The Prodigy
| The Prodigy | |
|---|---|
 |
|
 The Prodigy 2007 |
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| General information | |
| origin | Braintree , England |
| Genre (s) | Big Beat , Electropunk , Breakbeat , Hardcore , Breaks , Rave , Techno |
| founding | 1990 |
| Website | theprodigy.com |
| Founding members | |
| Liam Howlett | |
| Keith Flint † (1990-2019) | |
| Leeroy Thornhill (1990-2000) | |
| Sharky (1990-1991) | |
| Current occupation | |
| Liam Howlett | |
| Keith Palmer aka Maxim Reality (since 1990) | |
The Prodigy ( English Das Wunder, Wunderkind ) is an English band that made breakbeats popular in electronic dance music in the early 1990s . In the beginning, the band oriented itself towards acid house and techno from the early 1990s and later developed their own style that incorporated new styles such as hardcore and jungle . From around 1996, The Prodigy shaped current sounds like big beat and trip-hop , incorporating elements of alternative rock and punk rock .
They named the band after the synthesizer Moog Prodigy .
Members
Liam Howlett
The musical head of the band is Liam Howlett (born August 21, 1971) from Braintree in Essex , England. In addition to his background work as an author (music and text) and music producer, he has been working as a DJ and keyboard player since the beginning.
Keith Flint
Keith Charles Flint (born September 17, 1969 in Redbridge , London , † early March 2019 in Great Dunmow , Essex) joined Howlett's project in 1990. After he had originally only appeared as a dancer, he took on the role of singer for the first time in the hit single Firestarter in 1996 . In 2003, Flint released a solo album called Device # 1 on Universal . He died at the beginning of March 2019 at the age of 49.
Maxim
Keith "Maxim" Palmer (born July 26, 1967 in Peterborough ) is the MC of The Prodigy. In 1990, Palmer was introduced to Liam Howlett by his friend Ziggy, who organized rave acts in Essex, who initially criticized Palmer's style for being too reggae-based for Howlett's taste. After Palmer had participated in some Prodigy appearances as an MC, he joined the band as a permanent member.
Band history
Foundation and first publications (1990–1991)
At one of the many parties at which Howlett played as a DJ, he was approached by the dancer Leeroy Thornhill (born October 8, 1969) and his friend Keith Flint. The two of them loved Howlett's music and asked him for a mixtape . Howlett made them a cassette with a DJ mix on one side and self-produced tracks on the other. Flint says he wrinkled his nose at the fact that the DJ wanted to give them his own tracks. But when Flint listened to the B-side , he was thrilled. It was like "a Christmas present that you didn't even want". He immediately wanted to put together a band with Howlett. With the support of Thornhill and a dancer named Sharky, The Prodigy was founded.
A short time later they booked their first appearance in the labyrinth in London, where they met Keith Palmer aka Maxim Reality (born July 26, 1967). Since they still needed an MC, he was added to the team. In the following months, the five moved from place to place to make themselves and their music better known. The number of visitors varied from just five to as many as 12,000.
At Christmas 1990 Howlett surprised the others with a record deal with XL Recordings , to which everyone except Sharky responded with enthusiasm. Sharky then left the band because the dates had become too many for them.
In February 1991 Howlett released the first Prodigy publication called What Evil Lurks . It contained four breakbeat tracks that came from Howlett's cut-to-kill time, including the track What Evil Lurks , which Howlett had sent as a demo tape to XL-Recordings to apply for the record deal.
Experience (1992-1993)
Half a year later, the successful single Charly was created , which contained melodies from the British children's television program and - against the will of Liam Howlett - is assigned to Happy Hardcore . Howlett noticed that the harder version, the Alley Cat Mix , appealed to the audience. In December 1991 they released their third single Everybody in the Place and in November 1992 came the album Experience . Under the pseudonym Earthbound (that's the name of his recording studio) Howlett released the single One Love , with which he ushered in a new era for Prodigy.
Music for the Jilted Generation (1994-1995)
The chosen direction was enthusiastically received by a broad audience, which gave Liam the opportunity to exploit new creative freedoms for the recordings of Music for the Jilted Generation and to experiment with a variety of stylistic devices. The album contained lots of hard breakbeats, jazz-funk grooves, electric guitars, an unusually hard dance track ( No Good (Start the Dance) ) and, entitled Poison, a return to hip-hop, using Palmer's vocals for the first time. This expanded the musical possibilities of the band even more.
The album debuted at number one in the UK album charts and sold over 1,000,000 copies. Due to this success, appearances followed all over the world and The Prodigy won an MTV Music Award in 1995 for "Best Dance Act".
