The Prodigy

The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex. Along with Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s. They have sold over 25 million records worldwide.

The group's brand of music makes use of various styles ranging from rave, hardcore techno, industrial, and breakbeat in the early 1990s to big beat and electronic rock with punk vocal elements in later times. The current members include Liam Howlett (keyboardist and composer), Keith Flint (dancer and vocalist), and Maxim (MC and vocalist). Leeroy Thornhill (dancer and very occasional live keyboardist) was a member of the band from 1990 to 2000, as was a female dancer and vocalist called Sharky who left the group during their early period. The Prodigy first emerged on the underground rave scene in the early 1990s, and have since then achieved immense popularity and worldwide renown.

History

Beginnings and first appearances (1990–1991)

Liam Howlett created an initial 10-track demo, put together on a Roland W-30 music workstation in Essex, England. XL Recordings picked up the demo after Howlett played several tracks to XL boss Nick Halkes in a meeting, and an initial 12" pressing of "What Evil Lurks" was released in February 1991. There are some few thousand bootlegs of this release; the original should have "the exchange" carved in the vinyl around the centre of the single (the matrix). The Prodigy's name was a moniker Liam had chosen as a tribute to his first analogue synthesiser, the Moog Prodigy.

The Prodigy's first public performance, with Howlett augmented by dancers Keith Flint and Leeroy Thornhill, was at the Four Aces in Dalston, London, then home to "Club Labyrinth".

"Charly", released six months later, became a huge hit in the rave scene at the time.The release reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart, catapulting the band into the wider public attention. The Kaos Theory compilation series featured "G Force (Energy Flow)" from their third single "Everybody in the Place".

After the release of the successful single "Charly", the charts included various "hardcore" rave tracks, to which speed and ecstasy-fuelled clubbers would dance to, but which did not appeal to reviewers from publications at the time. Examples were tracks such as Urban Hype's "A Trip to Trumpton" and Smart E's (as in Ecstasy) "Sesame's Treet", instigating death-by-publicity to the underground "hardcore rave" scene, according to a number of critics associated with the scene. As a result, "Charly", amid being titled after a contemporary reference to cocaine, with its memorable sample of the "Charley Says" children's Public information films, and The Prodigy were briefly identified by critics as "kiddie rave" or "Toytown Techno". Critical reception to the single was generally mixed.

Members

Current members Keith Flint – dancing, vocals (1990–present) Liam Howlett – synthesizer, keyboards, producer (1990–present) Maxim – MC, vocals (1990–present)

Discography

Studio albums

• Experience (1992)
• Music for the Jilted Generation (1994)
• The Fat of the Land (1997)
• Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned (2004)
• Invaders Must Die (2009)

Live album

• World's on Fire (2011)

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