On the 30th June 1997, London based record label XL Recordings released what would go on to become one of the most iconic albums of the 90s, an album that would break multiple world records and garner even more awards and nominations, and is regarded as the album that brought electronica to the US in full force. That album was The Prodigy's third studio album, The Fat of the Land.
Prior to the release of Fat of the Land, The Prodigy had already made a great name for themselves in the UK, in fact a year prior to Fat of the Land's release they had ten songs in the charts from their previous two albums, the first of which was released in 1992, just to give you an idea on just how big the boys were during this time. Hailing from the remnants of the rave culture of the late 80s and early 90s, they were still known at this point for tracks such as Out of Space and Charly, upbeat and energetic rave tracks released prior to the Criminal Justice Act Legislation that essentially turned ravers into criminals. Mastermind of the band Liam Howlett had always been vocal on his hatred for the act, producing such tracks as Their Law as a retort to the act, however even with the release of these more aggressive and rebellious singles featured on their second album Music For a Jilted Generation, there was still a little bit of peace and love from the ravey heydays still ever so present within the band. That is, until the release of Fat of the Land's first single, Firestarter, which was released on the 18th March, 1996.
Firestarter was co-written by Prodigy dancer and MC Keith Flint, who up until this point in the band's history was simply known for dressing goofy and dancing about on stage to the band's music, however with Firestarter Keith was seemingly re-born over night. Accompanying the single was the music video, which featured Flint in a striking new look - wearing an American flag tracksuit, sporting punk-inspired spiked hair shaved down the centre, eye liner, and piercings. This video, along with videos to the band's further two singles, Breathe and Smack my Bitch Up, were relegated to late night showings only or outright banned by some TV stations due to the shocking and scary nature of the videos and songs, with reports coming in of some children having nightmares about the sneering image of Keith kicking about the abandoned tube stations of London. Still though, none of this stopped Firestarter becoming an instant hit, leaving fans hungry for more.
Following the 11th November release of Breathe, which featured Prodigy dancer Leeroy Thornhill in his final Prodigy video outing, no further singles would be released for Fat of the Land until over a year later when Smack My Bitch Up hit shelves on the 17th November 1997, five months after the release of the album itself. In that time though the band had retreated to Howlett's home studio, known to them as "The Dirtchamber", where they begun crafting an album that was to completely remove them from the more up-beat and care-free rave scene they had originated in. As well as his work on Firestarter, Keith also co-wrote an additional two songs, including the previously mentioned Breathe and also Serial Thrilla, and he gave vocals to four of the album's ten tracks.
There was also change for Howlett, who for the first time was using software for his music creation, specifically the Cubase audio package proving very useful when mixing the record. There was still some old-skool hardware used as he had with the previous records, but by the following album, Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned, he had made the jump almost exclusively to software for his work. Due to the band's already huge fanbase and the excitement brought about by the initial singles, there was a shit tonne of buzz around the album's launch and the remaining eight tracks, so much so that a media launch event was held in a barn in Southern England .
The event was as bizarre as you could imagine, with the album being played incredibly loud on a huge soundsystem set up within the bar, whilst a prize-winning Hereford bull was walked amongst the crowd, sporting a flag featuring the band's all new logo, which featured the first use of their ant icon. Furthermore bottles of Beck's, re-branded with the band's name, album title, and ant logo on the labels, were also handed out amongst the crowd, but surprisingly, there were no Prodigy members to be seen at the event. This was due to the fact Liam was still working on the album at the time, in fact he was specifically adding the vocals to Serial Thrilla at the time, stating that what people actually heard at that event were demos. Keith and Leeroy were supposed to be in attendance, however after Keith was asked in stead to come in to the studio to do some more work, both men backed out.
Cut forward to the release date of the album, and it was a phenomenal hit the world over. It holds the record to this day as the fastest selling dance album of all time, selling 317,000 in its first week alone. By December on 1997, six months after its release, it had already been certified double platinum. To date, it has sold over 10 million copies, it scored 14 number one chart positions all around the world, and has since cropped up again and again on "greatest albums of all times" listings. Hell, it was even nominated for a '97 Mercury Award and for a Grammy, though unfortunately lost out to Radiohead's OK Computer. Before the turn of the millennium, the album also made it into the Guinness World Record for being the fastest selling UK album at the time. With its far more aggressive sound compared to what other dance acts were producing at the time, with a far more hip-hop and rock influenced leaning, the album was one of the biggest contributors to the collision of dance and rock fans.
The album was not without its detractors however, especially due to one track in particular, the very first track of the album in fact, Smack My Bitch Up. The BBC banned the track despite its chart topping status, only easing the restrictions enough to allow Radio 1 to play a lyrics-free version on their show. The name itself also caused some issue, with most stations simply refusing to acknowledge it on their show, or simply referring to it as "Smack". The video, which featured a POV shot of an individual indulging in a night of drugs, sex, drink, and violence who is later revealed to be a woman, debuted at midnight on MTV on the 7th December 1997, however by the 22nd of that month the station pulled the video.
The National Organisation for Women were hugely vocal of their disdain for the track and its accompanying video, putting forward the case that the track was dangerous in that it promoted misogynistic views and abuse of women. The band for years have shot back at these claims stating that the phrase "to smack my bitch up" means to get one's shit together, as the lyrics themselves are sampled from the Give the Drummer Some track by Ultramagnetic MCs where this is their meaning also. Still though, the argument wasn't enough for some, most notably the Beastie Boys, who attempted to contact Liam asking that they remove the track from their '98 Reading Festival set-list, as the Boys were following the Prodigy and didn't wish to follow on from such an "offensive song". When Liam refused, the Beastie Boys then also attempted to get the band removed from the line-up altogether, to no avail. During The Prodigy's performance, Maxim made reference to this spat, making sure to mention to the crowd that they were asked not to perform Smack My Bitch Up before burning straight into it. This led to the Beastie Boys receiving some rightfully justified backlash, with many fans calling them hypocrites due to their own music facing similar issues and concerns in the 80s.
I previously mentioned Ultramagnetic MCs as a sample used on the album, but I feel I should point out it there are plenty more samples to be found on the album, in fact the thing is packed full of fantastic samples from huge acts. To name a few, there's Rage Against the Machine's Bulls on Parade also used in Smack My Bitch Up, there's the sword swooshes from Wu Tang's Da Mystery of Chessboxin' featured on Breathe, and funnily enough, there's a sample from the Beastie Boys' Root Down used in Funky Shit. Other notable acts featured also include Kool & The Gang, Thin Lizzy, and The Who, to name a few. Not only that, but you may also not be aware that the album closer, Fuel My Fire, is actually a cover of Californian rock band L7's song.
So that's it, that's Fat of the Land, baby. One of, if not THE biggest dance album of all time, and quite possibly one of the greatest albums of all time, period. To this day there are still few albums that rival it in aggression and energy, which after almost a quarter of a century is an incredible feat for it to still have its fangs. So huge an album it is in fact, that when Keith Flint tragically took his own life back in 2019, fans pushed to return his magnum opus, Firestarter, to the charts in honour of him and to raise awareness of male suicide rates, securing it a 13th place on the Dance/Electronics billboard charts.
Change my pitch up, Smack my bitch up, Fat of the Land.
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