In 1995 the band toured from festival to festival, and according to the organizers they had the "greatest show on earth" in Glastonbury.
The Fat of the Land (1996-1998)
In April 1997 the single Firestarter , a big beat track, came out with Keith Flint as the singer. This time, however, the rhythm was programmed by an external producer. When the video was first shown on the music show Top of the Pops , the BBC had to withstand an onslaught of complaints from indignant parents complaining about Flint's "shameful," "derisive," and "provocative" text and behavior asked themselves why the video was even allowed to be shown in the early evening.
The single sold over 750,000 copies in less than six weeks. With the single Breathe , the group confirmed their success in November 1997 and thus achieved the final breakthrough. To date it is the band's most successful single. It wasn't until June 30, 1998 that The Prodigy released their third album, The Fat of the Land , with which they took first place in the charts in 23 countries in the week of release. In the UK they sold more albums that week than the rest of the top 100 combined, and eight times as many albums as number 2 at the time, Radioheads OK Computer . The album eventually reached number 1 in the charts in 27 countries and received multiple platinum awards worldwide. It was the best-selling album in 1998. In May, a major world tour over five continents began, which lasted until the summer of 1999. Among other things, they performed in front of 250,000 people on Red Square in Moscow in September 1997, where a concert was recorded with the help of the music channel MTV. In 1998 the band ended up in the island state of Bahrain , where they said they gave the best concert in their band's history.
At the end of 1997, the release Smack My Bitch Up (directed by Jonas Åkerlund ) caused a sensation: The video was banned in the USA, England and other countries because it visualized excesses of drugs, sex and violence. Howlett announced due to the many protests afterwards that there would be no fourth album. The Prodigy did not release any further tracks in the following five years.
The Dirtchamber Session (1999)
Howlett originally produced this “tribute album” for a broadcast on BBC Radio 1 called Breezeblock , in which various “stars” of the music business played a mix of their personal favorite songs live for 50 minutes. He mixed samples from 50 different songs (from The Chemical Brothers to The Beatles ). Because Howlett and the audience liked this mix so much, he released a set that was slightly modified for licensing reasons in 1999 on a CD under the name The Dirtchamber Sessions Vol. 1 .
Solo careers (2000–2004)
In 2001 Palmer and Thornhill started their own solo careers and each released their own single. Thornhill announced in April 2001 that he was leaving the 4-man constellation and now devoted himself to his solo performance under the alias "Flightcrank".
Keith Flint also tried his own project, but although an album entitled Device # 1 had already been produced, the project fell apart before the official release.
Subsequently, the band appeared in threes at several festivals in Europe in 2002 and presented their new song Baby's Got a Temper around the same time .
Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned (2004-2005)
In 2004 the fourth album by The Prodigy was released, entitled Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned . After the mostly negative reviews for Baby's Got a Temper , a change of direction was obvious. At the same time the band, especially Liam Howlett, was in a creative crisis. Palmer and Flint were no longer involved in the production of the album, but guest musicians such as Kool Keith , Liam Gallagher ( Oasis ) and Princess Superstar . Maxim and Keith Flint nonetheless remained an integral part of the live performances. Although the album achieved good sales, it convinced only a few critics.
Interim publications (2005–2007)
In 2004 the remix album Always Outsiders, Never Outdone was released , which was produced by some of the best bootleggers in Great Britain and contains only remixed versions of Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned . The remix album was not officially released by The Prodigy, but was offered for download through a website in MP3 format.
After The Prodigy went on tour again in late 2004 and 2005, an album was released in September 2005 with the title Their Law - The Singles 1990-2005 . It features the band's greatest hits, from Out of Space to No Good (Start the Dance) to Firestarter and Girls . The album also comes with a limited bonus CD that contains remixes, rare tracks and live versions.
In early 2006, Liam Howlett released a mix album as part 23 of the Back-to-Mine series, in which various artists reveal their favorite songs as a compilation.
In 2007, Shadow was released as the theme music for the Xbox 360 racing game Project Gotham Racing 4. A reduced version of the song appeared on the soundtrack of the Japanese anime film Vexille under the name The Shadow . Another version, called The Shadow of the Devil , was used for the horror film Reverb .
The Prodigy also contributed music to the soundtracks of the video games Wipeout 2097 , Tomb Raider: Legend , Forza Motorsport 2 , Project Gotham Racing 3 , Enter the Matrix and Need for Speed . Some songs can also be found in the 2010 movie Kick-Ass .
