The Prodigy Fat of the Land Album Cover Art
The Prodigy's 1994 2d anthology, 'Music For The Jilted Generation', was idea of to exist a response to the crackdown on the rave scene by the Conservative government of the fourth dimension, which issued the Criminal Justice Bill the same year. Producer/leader Liam Howlett later said he idea the album's championship was "stupid".
Tertiary single 'Smack My Bitch Up', released five months afterwards the album, was even more contentious than 'Firestarter', but it didn't stop people buying the album, despite protests. It has now sold more than 10m copies worldwide.
Originally, the embrace was going to be a doner kebab existence roasted on a stick and branded with the name of the album. XL designer Alex Jenkins shot the paradigm, then Howlett changed his mind at the last moment, forcing Jenkins to source the dancing crab photo, which he faxed to Howlett to approve. The claw was increased in size, making information technology look similar the crab is sticking two fingers up to the world.
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The Prodigy
Keith Flintstone had a makeover for 'Fat Of The Land', shaving his long pilus into dyed devil horns and creating his drawing-like punk rock psychopath image in the process. Whether by design or not, he instantly became the Prodigy'south focal betoken, which undoubtedly helped the grouping cantankerous over. 'Fat Of The Country' was influenced by hip-hop more than the previous 2 Prodigy albums, but information technology as well makes one considerable nod to indie: 'Firestarter' samples The Breeders' 'S.O.S.', resulting in Kim Deal getting a writing credit on the song. Second unmarried, 'Breathe', was used by Dutch darts player Michael van Gerwen as his walk-on music up until 2012. He now uses 'Seven Nation Army' past The White Stripes. Many artists have covered 'Firestarter' including Kiss co-founder/bassist Gene Simmons, who included a version on his 2004 2d solo album, the appropriately titled 'Asshole'. The band said the repeated couplet "Change my pitch upward / Smack my bitch upward" in 'Smack My Bitch Up', sampled from the Ultramagnetic MCs' 'Give The Drummer Some', concerned "doing anything intensely". Accusations of misogyny resulted in the BBC banning the vocal, and the Beastie Boys asking them non to play it at the 1998 Reading Festival. Ultramagnetic MC Kool Keith, a hero of Howlett's, wrote all the lyrics for 'Diesel fuel Power' and reportedly got paid $40,000 for his work on the album, including lines similar "Yo, I used to bank check out lyrics and pump the format." Flint owns a pub in Essex with an open up burn down. He recently said that every time he lights it and someone quotes a lyric from 'Firestarter', they accept to donate a pound to charity. The success of 'Fat Of The Land' put pressure on The Prodigy, who became a huge live draw in its backwash. Dancer Leeroy Thornhill'due south spousal relationship to broadcaster Sara Cox broke down and he left the band, after which Howlett decided he needed a pause besides. NME's review on release: "As righteous every bit Rage Against The Machine, every bit disturbed as Marilyn Manson and every bit rabid as Discharge, 'Fat…' volition have all way of people scrambling to declare it equally the beginning block rockin' post-Oasis amyl-techno-punk album. Which is precisely what it is." (Paul Moody, June 28, 1997) What nosotros say now: Music fans are now genre-blind, making information technology difficult to retrieve how revolutionary 'Fat Of The State' was – catastrophe up in the record collections of both rockers and ravers. The album'south colossal sales besides change the fortunes of XL, a label that would keep to sign Dizzee, White Stripes, MIA and Vampire Weekend, becoming the most significant UK indie of the 2000s. In their own words: "We're a dance ring with a stone mental attitude. That's what sets usa apart. We blot hip-hop and dance beats, and rock attitude, plus the same energy and difficult affect. That's The Prodigy audio." Liam Howlett, NME, 1996.
Source: https://www.nme.com/photos/how-the-fat-of-the-land-turned-the-prodigy-into-worldwide-dance-rock-titans-1429373