The Prodigy is a British electronica act, consisting of Liam Howlett, Keith Flint, and Leeroy Thornhill.
Formed in Essex, the Prodigy started life when Liam Howlett produced a 10-track demo with the intention of securing a record contract. The A & R department at XL Recordings liked what they heard and offered a contract, and an initial 12" release of What Evil Lurks in 1991.
The trio's first performance was at Four Aces in Hackney, a suburb of London.
A single released six months later, "Charly", became a British hit. Hot on its heels, the debut album, The Prodigy Experience was released. It has the curious distinction of being the first album to be released by a rave act. At that time, dance music albums were thought to be a fruitless endeavour.
In 1993, the Prodigy added Maxim Reality (real name Keeti Palmer), a hip hop/ragga MC.
The Prodigy's next album, in 1994, was Music for the Jilted Generation, which became a huge hit in the United Kingdom and was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize.
The band began touring the world, adding to their already significant international fanbase. In 1996, "Firestarter" was released and helped break the band in the US and other overseas markets, in addition to reaching number one in the UK. Also in 1996, the Prodigy headlined the Lollapalooza festival. Record companies began signing electronic acts because the genre was gaining in popularity.
The Prodigy released The Fat of the Land, which cemented the band's position as one of the most internationally popular and famous techno acts. It entered the British and American charts at number one.
In 1999, the next Prodigy release was the Dirtchamber Sessions Volume 1. The album, actually the solo work of Howlett, was a change of direction with around 50 cut, scratched, and cross-faded tracks. The album came about when, in 1998, Howlett produced a similar set for UK radio station Radio 1 on Mary-Anne Hobbs's Breezeblock show. Bootleg copies of the show soon began to circulate around the UK, and in a bid to stop this, the album, essentially an extended version of the Breezeblock mix, was released.
In 2002, after a break from touring and recording, the single "Baby's got a temper" was released.
See also: 1991 in music, 1993 in music, 1996 in music, 1999 in music
History
External link