The line-up of the band has included MC and vocalist Maxim, dancer and vocalist Keith Flint (until his death in March 2019), dancer and live keyboardist Leeroy Thornhill (who left to pursue a solo career in 1999), and dancer and vocalist Sharky (19901991).Along with the Chemical Brothers and Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy are credited as pioneers of the breakbeat -influenced genre big beat, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s.Howletts rock-inspired drum rhythms infused with electronic rave music beatsbreaks were combined with Maxims omnipresent mystique, Thornhills shuffle dancing style and Flints modern punk appearance.A third single from the album, Smack My Bitch Up, was also successful.
They earned titles like the premiere dance act for the alternative masses and the Godfathers of Rave, 2 and remain one of the most successful electronic acts of all time. They have sold an estimated 25 million records worldwide, 3 and won numerous music awards during their career, including two Brit Awards for Best British Dance Act, three MTV Video Music Awards, two Kerrang Awards, five MTV Europe Music Awards, and received two Grammy Award nominations. He had taken piano lessons in his youth and gained the ability to play difficult passages in just a few run-throughs. After he decided to pursue a music career, Howlett met dancer and vocalist Keith Flint in mid-1989 at a rave at which Howlett was DJing. After Flint requested Howlett make a mix tape for him, Howlett obliged, returning a cassette several days later with a collection of his own songs on the other side. Howlett had scratched the word Prodigy onto the cassette, the same name as the Moog Prodigy analogue synthesiser, 8 and Howletts moniker. The tape was well-received by Flint and keyboardist Leeroy Thornhill who developed new dance sequences to the music and suggested to Howlett they begin a group together. They were soon joined by MC and vocalist Maxim, then known as Maxim Reality, and female dancer and vocalist Sharky, a friend of Flints. It became a hit in the rave scene at the time, 13 and reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart, thus catapulting the band into the wider public attention. The success of Charly began a trend of mixing dance and hardcore rave tracks with cartoon samples, such as A Trip to Trumpton by Urban Hype and Sesames Treet by Smart Es, which were a hit with clubbers, but not to reviewers and critics, 15 who dismissed the music as kiddie rave or toytown techno. The idea of making one originated from XL, and initially Howlett wanted to produce a rave concept album inspired by the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, but abandoned the idea due to the risk of limiting his musical ideas. It peaked at number 12 on the UK Albums Chart, and was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for selling over 300,000 copies. The album contains many samples of songs from other artists, and closes with a live version of Death of the Prodigy Dancers featuring Maxim on vocals. As with Charly, it became landmark release in the history of British rave music. Five singles spawned from the album: Charly, Everybody in the Place, FireJericho, Out of Space, and Wind It Up (Rewound); the latter a remix of Wind It Up. The rave scene was beginning to move on from its hardcore phase, with the Criminal Justice Act s anti-rave legislation on the horizon, calling rave music repetitive beats. The Prodigy responded to the bill by writing Their Law. Its hypnotic, hard-edged sound won wide underground approval. It was officially released as One Love later that year, and went on to chart at number 8 in the UK. The following year, the Prodigys second album, Music for the Jilted Generation, debuted in the UK Albums Chart at number one, and received positive reactions from album critics. The Prodigy Songs Trial Citation NeededAdding elements of big beat and electro-industrial citation needed to the mix, the album expressed a wider spectrum of musical styles, with heavy breakbeat-based tracks complemented by the concept sequence The Narcotic Suite and a rock-oriented inclination, Their Law, featuring Pop Will Eat Itself. The album was later described as a complex, powerful record that propelled dance music into stadiums with rocknroll swagger. In the ensuing years, their videos received a strong level of support by MTV Europe, which boosted their popularity across the continent. Keith Flint himself hosted an episode of the MTV show 120 Minutes in 1995. He was soon to be replaced by Gizz Butt of the band Janus Stark, who remained with the band for the next three years. The album cemented the bands position as one of the most internationally successful acts in the dance genre, entering the UK and US charts at number one. The National Organization for Women (NOW) criticized the song and its music video. The songs lyrics consist entirely of the repeated phrase Change my pitch up, smack my bitch up, which NOW stated are a dangerous and offensive message advocating violence against women. Howlett responded to the criticism by stating that the meaning of the song and its lyrics were being misinterpreted, and the phrase meant doing anything intensely, like being on stagegoing for extreme manic energy. The band did not actually write the lyric, but rather, sampled it from the hip hop Ultramagnetic MCs track Give the Drummer Some 31 which also appears on the Dirtchamber Sessions; they had also sampled another Ultramagnetic MCs song Critical Beatdown on their earlier Out of Space single. The National Organization for Women also believed that the lyrics are in reference to administering heroin (smack) to another person. Several radio stations limited the songs airplay to nighttime hours. In September 1997, the Prodigy performed Breathe at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, and won the Viewers Choice Award. MTV only aired the video between 1 and 5 a.m due to the controversial material. After one week, MTV removed the music video at NOWs request. The director got the inspiration for the contents of the video after a night of drinking and partying in Copenhagen.
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