Music for the Jilted Generation

Music for the Jilted Generation
Studio album by The Prodigy
Released 4 July 1994
Studio Earthbound Studios, The Strongroom
Genre
Length 78:07
49:30 (More Music for the Jilted Generation)
Label
Producer
The Prodigy chronology
Experience
(1992)Experience1992		 Music for the Jilted Generation
(1994)		 The Fat of the Land
(1997)The Fat of the Land1997
Singles from Music for the Jilted Generation
  1. "One Love"
    Released: 4 October 1993
  2. "No Good (Start the Dance)"
    Released: 16 May 1994
  3. "Voodoo People"
    Released: 12 September 1994
  4. "Poison"
    Released: 6 March 1995

Music for the Jilted Generation is the second studio album by English electronic music group The Prodigy. It was first released on 4th July 1994 by XL Recordings in the United Kingdom and by Mute Records in the United States. Just as on the group’s debut album Experience (1992), Maxim Reality was the only member of the band's lineup - besides Liam Howlett - to contribute to the album.

A remastered and expanded edition of the album titled More Music for the Jilted Generation was released in 2008.[1]

Music and content

Music for the Jilted Generation uses elements of drum and bass,[2] breakbeat techno,[2] techno,[3] hardcore techno,[4] and oldskool jungle.[4]

The album is largely a response to the corruption of the rave scene in Britain by its mainstream status as well as Great Britain's Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which criminalised raves and parts of rave culture.[2] This is exemplified in the song "Their Law" with the spoken word intro and the predominant lyric, the "Fuck 'em and their law" sample. Many years later, after the controversy died down, Liam Howlett derided the title of the album, which he referred to as "stupid", and maintained that the album was never meant to be political in the first place.[5]

Many of the samples featured on the album are sound clips from, or inspired by, movies. "Intro" features a sample that sounds like it's from the film The Lawnmower Man, however it is an American voice on "Intro" instead of Pierce Brosnan's English accent and the words are subtly different (on "Intro" the words are "So, I've decided to take my work back underground, to stop it falling into the wrong hands",[6] but in "The Lawnmower Man" the line is "So I'm taking my work underground, I can't let it fall into the wrong hands again"[7]). "Their Law" begins with a rephrased version of a quote from Smokey and the Bandit [8]. Jackie Gleason's exasperated line "What we're dealing with here is a complete lack of respect for the law" becomes "what we're dealing with here is a total lack of respect for the law". "Full Throttle" contains a reverse sample from the original Star Wars movie, and "The Heat (The Energy)" features a sample from Poltergeist III.[5] In "Claustrophobic Sting", a voice whispers "My mind is glowing",[9] similar to HAL 9000 saying "My mind is going"[10] in the film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

When Liam Howlett came to the cutting room for the final phase in the album production, he realised that all the tracks he had originally planned for wouldn't fit onto a CD, so "One Love" had to be edited which resulted in a cut of approximately 1 minute and 41 seconds, "The Heat (The Energy)" was slightly cut, and the track called "We Eat Rhythm" was left out. "We Eat Rhythm" was later released on a free cassette with Select magazine in October 1994 entitled Select Future Tracks. Liam Howlett later asserted that he felt the edit of "One Love" and "Full Throttle" could have been dropped from the track listing.[5]

"The Narcotic Suite" includes live flute parts, played by Phil Bent. Originally, Howlett asked Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull to play this part or to give permission to use samples of one of his flute parts; according to Anderson, the letter from Howlett got stuck in his office and when Ian found it, the album was already released.

Samples

Besides the movie samples described above, Liam Howlett also employed a lot of musical material from other artists:[11]

  • "Break and Enter" contains sample from Baby D's "Casanova";
  • "Their Law" contains sample from "Drop That Bassline" by Techno Grooves.
  • "Voodoo People" contains sample from "You're Starting Too Fast" by Johnny Pate and "The Shalimar" by Gylan Kain. The guitar riff is based on "Very Ape" by Nirvana and is played by Lance Riddler.
  • "The Heat (The Energy)" contains sample from "Why'd U Fall" by Lil Louis, "Thousand" by Moby and 2-Mad's "Don't Hold Back The Feeling".
  • "Poison" contains sample from "It's a New Day" by Skull Snaps and Bernard "Pretty" Purdie's "Heavy Soul Singer" .
  • "No Good" contains sample from "No Good for Me" by Kelly Charles and "Funky Nassau" by Bahamian funk group The Beginning of the End.
  • "One Love" uses the "Arabic Muezzin" sample from the ethnic vocals section of a Zero G sample CD by "Time + Space" Records
  • "3 Kilos", Part One of The Narcotic Suite, is based on a riff sampled from Bernard "Pretty" Purdie's Good Livin' (Good Lovin')
  • "Skylined", Part Two of The Narcotic Suite, features sample from a piece of musical score by Mark Snow from The X-Files episode "Deep Throat" (season 1, episode 2).[12]

