by Jamie
Talking last week about the explosion that Primal Scream and the just briefly mentioned Stone Roses created in Britain’s Rock scene in the late 1980′s early 1990′s it’s interesting to see the influence it had on the American buying public. Though the Stone Roses and Primal Scream were both interested in the dance floor and break beats just as much as guitar parts, the largest off shoot of both bands was the emergence of BritPop. The uniquely British idea that dominated the British music press and charts for the better part of the 1990′s. In America, still in the last throws of Grunge and in mourning due to Cobain’s sudden passing, moved on relatively quickly (looking back at styles and movements it’s actually remarkable to me how quickly America processed grunge then moved on) and was perhaps poised for a brief moment to embrace the English movement but, alas like so many other uniquely British movements with specific English quips, sayings, and iconoclasm America just didn’t get it (see also early Who and Small Faces [i.e. the Second Wave British Invasion], all of Paul Weller’s career, much Smiths, much Kinks, etc). Record buyers in the States then quickly bounced around from irreverent indy guitar pop (Weezer’s two early records, the PotUSA sublime strange hit ‘Peaches’, Crash Test Dummies ‘Mmmmm’) to a remixed eccentric poetic troubadour (Beck) then back onto itself and their past (the reemergence of the Beasties and a softer Metallica) to finally a movement that could finally rival grunge: post-industrial, to which Trent Reznor’s sublime NIN, and his ‘little brother’ Marilyn Manson happily obliged and created (today’s pick seems like the dance club version of NIN middle period actually).
So there left Britain creating its most unique, consistent and clearly defined movement in years to its own devices. The point of all this is then how surprising it was when smack in the middle of all this BritPop mania, a movement that only really Oasis were able to sell to Americans (and even then it was just slightly warmer then tepid), that a band from Essex was able to not only breakthrough in America with a #1 record, but also almost create a movement unto itself in England to rival BritPop in its heyday (the movement would also consist of Beats International/Fatboy Slim and the Chemical Brothers. Those are, however, two English acts I don’t plan on covering in this Series at the moment).
The Prodigy’s Fat of the Land, released in mid-1997, was the third album from the band. It was a huge success, and a great creative leap forward (which is saying a lot as the previous record Music for the Jilted Generation is a masterpiece that also was a critical and commercial smash). It was everything dance music supposedly wasn’t: crass, interesting, subversive, controversial, hard-core, and it rocked harder then quite a bit of the hard rock of its day. It’s also a whole slew of counter ideas; rather cheap, easily disposable and digestible, and quite catchy.
Fat of the Land arrived on the heels of its controversial lead single ‘Smack My Bitch Up’, whether you regard that as misogynistic, advocating drug use (‘smack’ being slang for Heroin), or as the band claimed; a celebration or pumping up to “do anything intensely” its one of the era most easily recognized songs. Rarely has the medium seen such influence in a song with such little lyrical content (the songs entire message is just 8 words repeated throughout the song, “Change my pitch up / Smack my bitch up”), and it’s the entire phrase that does lead to the (seemingly impossible) ambiguous reading of the phrase, and besides it is a sampled lyric as well. It’s performed at breakneck speed, almost resting in the area where punk rock’s attitude would marry the dance beats of rave culture. It all seemed natural in early 1997 before the album serviced when lead vocalist Keith Flint debuted a new hair style and starting sporting that iconic stars and stripes sweater, the increased edginess and musical aggressiveness almost seemed to be being foreshadowed by Flint, perhaps it was measured. Perhaps it was the natural aftermath of being in the necessary headspace one would need to help create Fat of the Land.
