Perfectly Prolific Prodigy Trivia Quiz

Answer: Charly

The Prodigy started off humble in the underground circuit. Their name was derived by frontman Liam Howlett from the Moog Prodigy synthesizer. Their first single "Charly" was a huge hit in rave scenes. It famously sampled a public information movie from the 1970s, called "Charly Says". In that movie a boy called Tony and his cat Charly gave safety tips to children.

It was not until 1992 that the band released their first full album called "Experience". Singles to come off this album include "Everybody in the Place" and "Wind it Up".

Answer: Out of Space

The single "Out of Space" seemed to really push the band forward to mainstream success. The song features several samples, including the reggae track "I Chase The Devil" by Max Romeo and "Critical Breakdown", performed by the Ultramagnetic MC's. This last song is where the famous line from the track is taken from.

The Audiobullys would later make a remix of this song. It was originally released as a fourth single for The Prodigy. Several versions of the song include bonus tracks, like "Music Reach" and "Ruff in the Jungle Bizness".

Answer: Music for the Jilted Generation

The second album "Music for the Jilted Generation" was well received by the fans and press and cemented their place in the British music scene. It featured songs like "Voodoo People", "Poison" and "One Love", released as a single. Other tracks include "Claustrophobic Sting and "Break and Enter".

The album's theme is said to be a response to the situation in the British rave scene, as the band saw it. They found the scene to be heavily corrupt. It was also a protest against the Criminal Justice and Public Order act, released in 1994. In that act the rave scene was associated with criminal acts.

Answer: Pop Will Eat Itself

The track "Their Law" was more rock oriented than their usual work. It carried a strong political message. Frontman Liam added a sample of the movie "Smoky and The Bandit" in the song, as was the case for many songs on the second album.

"Pop Will Eat Itself" is a rock band, originally from Stourbridge. They were formed in 1986. One of their biggest hits was the 1993 single "Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies". Their songs often had strong political themes, which made them the perfect choice for Liam and his men for "Their Law".

Answer: Firestarter

So far Liam Howlett was always the frontman in the band. With the release of "Firestarter" this position shifted somewhat to Keith Flint, who usually did more of the dance work along with Leeroy Thornhill. Their next single "Breathe" also featured Keith more prominently.

The single was accompanied by a rather dark video, shot in black and white. It features Keith performing in an underground tunnel. Later performer Weird Al Yankovic, famous for his parodies of hit songs, made a new version of the song called "Lousy Haircut".

Answer: The Fat of the Land

The title of the album comes from an English expression: "living off the fat of the land", which means that you are doing very well, living a rich lifestyle. It came out just before the band was one of the major acts at the 1997 Glastonbury festival.

The album spawned several hit singles, including the two already released singles, "Firestarter" and "Breathe". It features several samples, as did previous albums, including tracks from the Wu-Tang Clan and the Beastie Boys.

Answer: Jonas Akerlund

The song "Smack my B.... (censored) Up" has received a lot of criticism, supposedly condoning and promoting violence. The band has denied this regularly and it also did not stop the song from becoming a massive hit for the band worldwide. The song features a sample from the Ultramagnetic MC's. They were previously sampled by the band on "Out of Space".

The music video, directed by Jonas Akerlund, further enhanced the controversy. It shows a person going on a rampage on the town, doing everything from drinking and taking drugs to having sex and being violent. At the end of the video the unseen character actually turns out to be a woman. Jonas Akerlund has done extensive work on music videos, working for artists such as Madonna, Roxette and Rammstein.

Answer: Baby's Got a Temper

There were a lot of things changing for The Prodigy after the release of their third studio album. Leeroy Thornhill left the band in 1999. In 2002 Liam Howlett married Natalie Appleton from the band All Saints. They would have a son called Billy in 2004.

Musically things were not as well received as their previous work. The single "Baby's Got a Temper" was criticized, since the lyrics mentioned the rape drug Rohypnol. The song was written by Keith Flint, while working on a side project called Flint. Initially the song was intended for the upcoming fourth album, but it was left off the track listing due to the controversy.

Answer: Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned

Work on the album started out in 1998 already. For this album Liam Howlett mostly worked by himself, with the rest of the band not contributing to the album musically. Liam had long breaks and was apparently not pleased with the initial result. There are various contributions from other artists on the album like Twista, the Gallagher brothers from Oasis and Kool Keith (of the Ultramagnetic MC's). It even features an appearance from actress Juliette Lewis. She does backing vocals on the opening track "Spitfire".

After the album The Prodigy kind of settled down a little releasing a compilation album in 2005 called "Their Law: The Singles From 1990-2005".

Answer: Omen

The fifth album by the band seemed to sell better than the previous one, bringing the band back into the limelight again. Liam Howlett started work on the album in 2006 and has described it as a sort of mixture from previous albums. It features collaborations with very diverse artists again, including Dave Grohl and James Rushent.

The track "Omen" was officially released as the first single off the album. It was co-produced by James Rushent, who is known from the band Does It Offend You, Yeah? Other singles to be released from this album are "Warrior's Dance" and "Take Me To The Hospital".