst people will criticize their newer material, they've still maintained some credibility whilst being successful at the same time and that's quite an achievement really.