‘Smack My Bitch Up’ was the lead single and the opening track when the album finally surfaced. From there the band jumped to another one of the band’s three smash singles, ‘Breathe’. ‘Breathe’ is every bit ‘Smack’s creative explosive equal, and in many ways (such as layered depth and musical complexity [I know virtually impossible for this sort of music]) its superior. It’s a more complete band presentation as well, and leads nicely into ‘Diesel Power’. ‘Diesel Power’ is more of the same, if longer and a bit of a rest (all relative of course), unfortunately the superior ‘Diesel Power (Pain remix)’ wasn’t the album choice, as it’s a bit more hypnotic. ‘Funky Shit’ and ‘Serial Thrilla’ feature more of the same, breakneck dance music with heavy use of sampling. At the moment ‘Serial Thriller’ is my favorite track on the record what with its looped guitar lead and tumbling drum parts. ‘Mindfields’ slow opening is probably the first real break on the album, which leads into a tricky little keyboard part that is repeated throughout the next five-and-a-half-minutes, a part supposedly taken from the score of the 1974 Bond flick The Man with the Golden Gun. ‘Narayan’ has its thoughts squarely on the club scene, and the running time (9:05) seems to reinforce this. Once it locks into the groove it just doesn’t want to budge. ‘Firestarter’ the albums other single, is perhaps the most memorable of them all. It’s the one with the instantly recognizable opening, insanely catchy drum build and features Keith Flint in that aforementioned American flag sweater and devil horn haircut. ‘Climbatize’ and ‘Fuel My Fire’ close the album in much the same fashion that the previous eight tracks opened it. The b-sides and outtakes from the era show how prolific ideas were generating, ‘No Man Army’ with its guest guitar part by Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello is just one such example, ‘Molotov Bitch’ another.
Much like the Carcass selection a few weeks back, this selection represents the outer reaches of this Series, a Series mostly interested in British guitar pop, but after a few listens to this album its selection will more then be understood and rightly justified.
Youtube has all the tracks, and plenty of interesting remixes, happy listening. See you next week.
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I also wanted to mention that next month the Series pick on the 29th of September will be coinciding with the fifth selection of The Record Club. A club started by Ed Howard of Only the Cinema fame in which once a month a different member selects a record for the others to listen to and discuss at the earlier selected day. I’ve drawn the September slot, so though many of the followers of this Series aren’t formal members of the club (though any and all can join) I will state that the pick for that day will be the Manic Street Preachers 1994 record The Holy Bible (by that point this Series will be smack in the middle of the BritPop grouping). Normally I guard my picks for this Series with the surveillance to rival Ft. Knox, but on this I’d encourage all to obtain a copy of the album so you can listen a few times and partake in the usually fascinating and lengthy discussions we have on music where anything goes.
Should anyone need a copy of the album let me know and I’ll see what I can do.
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OK, I’ll try again (wordpress deleted my comment).
I enjoyed reading your mini-recap of 90s musical trends in the intro paragraph. I think in some ways this reflects the overall movement of pop culture in that decade (maybe the first postmodern one, at least as far as pop culture is concerned): there was a definite movement from a more unified zeitgeist to a series of trends.
Actually, I think 1989 – 93 was a kind of mini-golden age, bookended by the plastic banality of the Reagan years and the nicheified smallness of the Clinton era. You saw black inner city culture really crossing over into the mainstream (not just in the obvious terms of hip-hop, which had not lost its connection to the streets at that time, but also young directors like Lee, Singleton, and the Hughes Brothers making hit movies – where are their successors?). Obviously grunge. Quite a lot of new classic films which were both challenging and entertaining. The emergence of a hip, often postmodern self-consciousness and irony in TV (Twin Peaks, Simpsons, Seinfeld). And overall, a kind of semi-mystical “breeze” that swept through American society in the wake of the pronouncedly artificial 80s (which I find intriguing in their own, mostly unintentional, way). You can see it even in Hollywood fluff and other minor works of the time; it was everywhere, kind of an unconscious mood.
I think all this is down to the coincidence of several factors: the end of the Cold War and apartheid releasing energy and optimism worldwide (eventually to be sunk in the realities of ethnic strife, globalization, economic crises, terrorism, etc.) most of all, but also baby boomers moving into positions of power within pop culture (solidifying the acceptance of what was once counterculture), the emergence of a new generation with its own set of icons and zeitgeist (X, obviously), generally a sigh of relief after the cultural backlash of the 80s.