Invaders Must Die (2007-2010)
The album Invaders Must Die was originally supposed to be released in 2007, but was not released until February 20, 2009 via the publisher Universal Music in Germany. For the most part, music critics reacted positively to the new album, especially English-language publications. In the German-speaking countries, too, the judgments were largely positive, with only a few more critical voices.
A total of four singles were released from the album. The title Omen was the first single on the album in Great Britain , while the slightly modified bonus track version O was released in German-speaking countries . This was followed by Warrior's Dance and Take Me To The Hospital , most recently the title track Invaders Must Die .
The Day Is My Enemy (from 2010)
On July 24, 2010, the live album World's On Fire was recorded in the Milton Keynes Bowl , which was released on May 20, 2011 as CD, DVD and Blu-Ray. The recordings show the band performing at their own festival, which was called Warrior's Dance Festival .
In November 2010, Liam Howlett announced that the band would start working on a new album after their US tour with Linkin Park .
In 2011 Liam Howlett remixed the song The Day I Die for South Central . In early 2012, The Prodigy won Mixmag's Greatest Dance Act Of All Time Revealed event hosted by Mixmag magazine.
On December 3, 2012, the band released an expanded edition of their 1997 album The Fat of the Land for the 15th anniversary , which includes some new remixes by artists such as Noisia .
At the end of December 2014, The Prodigy announced the first single from their new album, which was released on January 12, 2015 under the name Nasty . The sixth studio album The Day Is My Enemy , which was created under the working title How To Steal A Jetfighter , was released on March 27, 2015. The album title is based on the lyrics of All Through the Night by Cole Porter : "The day is my enemy, the night my friend".
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
||||
| 1992 | Experience |
DE75 (9 weeks) DE |
- | - |
UK12  (52 weeks)UK |
- |
First published: September 28, 1992
|
|
| 1994 | Music for the Jilted Generation |
DE11 (24 weeks) DE |
AT7 (26 weeks) AT |
CH9 (13 weeks) CH |
UK1 × 2
(150 weeks)UK |
US198 (2 weeks) US |
First published: July 4, 1994
|
|
| 1997 | The Fat of the Land |
DE1  (35 weeks)DE |
AT1 (16 weeks)AT |
CH1 (17 weeks)CH |
UK1 × 4
(75 weeks)UK |
US1 × 2
(57 weeks)US |
First published: June 30, 1997
|
|
| 2004 | Always outnumbered, never outgunned |
DE6 (7 weeks) DE |
AT8 (6 weeks) AT |
CH3 (8 weeks) CH |
UK1 (9 weeks)UK |
US62 (2 weeks) US |
First published: August 11, 2004
|
|
| 2005 | Their Law: The Singles 1990-2005 |
DE45 (5 weeks) DE |
AT34 (4 weeks) AT |
CH40 (5 weeks) CH |
UK1 × 3
(69 weeks)UK |
- |
First published: October 17, 2005
|
|
| 2009 | Invaders Must Die |
DE3 (24 weeks)DE |
AT5 (18 weeks)AT |
CH1 (28 weeks)CH |
UK1 × 2
(52 weeks)UK |
US58 (4 weeks) US |
First published: February 18, 2009
|
|
| 2011 | World's on Fire - Live |
DE15 (3 weeks) DE |
AT29 (3 weeks) AT |
CH25 (5 weeks) CH |
UK5 (6 weeks) UK |
- |
First published: May 23, 2011
|
|
| 2015 | The Day Is My Enemy |
DE6 (9 weeks) DE |
AT10 (6 weeks) AT |
CH3 (10 weeks) CH |
UK1 (19 weeks)UK |
US127 (1 week) US |
First published: March 27, 2015
|
|
| 2018 | No tourists |
DE6 (6 weeks) DE |
AT15 (3 weeks) AT |
CH8 (5 weeks) CH |
UK1  (7 weeks)UK |
- |
First published: November 2, 2018
|
|
| Number one albums | DE1DE | AT1AT | CH2CH | UK7thUK | US1US | |||
| Top 10 albums | DE5DE | AT5AT | CH6thCH | UK8thUK | US1US | |||
| Albums in the charts | DE9DE | AT8thAT | CH8thCH | UK9UK | US5US | |||
Awards
- 1994 : MTV Europe Music Award for Best Dance Artist
- 1996 : MTV Europe Music Award for Best Dance Artist
- 1997: Q Music Award in the Best Live Act category
- 1997 : MTV Europe Music Award in the categories of Best Dance Artist , Best Alternative Band and Best Video for Breathe
- 1997: BRIT Award in the Best British Dance Act category
- 1998 : MTV Europe Music Award for Best Dance Artist
- 1998: BRIT Award for Best British Dance Act
- 1998 : MTV Video Music Award in the Best Dance Video and Breakthrough Video categories for Smack My Bitch Up
- 2005: Q Music Award in the Innovation In Sound category
- 2006: Kerrang! Award in the Spirit Of Independence category
- 2012: AIM Independent Music Award in the Best Live Band category
