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The Fat of the Land

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For the P. G. Wodehouse short story, see A Few Quick Ones.
Untitled

The Fat of the Land is the third studio album by The Prodigy. The album was released by XL Recordings on 30 June 1997 and on 1 July 1997 in the United States by Maverick Records. The album title comes from the old English phrase 'living off the fat of the land', which means 'living well' or being wealthy.[1]

Composition

Samples are used on a majority of tracks on the album (see the Samples section for more details). Matt Cameron of Soundgarden and later Pearl Jam, who is falsely credited as "Mark" in the liner notes, is also understood to have contributed samples to the album, though it is not clear where.[2]

At a length of 9 minutes and 5 seconds, "Narayan" is the band's longest song.

"Fuel My Fire" is a cover of an L7 song from Hungry for Stink.

Reception

The album has received critical acclaim with many Prodigy fans considering it their best album.

The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart.[3] The album has since gone double platinum selling over 2 million copies in the U.S.[4]

The album entered the Guinness World Records as the fastest-selling UK album in 1999 and was also nominated for a Grammy Award.[5]

The album was nominated for the 1997 Mercury Music Prize.

In 1998 Q magazine readers voted The Fat of the Land the ninth greatest album of all time. In 2000 Q placed it at number 47 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. Q (10/01, p. 46) - Ranked #43 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime." Q (12/99, p. 92) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s." Q (1/98, p. 114) - Included in Q Magazine's "50 Best Albums of 1997."

Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p. 82) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's."

Spin (1/98, p. 87) - Ranked #20 on Spin's list of the "Top 20 Albums Of The Year."

Melody Maker (12/20-27/97, pp. 66–67) - Ranked #13 on Melody Maker's list of 1997's "Albums Of The Year."

Village Voice (2/24/98) - Ranked #29 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.

NME (12/20-27/97, pp. 78–79) - Ranked #17 in NME's 1997 Critics' Poll.

The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

In 2004, KISS co-founder Gene Simmons covered "Firestarter" on his second solo album, Asshole.

The album caused some controversy. The National Organization for Women objected to the seeming misogyny of "Smack My Bitch Up", though the band maintains that its true interpretation is "doing anything intensely."[6]

Track listing

  1. "Smack My Bitch Up" (L. Howlett, feat. M. Smith, C. Miller, K. Thornton, T. Randolph of Ultramagnetic MC's) – 5:42
  2. "Breathe" (L. Howlett, K. Flint, Maxim Reality) – 5:35
  3. "Diesel Power" (L. Howlett, K. Keith) – 4:17
  4. "Funky Shit" (L. Howlett) – 5:16
  5. "Serial Thrilla" (L. Howlett K. Flint, L. Arran, Skin) – 5:11
  6. "Mindfields" (L. Howlett, Maxim Reality) – 5:40
  7. "Narayan" (L. Howlett, C. Mills) – 9:05
  8. "Firestarter" (L. Howlett, K. Flint, T. Horn, A. Dudley, J. Jeczalik, P. Morley, G. Langan, K. Deal) – 4:40
  9. "Climbatize" (L. Howlett) – 6:38
  10. "Fuel My Fire" (D. Sparks, Walsh, James, Knight) – 4:19
Japan bonus tracks
  2. "Molotov Bitch" (L. Howlett) – 4:56
  3. "No Man Army" (L. Howlett, T. Morello) – 4:10

Personnel

The Prodigy
Additional musicians
Other personnel
  • Christian Ammann – photography
  • Jake Holloway – illustrations
  • Alex Jenkins – art direction, design, photography
  • Neil McLellan – engineer
  • Pat Pope – photography
  • Alex Scaglia – photography
  • Lou Smith – photography
  • Terry Whittaker – photography
  • Konrad Wothe – photography

