The Prodigy

惯听摇滚的乐迷可能不太习惯The Prodigy的成员组合，两个舞者、一个饶舌歌者和一个DJ。不同的角度会看到The Prodigy不同的面貌∶若只是拿着CD听，一肩挑起音乐创作与制作之责的Liam Howlett便是一切；若是观看他们的表演，那两个动作狂暴的舞者Kieth Flint与Leeroy Thornhill最抢眼，留着魔鬼发型的Kieth Flint，更是The Prodigy的形象代表，但整个团的头头，却是负责rap的Maxim Reality－以舞曲界的术语来说，他是「司仪（MC）」。但无论乐评或乐迷怎么看待，The Prodigy就是这四个人，缺一个就不是The Prodigy，这样的组合真切地呈现了瑞舞（Rave）的面貌。 九○年代初，The Prodigy组成之时，正是英国瑞舞方兴末艾的时候，他们以单调重覆的快速节奏、喷泻而出的电子冲击声，以及有如风暴袭卷的现场表演，撼动了英国乐坛。1992年首张专辑《Experience》在英国获得成功后，1995年的《Music for the Jilted Generation》以更为强硬直接的态度处理电子节奏及音色，并将重吉他切刷的取样溶入音乐中，促成日后所谓Big Beat的出现。 有人形容The Prodigy为「没有吉他手的庞克乐团」。1997的《The Fat of the Land》与Kula Shaker、L7等摇滚乐团合作，The Prodigy的音乐更加多元复杂。这张被主流乐评形容为「差一点就是经典」的专辑，也因为有较多的人声（虽然歌词依旧没什么意义），吸引了大批主流摇滚迷走入电子舞曲的领域，The Prodigy的影响从英国跨入美国，甚至全世界。《The Fat of the Land》可以说是他们最容易亲近的一张专辑。但是The Prodigy在态度上仍然希望与摇滚抱持距离，决不原地踏步，作出令人脚底发痒痛快狂舞的音乐，才是他们最大的企图。
 
Prodigy最擅长的地方,就是现场表演的功力.The Prodigy很喜欢在舞厅里做现场表演,而Liam Howlett之前也当过DJ,因此The Prodigy在表演时,很能带动现场气氛,可以和大家产生良好的互动 .如果你听过The Prodigy的现场录音专辑,就能体验到,为什么他们那么受欢迎的缘故了
 
不过Prodigy近年来的作品常遭争议。Firestarter的MTV因为太火爆而遭禁播，Smack My Bitch Up被指歧视女性，Baby's Got A Temper牵扯到迷奸药物。不过Prodigy还是坚持做自己。
 
从Prodigy出道至现在,他们的曲风一直是在变的.早期是以快速的Breakbeat加上大量的取样, 后来变成摇滚乐的曲风,到现在的Big-Beat的曲风,打破了电子乐和摇滚乐的界线,The Prodigy一直认为他们是个摇滚乐团体,而不光是舞曲团体.如果你听过他们的专辑,就会知道电子摇滚乐的魅力了!
 
by John Bush
 
The Prodigy navigated the high-wire, balancing artistic merit and mainstream visibility with more flair than any electronica act of the 1990s. Ably defeating the image-unconscious attitude of most electronic artists in favor of a focus on nominal frontman Keith Flint, the group crossed over to the mainstream of pop music with an incendiary live experience that approximated the original atmosphere of the British rave scene even while leaning uncomfortably close to arena-rock showmanship and punk theatrics. True, Flints spiky hairstyle and numerous piercings often made for better advertising, but it was producer Liam Howlett whose studio wizardry launched the Prodigy to the top of the charts, spinning a web of hard-hitting breakbeat techno with king-sized hooks and unmissable samples. Despite electronic musics diversity and quick progression during the 1990s — from rave/hardcore to ambient/downtempo and back again, thanks to the breakbeat/drumnbass movement — Howlett modified the Prodigys sound only sparingly; swapping the rave-whistle effects and ragga samples for metal chords and chanted vocals proved the only major difference in the bands evolution from their debut to their worldwide breakthrough with their third album The Fat of the Land. Even before the band took its place as the premiere dance act for the alternative masses, the Prodigy had proved a consistent entry in the British charts, with over a dozen consecutive singles in the Top 20.
 
