He followed it with a kaleidoscopic concept album, 1994’s Music for the Jilted Generation, which changed the channel from children’s television to the nightly news. Undeterred, Howlett went on building tracks entirely by himself, culminating in a hit debut album, 1992’s Experience and its five hit singles. Mixmag infamously put him on the cover holding a gun to his head above the words, “Did Charly kill rave?” The cat was an albatross around Howlett’s neck. If you’re looking for what the Intelligent DanceMusic dudes categorized themselves against, it was this. This kind of cartoon rave was, well, fun, especially when heard in the throes of ecstasy.īut the novelty of “Charly” was tailed by copycats until there could be said to be an entire “ toytown techno” scene, breakbeat-powered and helium-voiced. Techno was getting harder and darker, with brutal offshoots like gabber gathering steam. In 1991, the Prodigy arrived with their own lark, “ Charly,” mixing standard hardcore piano riffs and a few sped-up rap staples with eerie samples from a 1973 PSA in which a treacly young boy is policed by an actual cat named Charly.

The name took.Īt the time, a clutch of rave anthems had already sold well in the UK, but they sold better when turned into novelties. Howlett had written the word “Prodigy” on that tape, as a boast or a tribute to his faithful Moog, or both. Since Flint’s upcoming trip to Thailand was canceled due to a bust for weed possession, he suggested Howlett form a band with him and his friend Leeroy Thornhill.

One night, Howlett was DJing a beach party when a wanderer and rave regular named Keith Flint praised his set and asked for a mixtape Howlett gave him one, and some demos. He spent the next year or two also learning to make music on a Roland W-30 Sampler Workstation and Moog Prodigy. Howlett DJed parties throughout England’s fabled Second Summer of Love in 1988, when acid house and its culture of carefree hedonism took over the country. In 1986, he went to London, but after a disastrous run at a rap career, he returned to Braintree and like so many white men of his English generation, necked an E at a rave and found his path. He cut his teeth on hip-hop: His first concert was Afrika Bambaataa and Word of Mouth at Wembley stadium. Born in 1971, Liam Howlett grew up in the naff suburbs of Braintree, a county in Essex, a region still lampooned to this day.

The Prodigy Experience Album