Artwork

The cover of the inner artwork of the record was analysed in an article published in 2008 in the techno underground Magazine Datacide. The author compares the picture with a persiflage which was published in 2003 on the Kid606 album Kill Sound Before Sound Kills You. The article not only describes the representation of raves in graphic artwork but also describes the marketing strategy of the band with the album and criticises it:

With the picture The Prodigy are taking a stance in the conflict of ravers versus the police in those days. At the same time this statement is used to market a rebellious attitude. The picture is part of the artwork of a record – which is of course a commodity. The teenage (and male) consumer ought to identify himself with the presented rebellion. With the help of the artwork a certain image of The Prodigy is established: They should be seen as anti-stars, who define themselves through refusal and opposition [...].[13]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
The Boston Phoenix[14]
Christgau's Consumer GuideA[15]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[16]
The Guardian[3]
NME9/10[17]
Q[18]
Record Collector[19]
Rolling Stone[4]
Select5/5[20]

Music for the Jilted Generation has received critical acclaim. Rolling Stone gave it three-and-a-half stars, calling it "truly trippy" and that it "generates universal dance fever".[4] Alternative Press said it "throws much darker shapes than its predecessor" and "slams harder and rawer and covers more ground".[21] Robert Christgau called it "one of the rare records that's damn near everything you want cheap music to be".[15] Mojo ranked it number 83 in their "100 Modern Classics" list.

Spin ranked it number 60 in their "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s" list.[22] NME ranked it number 9 in their "Top 50 Albums of 1994" list.[23] Q readers voted it the 62nd greatest album of all time in early 1998 and ranked it as one of the best British albums of the last 50 years in 2008. On 4 December 2008, radio presenter Zane Lowe inducted it into his 'masterpieces' by playing the album in full on his BBC Radio 1 show. It is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.[24]

Track listing

All tracks written by Liam Howlett, unless indicated otherwise.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Intro" 0:45
2."Break & Enter" 8:24
3."Their Law" (featuring Pop Will Eat Itself)Howlett, Pop Will Eat Itself6:40
4."Full Throttle" 5:02
5."Voodoo People" 6:27
6."Speedway (Theme From Fastlane)" 8:56
7."The Heat (The Energy)" 4:27
8."Poison"Howlett, Maxim Reality6:42
9."No Good (Start the Dance)" 6:17
10."One Love" 3:53
11."The Narcotic Suite: 3 Kilos" 7:25
12."The Narcotic Suite: Skylined" 5:56
13."The Narcotic Suite: Claustrophobic Sting" 7:13
More Music for the Jilted Generation disc 2
No.TitleLength
1."Voodoo People (Radio 1 Maida Vale Session)"4:18
2."Poison (Radio 1 Maida Vale Session)"4:42
3."Break & Enter (2005 Live Edit)"4:56
4."Their Law (Live at Pukkelpop)"5:27
5."No Good (Start the Dance) (Bad for You Mix)"6:49
6."Scienide"5:49
7."Goa (The Heat The Energy Part 2)"6:03
8."Rat Poison"5:31
9."Voodoo People (Dust Brothers Remix)"5:55

Charts

Weekly charts

Chart (1994–95) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[25] 9
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[26] 7
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[27] 22
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[28] 5
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[29] 1
French Albums (SNEP)[30] 2
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[31] 11
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[32] 3
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[33] 12
Scottish Albums (OCC)[34] 3
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[35] 4
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[36] 9
UK Albums (OCC)[37] 1
US Billboard 200[38] 198
US Top Catalog Albums (Billboard)[39] 31

Certifications

Region CertificationCertified units/Sales
Poland (ZPAV)[40] Gold 50,000*
Sweden (GLF)[41] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[42] 2× Platinum 600,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Personnel