Anyway, I have Fat of the Land on my iPod but don’t listen to it that much, but you’ve inspired me to give it another whirl soon. That’s kind of another subject, I suppose.
Ah yes Joel, but you disregard two important factors:
1) You mostly are describing American Pop music, as what I was attempting to articulate was how post-punk (meaning dates not genre) movement how different American and British Pop music were. Specifically in the 90s.
2) things like Cold Wars ending and apartheid releasing energy aren’t really accurate as (good) pop music has always operated as anti-normalcy. In other words something like the Cold War was never approached as legitimate by pop artists meaning that it’s eventual ending isn’t a release but rather a ‘yeah, I know’.
In you want to think about American pop music of the 90′s I think the easiest way to do it is just put Nirvana was the Sex Pistols for America. How Britain tumbled and strutted after they changed the world Nirvana did the same in America in 1992. The cultures reacted differently as they are different cultures, but it was a similar all encompassing effect.
I think a certain reading of the Cold War was not approached as legitimate, but I don’t get the sense that they greeted it with a shrug, more a shudder. From Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” (maybe) to XTC’s “Living Through Another Cuba” (thanks for that) Cold War anxiety was a definite staple of pop musical discourse. The anti-normalcy aspect factored into (with Western countries) questioning the U.S. government’s presentation of the international situation, but not the seriousness of said situation. That said, my point is more indirect – that there was a certain “mood” in the air in the early 90s, manifested through a variety of different media and I do think one of the factors was a sense of euphoria with the Berlin Wall falling (perhaps I should have put that rather than “Cold War ending”) and Mandala being released from jail.
No, I just meant to suggest that your recap of 90s musical shifts within the U.S. made me think about how the 90s contained lots of different eras within one decade, and this in turn made me think about how the early 90s were a rich little epoch in pop culture in general (other than the mention of grunge and hip-hop my focus is not really on music, more film/tv and general “zeitgeist”). What does this have to do with your piece? I don’t know. But it started the wheels turning anyway.
“Rarely has the medium seen such influence in a song with such little lyrical content (the songs entire message is just 8 words repeated throughout the song, “Change my pitch up / Smack my bitch up”), and it’s the entire phrase that does lead to the (seemingly impossible) ambiguous reading of the phrase, and besides it is a sampled lyric as well. It’s performed at breakneck speed, almost resting in the area where punk rock’s attitude would marry the dance beats of rave culture.”
Ha! Just as I was sitting down to listen to some of the you tube tracks from this Prodigy album, Joel entered his fascinating comment here. Anyway I agree with what you say here Jamie, that’s it’s rather remarkable how that song (“Smack My Bitch Up”) sustains itself with a scant eight words, and with an electronic progression that almost recalls Ravel’s “Bolero” in the way redundancy is built upon. I wasn’t much of a fan, but liked the psychedelic “Breathe” which is musical aggession incarnate, “Serial Killer” and “Mindfields” were most interesting too, but I would have to say “Breathe” was my favorite.
Another glorious piece to the puzzle here. Magnificent writing!
yeah, just as I though Durutti Column would really find you in agreement, I didn’t think The Prodigy would really be your cup of tea. This is mood music so you have to be ‘in the mood’ and like this sort of thing. Which I do often.
Glad you checked ‘em out though… though you have seen Matrix films so you’ve heard this stuff before even if you didn’t know it.
Funny you should bring up the Matrix films to Sam here, as that’s exactly what I think of when I think of Prodigy — I guess I didn’t even realize they were from earlier in the decade. Their style of club/dance music isn’t necessarily in my wheelhouse, even moreso at the time this album came out (though I’ve actually warmed to some stuff with that pulsating beat in my old-age, as odd as that may be).
Great encapsulation of the evolution of the music scene in your opening there — it’s that kind of stuff that’s kept me reading this series for 39(!!!) parts now.