The History Of Prodigy

Unlike punk, however, House survived its honeymoon period. The reason was simply that the music itself progressed to accommodate the changing, increasingly sophisticated tastes of its audience. In fact, today cutting-edge dance music – with its rock, Dub, Hip-Hop and heavy metal influences – bares scant resemblance to its melodic House origins.

Dozens of DJs, artists and record labels can claim to have played their part in the evolution of 1990s dance culture. Only one band, however, has stayed ahead of each new trend. Since forming in the rave days of 1990, Essex-based The Prodigy have mixed up musical styles, absorbed myriad influences and experimented with new technology in order to keep dance music on the move. More than any other artist, they have proved that dance acts can compete with conventional rock bands both in terms of album sales and live shows.

What was actually Acid House on a massive scale, raves took off in the UK at the end of the 1980s. Huge illegal warehouse parties and outdoor gatherings – attracting tens of thousands of people – turned a rapidly growing number of the country’s youth on to a new form of music played entirely by machines. Acid House was a relentless, minimalist, manic offshoot of the House and Techno scenes that had developed in the North American cities of Chicago and Detroit. With a name thought to have originated from the group Phuture’s Acid Track single of 1987, Acid House was characterised by hypnotic rhythms, offbeat soundscapes and weird sample. To intensify the music’s mind-altering frequencies, the melodies central to American House were omitted. Acid was more extreme, almost alien. The beats were impossibly fast – far too fast ever to be recreated by real musicians – and the sounds were certainly not human.

The explosion in awareness, production and consumption of the chemical MDMA – ie the recreational drug Ecstasy – that that happened at the same time as Acid House was no coincidence. The incessant, repetitive beat of the man-made music helped Ecstasy users to maintain both their energy levels and a trance-like state in which they could dance non-stop for hours on end. The loved-up, hedonistic Ecstasy experience led the rave scene to adopt a recycled Hippie mantra from the 1960s. 1988 became known as the Second Summer of Love, smiley T-shirts and baggy jeans became street fashion and alcohol waas snubbed in favour of high-energy, non-alcoholic herbal and caffeine cocktails.

BREATHE

Breathe with me

Breathe the pressure

Come play my game I'll test ya

Psychosomatic addict insaneBreathe the pressure

Come play my game I'll test ya

Psychosomatic addict insane

Come play my game

Inhale inhale

You're the victim

Come play my game

Exhale exhale exhale

ДЫШИ

Дыши со мной,

Вдохни этот газ,

Давай, сыграй в мою игру,

Придурок, псих и наркоман.