Keeping The Fire Burning

By Joe Kavanagh

There are few, if any, accolades more complimentary to a musical act than when critics or fans refer to them as utterly unique, an artist that has traveled their own path, blazing an exclusive trail that often inspires legions of imitators but by its very nature, can never be reproduced.

In the world of music, where virtually every act is attempting to separate themselves from the crowd through their music, image or what they stand for, such acts are profoundly rare and usually only emerge a couple of times in each generation.

In many cases, those behind such acts have enjoyed unusual life experiences, setting them on their distinguished paths to success.

Liam Howlett is no different in this sense, but the last few years have perhaps taught him that far from being the genius lone wolf behind The Prodigy, his band - or the public perception of it at the very least - is more of a pack where the whole is greater than the sum of his formidable parts.

Raised in Essex, Howlett's first experience with music was a reluctant one, when his father pressured him into taking up classical piano lessons as a child, but his initial lack of enthusiasm soon melted away as he became besotted by music in general.

While other kids stayed outside playing soccer, he could be found in his room, often using the pause button on a tape-recorder to create his own primitive deejay mixes.

He became a student of songs, eventually falling in love with hip hop, and after purchasing his own turntables, talked his way into local hip hop outfit, Cut to Kill, and soon became one of their most influential members.

The experience would prove bittersweet, as the other members signed a recording contract behind his back, which left him with no control over the parts he had created for some of their songs.

The final straw came, however, when the band became embroiled in an argument with a rival crew after a gig, leading one of their members to pull a gun, and though no shots were fired, Howlett decided to cut his ties with the group.

Shortly afterwards, a friend invited him to attend a club in London, during a time when rave culture was first rearing its head on the UK scene.

Immediately hooked on the music and general feeling among its adherents, he began deejaying at events in and around the capital, which resulted in him befriending Keith Flint and Leeroy Thornhill, after the pair spent the night dancing to Howlett's choice of tunes.

Upon being asked to bring in a recording of his own music by Flint, Howlett duly returned with a four-track cassette, upon which he wrote the words, The Prodigy, in reference to his favorite Moog synthesizer.

Flint immediately suggested they form a band and a legend was born.

With Howlett providing the music, Flint, Thornhill and a female friend known as Sharky, became the crazed dancers whose antics separated the band from the many other acts on the thriving rave scene, but they were convinced that their act needed an MC to put it over the top.

A short while later they found their man, when Keeti Palmer agreed to leave behind his career as a vocalist in a reggae band, in order to become the menacing MC Maxim for The Prodigy.

Curiously, a true denizen of the underground, Sharky decided to leave the band when they signed their first deal with XL Recordings such was her hatred of all things commercial.

The band's first single was the darkly named, What Evil Lurks, which appeared on the club underground in early 1991, but only six months later they exploded onto the national scene with Charly, which reached number three in the UK charts, and was built around an iconic public safety cartoon for children featuring a cat of the same name.

The track inspired a wealth of imitators and, much to their chagrin, the band were soon being touted as innovators of a scene called "cartoon techno" or "kiddie rave".

They also made their first TV appearance, on BBC show Dance Energy, which is extremely notable for the fact that it remains their only live TV appearance as a band to date, such is the contempt with which they hold promotional duties.

Their debut album, Experience, appeared the following year and put to the sword their reputation as "kiddie ravers" but despite receiving broad praise for being an innovative rave album, it nonetheless proved too methodical for more traditional critics.

Even so, few were ready for the power, variety and innovation of their next album, Music For The Jilted Generation, which incorporated more guitars and break beats as it expanded their sound further still.

Driven by tracks like the furiously intense No Good (Start The Dance), it was widely hailed as one of the greatest club music albums of all time and made them an act of genuinely globally proportions.

If Music For The Jilted Generation came as a surprise then their next act came as a shock when Flint, doing his first ever turn on vocals, underwent a radical makeover that saw him transform into a pierced, tattooed cyber-punk, who exploded onto television screens in 1996 in the video for Firestarter.

The song proved immense, grabbing audiences around the globe by the throat with its ferocity and freshness, a sentiment which was only reinforced with follow-pup single Breathe.

The Prodigy looked and sounded like the world's first 21st Century band, and their album, Fat Of The Land, sold millions of copies throughout the globe.

It also caused its fair share of controversy, most particularly with the hit single, Smack My Bitch Up, whose lyrics drew sharp criticism for what the National Organization for Women termed its "dangerous and offensive message advocating violence against women."

Howlett claimed it was simply a metaphor for engaging in anything in an intense manner and countered: "It's so offensive that it can't actually mean that. That's where the irony is."

The Beastie Boys even got in on the act, urging The Prodigy not to play it when the band's shared a stage at 1998's Reading Festival (somewhat surprising given the Beastie Boys own flirtations with misogyny in their past).

They received short shrift when Maxim announced the song with: "They didn't want us to play this f***ing tune. But the way things go, I do what the f*** I want."

An accompanying video, which MTV declared to be the most controversial of all time, did little to ease the clamor.

U.S. pundits declared electronic music as the next big thing, but Howlett was uncomfortable with the mantle, telling Rolling Stone magazine: "The industry seems to be hyping the electronic scene up, saying it's the new thing. I don't agree. I don't think kids in America should be told to forget about rock music, because all this is, is another form of rock music."

Madonna, U2 and David Bowie all sought to work with Howlett but he resisted all offers, as he wanted to keep the sound that he had spent so long developing, all to himself so the public was forced to wait to see what The Prodigy would do next. And wait.

It was not until after Thornhill's departure in 2002 that the band reappeared with Baby's Got A Temper, which, disappointingly sounded to all intents in purposes like a reprisal of Smack My Bitch Up, and has since been disowned by Howlett.

The attention being lavished on Flint and Maxim, whose status as front men meant that many people viewed them as the faces of the band, also appeared to rankle Howlett who was somewhat petulantly quoted in one interview as saying: "I am Prodigy! Me."

His next work under the name, 2004's Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned, reinforced this notion, as he dropped Maxim and Flint, in favor of working with a host of guest vocalists including Kool Keith, Juliette Lewis and Twista.

Although well-received by the critics, the album failed to have the same commercial impact as its predecessor but living up to other people's expectations has never entered Howlett's equation, as he once eloquently explained: "I've always hated bands who do things just for effect. People should know that we're not like that. It's more important to me that it sounds right. If it rocks... you know? I just really want it on Radio 1 so it shows everything else up!"

Howlett recently revealed that the band had a long sit-down several months back and aired their opinions on any outstanding issues that remained between them as a result of misunderstandings or pressure from outside influences.

The band is once again a band as they approach the release of their latest work, Invaders Must Die, which will surely be one of the biggest albums of the year when it hits shelves in March.

While it remains to be seen if they can attain the towering heights they achieved a decade ago, one thing is certain; the music world is undoubtedly a more colorful place because of their presence.