Howlett, the prodigy behind the groups name, was trained on the piano while growing up in Braintree, Essex. He began listening to hip-hop in the mid-80s and later DJed with the British rap act Cut to Kill before moving on to acid house later in the decade. The fledgling hardcore breakbeat sound was perfect for an old hip-hop fan fluent in up-tempo dance music, and Howlett began producing tracks in his bedroom studio during 1988. His first release, the EP What Evil Lurks, became a major mover on the fledgling rave scene in 1990. After Howlett met up with Keith Flint and Leeroy Thornhill (both Essex natives as well) in the growing British rave scene, the trio formed the Prodigy later that year. Howletts recordings gained the trio a contract with XL Records, which re-released What Evil Lurks in February 1991.
 
Six months later, Howlett issued his second single Charly, built around a sample from a childrens public-service announcement. It hit number one on the British dance charts, then crossed over to the pop charts, stalling only at number three. (It wasnt long before a copycat craze saw the launch of rave takeoffs on Speed Racer, The Magic Roundabout and Sesame Street) Two additional Prodigy singles, Everybody in the Place and Fire/Jericho, charted in the U.K. during late 1991 and early 1992.
 
The Prodigy showed they were no one-anthem wonders in late 1992, with the release of The Prodigy Experience, one of the first LPs by a rave act. Mixing chunky breakbeats with vocal samples from dub legend Lee Scratch Perry and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, it hit the Top Ten and easily went gold. During 1993, Howlett added a ragga/hip-hop MC named Maxim Reality (Keeti Palmer) and occupied himself with remix work for Front 242, Jesus Jones and Art of Noise. He also released the white-label single Earthbound to fool image-conscious DJs who had written off the Prodigy as hopelessly commercial. Late 1993 brought the commercial release of Earthbound (as the groups seventh consecutive Top 20 singles entry, One Love).
 
After several months of working on tracks, Howlett issued the next Prodigy single, No Good (Start the Dance). Despite the fact that the singles hook was a sped-up diva-vocal tag (an early rave staple), the following album Music for the Jilted Generation provided a transition for the group, from piano pieces and rave-signal tracks to more guitar-integrated singles like Voodoo People. The album also continued Prodigys allegiance to breakbeat drumnbass; though the style had only recently become commercially viable (after a long gestation period in the dance underground), Howlett had been incorporating it from the beginning of his career. Music for the Jilted Generation entered the British charts at number one and went gold in its first week of release. The album was also nominated for a Mercury Music Prize, as one of the best albums of the year.
 
The Prodigy spent much of 1994 and 1995 touring around the world, and made a splashy appearance at the 1995 Glastonbury Festival, proving that electronica could make it in a live venue. The group had already made a transition from the club/rave circuit to more traditional rock venues, and the Glastonbury show set in stone the fact that they were no longer just a dance group. Flints newly emerged persona — the consummate in-your-face punk showman and master of ceremonies for the digital-age crowd — provided a point of reference for rock critics uncomfortable covering Howlett (whom they saw as a glorified keyboard player).
 
The Prodigys incessant road schedule left little time to record, but Howlett managed to bring out the next new Prodigy single in March 1996. Firestarter entered the British charts at number one, though the video was almost banned due to complaints about arson fixation; many Top of the Pops viewers also complained that Keith Flint had scared their children. An unmissable guitar hook and Flints catcall vocal antics — his first on record — made it a quick worldwide hit and though Firestarter wasnt a major success in the U.S., its high-profile spot in MTVs Buzz Bin introduced the Prodigy to many Americans and helped fuel the major-label push for electronica during the following year (though the Prodigy did reject collaborative offers from David Bowie, U2 and Madonna). In the middle of the electronica buzz, the Prodigy dropped their third album, The Fat of the Land. Despite rather obvious attempts to court mainstream rock fans (including several guest-vocalist spots and an L7 cover), the LP entered both British and American charts at number one, shifting several million units worldwide. The next Prodigy full-length was 1999s The Dirtchamber Sessions, a mix album helmed by Howlett.
 
The Babys Got a Temper single — one Howlett would later disown — appeared in 2002 and soon after Leeroy Thornhill left the band. Maxim and Keith Flint were still in the band but they werent to be found on 2004s Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned. Instead the album featured guest spots from Oasis Liam Gallagher, Kool Keith, Twista, and actress Juliette Lewis. Flint and Maxim did join Howlett for a worldwide tour to support the album that launched in October 2004. A year later Their Law: Singles compiled the big hits.