The band was also nominated for the following awards:
- 1997: MTV Europe Music Award in the Best Band category
- 1997: MTV Video Music Award in the Best Dance Video category for Breathe
- 1998: Grammy Award in the Alternative Music category for The Fat Of The Land
- 1998: BRIT Award in the Best British Group category
- 1998: BRIT Award for Best British Album for The Fat Of The Land
- 1998: MTV Video Music Award in the categories Best Direction and Best Editing for Smack My Bitch Up
- 2004: MTV Europe Music Award in the Best Alternative Act category
- 2005 Grammy Award in the Best Electronic / Dance Album category for Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned
- 2009: Q Music Award in the Best Live Act category
- 2009: Kerrang! Award in the Best Live Band category
- 2009: UK Music Video Award in the categories Best Editing In A Video for Omen , Best Live Music Coverage for Invaders Must Die and Best Dance Video and Best Animation In A Video for Warrior's Dance
- 2009: MTV Europe Music Award in the Best Alternative category
- 2011: Q Music Award in the category Greatest Act Of The Last 25 Years
literature
- Martin Roach: The Prodigy - How it all began ... . Hannibal Publishing House. Höfen 2010, ISBN 978-3-85445-332-1
- Stuart Coles: Prodigy - An illustrated biography. Omnibus Press. London 1997, ISBN 0-7119-6718-0 .
- Jay Strongman: Rave: the culture that isn't.
- Jay Strongman: Title = Rave On: the '99 edit.
Web links
- Official website (English)
- The Prodigy at laut.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ Liam Howlett - Biography (in English) . In: imdb.com . Retrieved January 16, 2011.
- ↑ Prodigy Members >> Keith Flint In: theprodigy.info .
- ↑ Ben Beaumont-Thomas: Keith Flint: Prodigy vocalist dies aged 49. In: theguardian.com . March 4, 2019 (English).
- ↑ Keith Flint Detailed Biography. ( Memento of the original from December 5, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: netglimse.com .
- ↑ Interview with Flint. ( Memento from August 2, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) In: intro.de .
- ↑ He was 49 years old: Keith Flint, front man of The Prodigy, is dead , focus.de , March 4, 2019
- Jump up ↑ Palmer biography on TheProdigy.info. Retrieved December 29, 2014 .
- ↑ Harald Peters: "Invaders Must Die" - woe, someone at Prodigy is talking about happy hardcore. In: The world. March 4, 2009.
- ↑ Christoph Koch : And the thing with the new drug. Keith Flint. In: Intro . June 20, 2003, archived from the original on October 25, 2017 ; accessed on March 5, 2019 .
- ↑ Info on www.theprodigy.info
- ↑ Christoph Koch: Keith Flint - the prodigy front man and the thing with the new drug . In: Intro . 6, 2003.
- ↑ Always outsiders, never outdone. ( Memento of July 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) at: prodigy.musicremixed.org
- ↑ cf. drownedinsound or clashmusic
- ↑ cf. motor.de ( Memento of the original from April 29, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , SFTLive ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. or Dark News
- ↑ The Prodigy "Invaders Must Die". In: Computer Bild . February 20, 2009, archived from the original on February 1, 2014 ; accessed on March 23, 2018 .
- ↑ Alexander Cordas: Bubblegum breakbeat meets electro punk stuff. In: laut.de .
- ^ Liam Howlett: The Prodigy announce US Tour with Linkin Park. In: The Prodigy website. 2010, archived from the original on July 23, 2013 ; accessed on March 23, 2018 .
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original from January 21, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Smack My Bitch Up & Breathe remix. In: The Prodigy website. Archived from the original on May 16, 2013 ; accessed on March 23, 2018 .
- ↑ http://soulgurusounds.com/prodigy-nasty-videopremiere-neues-studioalbum-im-maerz/
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original from February 9, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ http://www.metrolyrics.com/all-through-the-night-lyrics-cole-porter.html
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↑ Chart sources:
- The Prodigy in the German charts on OfficialCharts.de
- The Prodigy in the Austrian charts on AustrianCharts.at
- The Prodigy in the Swiss charts on Hitparade.ch
- The Prodigy in the Official UK Charts (English)
- The Prodigy in the US Billboard 200 and Billboard Hot 100
