1992 in Albums: The Prodigy Experience, by The Prodigy

One of the first great rave LPs

The Prodigy Experience — The Prodigy

Controversial opinion time. I’m not saying this to be contrarian, and feel free to disagree, but…

The Fat of the Land and ‘Firestarter’ were the low points of The Prodigy’s discography.

They were fun, don’t get me wrong. I saw them live twice during the Fat Of The Land era, and I jumped around lots to ‘Firestarter’ in my student disco days, and I very much enjoyed the Prodigy’s rockstar era. But there’s no denying that the music is a bit knuckleheaded, especially compared to what they had done on previous records.

I say they, but The Prodigy are really a he. Liam Howlett always worked alone in the studio, splicing beats together like a funky Frankenstein. And his first work was something of a monster, a track that MixMag accused of killing rave:

It’s not Liam’s fault that other people copied this formula very badly (even Andrew Lloyd Webber himself…