  • Liam Howlett – performing, synthesizers, keyboards, sampling, drum-machines, production (on tracks 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 11, 12, and 13) at Earthbound studios, co-production (on tracks 4, 5, 7, 9, and 10) at The Strongroom, mixing, engineering
  • Maxim Reality – co-writer and vocalist on "Poison"
  • Neil McLellan – co-production and mixing (on tracks 4, 5, 7, 9, and 10) at The Strongroom
  • Pop Will Eat Itself – performer on "Their Law"
  • Phil Bent – live flute
  • Lance Riddler – live guitar on "Voodoo People"
  • Mike Champion – management
  • Les Edwards – inside sleeve painting
  • Stuart Haygarth – front cover
  • Jamie Fry – rear sleeve

References

  1. ↑ "More Music for the Jilted Generation", 2008 release (Retrieved 26 May 2008)
  2. 1 2 3 4 Bush, John. "Music for the Jilted Generation – The Prodigy". AllMusic. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  3. 1 2 Petridis, Alexis (1 August 2008). "Electronic review: The Prodigy, More Music For the Jilted Generation". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Evans, Paul (20 April 1995). "The Prodigy: Music for the Jilted Generation". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 13 January 2002. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  5. 1 2 3 Dimery, Robert (2005). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. New York, NY: Quintet Publishing. p. 750. ISBN 0-7893-1371-5.
  6. ↑ "The Prodigy - Intro + Break & Enter". YouTube. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  7. ↑ Clip from The Lawnmower Man, skip to 9:20 "The Lawnmower Man - Ending". YouTube. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  8. ↑ "Smokey and the Bandit". Youtube. Retrieved 19 February 2018.
  9. ↑ "The Prodigy - claustrophobic sting (Narcotic Suite)". YouTube. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  10. ↑ "Deactivation of HAL 9000". YouTube. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  11. ↑ http://theprodigy.info/samples/jilted.shtml
  12. ↑ http://www.whosampled.com/sample/456231/The-Prodigy-Skylined-The-X-Files-Mulder-in-Military-Base/
  13. ↑ Psaar, Hans-Christian (October 2008). "Commodities for the Jilted Generation". Datacide (10). Retrieved 2017-11-27.
  14. ↑ Freedberg, Michael (2–9 January 1997). "Prodigy: Music For The Jilted Generation". The Boston Phoenix. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  15. 1 2 Christgau, Robert (2000). "The Prodigy: Music for the Jilted Generation". Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s. Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-312-24560-2. Retrieved 11 September 2011.
  16. ↑ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-85712-595-8.
  17. ↑ Fadele, Dele (9 July 1994). "The Prodigy – Music For The Jilted Generation". NME. Archived from the original on 13 October 2000. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  18. ↑ "The Prodigy: Music for the Jilted Generation". Q (266): 117. September 2008.
  19. ↑ "The Prodigy: Music for the Jilted Generation". Record Collector: 83. 2008. Under the booming breakbeats, thrash guitars and inflammatory soundbites, Howlett's supernova's talent was on overdrive...
  20. ↑ Harrison, Andrew (August 1994). "Essexpress!". Select (50): 81.
  21. ↑ (April 1995, p. 84) -
  22. ↑ (September 1999, p. 150)
  23. ↑ (24 December 1994, p. 22)
  24. ↑ Robert Dimery; Michael Lydon (23 March 2010). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die: Revised and Updated Edition. Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-2074-2.
  25. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – The Prodigy – Music for the Jilted Generation". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  26. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – The Prodigy – Music for the Jilted Generation" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  27. ↑ "Ultratop.be – The Prodigy – Music for the Jilted Generation" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  28. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – The Prodigy – Music for the Jilted Generation" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  29. ↑ http://suomenlistalevyt.blogspot.se/2015/08/pri-paa.html
  30. ↑ "Lescharts.com – The Prodigy – Music for the Jilted Generation". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  31. ↑ "Longplay-Chartverfolgung at Musicline" (in German). Musicline.de. Phononet GmbH. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  32. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – The Prodigy – The Fat of the Land". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  33. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – The Prodigy – Music for the Jilted Generation". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  34. ↑ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  35. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – The Prodigy – Music for the Jilted Generation". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  36. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – The Prodigy – Music for the Jilted Generation". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  37. ↑ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 July 1994.
  38. ↑ "The Prodigy Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  39. ↑ "The Prodigy Chart History (Top Catalog Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
  40. ↑ "Polish album certifications – The Prodigy – Experience" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry.
  41. ↑ "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden.
  42. ↑ "British album certifications – The Prodigy – Experience". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type Experience in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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