Samples

  • The main vocal sample from "Smack My Bitch Up" is taken from "Give the Drummer Some" by American hip hop group Ultramagnetic MCs. Thus, the Prodigy invited group member Kool Keith, who raps the portion sampled by the Prodigy in the original track, to do the lyrics and vocals for another track, "Diesel Power". The track also features a looped sample of the bassline and drums from the beginning of "In Memory Of" by jazz musician Randy Weston and a sped-up riff from "Funky Man" by American funk group Kool and the Gang; both of these samples remain uncredited on the album.
  • "Breathe" samples sound effects from American hip hop group the Wu-Tang Clan's music video for their single "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'".
  • Three credited samples are present on "Funky Shit": the main vocal sample which gives the song its title is sampled from "Root Down" by American hip hop group the Beastie Boys' from their album Ill Communication; the horn riff that appears throughout the song is sampled from "Theme from "S.W.A.T."" by American disco-funk group Rhythm Heritage, and the "Break!" vocal is sampled from "2, 3, Break" by American hip hop duo the B-Boys.
  • "Serial Thrilla" features a sample of a riff from "Selling Jesus" by English rock band Skunk Anansie.
  • "Climbatize" samples a horn riff from "The Horn Track" by Egyptian Empire, the stage name of electronic musician Tim Taylor. The main drum loop was sampled from "Air Drums from Outer Bongolia" by English electronic duo the Jedi Knights; Liam Howlett sampled the drums without the group's permission, and the Jedi Knights threatened to sue the Prodigy. However, Howlett recognized that the Jedi Knights themselves had sampled the drums from an older track entitled "Bongolia" by American funk group Incredible Bongo Band without permission; XL Recordings, the Prodigy's record label, bought the rights to the Incredible Bongo Band track and threatened to sue the Jedi Knights; the media coverage cornered around the event attracted film producer George Lucas, who sued the Jedi Knights for taking their stage name from the Star Wars term "Jedi Knight", which Lucas created.[7]
  • "Firestarter" samples a guitar riff from "SOS" by American rock group The Breeders, and the "Hey!" vocal from "Close (To the Edit)" by English dance group Art of Noise (the "HEY!" vocal was also previously used by them in "Full Throttle" on Music for the Jilted Generation). The drums on the song are sampled from a track on the Time + Space Recordings drum recording album Jungle Warfare, Vol. 1; another Time + Space Recordings album track was sampled on the Prodigy's previous single "One Love".

Sales chart positions

Album
Chart (1997) Peak
position
UK Albums Chart 1[citation needed]
Australian ARIA Albums Chart 1[8]
Finnish Charts 1[9]
U.S. Billboard 200 1[3]
Canadian Albums Chart 1[3]
Swedish Albums top 60 1[8]
Singles
Year Song Chart Peak
position
1996 "Firestarter" UK Singles Chart 1[10]
1996 "Breathe" UK Singles Chart 1[10]
1996 "Firestarter" Australian ARIA Singles Chart 22[11]
1996 "Breathe" Australian ARIA Singles Chart 2[11]
1997 "Smack My Bitch Up" UK Singles Chart 8[10]
1997 "Smack My Bitch Up" Australian ARIA Singles Chart 41[11]
1997 "Smack My Bitch Up" Canadian Singles Chart 12[12]
1997 "Firestarter" U.S. Billboard Hot 100 30[12]
1997 "Firestarter" U.S. Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales 11[12]
1997 "Firestarter" U.S. Modern Rock Tracks 24[12]
1997 "Breathe" U.S. Modern Rock Tracks 18[12]
1997 "Smack My Bitch Up" U.S. Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales 19[12]
1998 "Smack My Bitch Up" U.S. Billboard Hot 100 89[12]

Appearances in other media

  • "Mindfields" appeared on the soundtrack of the film The Matrix
  • "Smack My Bitch Up" has appeared in films Charlie's Angels, Scary Movie 2 and Closer. "Firestarter" and "Breathe" are both featured in the second instalment of Charlie's Angels. It also had an appearance in the show "Chuck" Season 2 and "Misfits" Season 1.
  • "Funky Shit" appeared in the trailers for the film Event Horizon and also played over the end credits
  • Crispian Mills, who contributed lyrically to the track "Narayan", later adapted "Narayan" and elements of "Climbatize" for his own band's 2007 album, Strangefolk as "Song of Love/Narayana".
  • "Climbatize" appeared in the pilot of the TV show "Harsh Realm".

References

  1. ^ "Living off the fat of the land". phrases.org.uk. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
  2. ^ News - Articles - 1427521 - 19970320
  3. ^ a b c Allmusic - Prodigy Album Charting
  4. ^ RIAA Certifications - Search 'Prodigy'
  5. ^ Shahin Badar
  6. ^ Rock On The Net: Prodigy
  7. ^ CANOE -- JAM! Music - Artists - Prodigy: Decline of the Jedi Knights
  8. ^ a b The Fat of the Land - Charting
  9. ^ Finland's Official List - ylex.yle.fi
  10. ^ a b c UK Charts - Search 'Prodigy'
  11. ^ a b c Australian Charts - Prodigy
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Allmusic - Prodigy Singles Charting
Preceded by Billboard 200 number-one album
19–25 July 1997 		Succeeded by
Men in Black: The Album by various artists
Preceded by UK number one album
12 July – 22 August 1997 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Australian ARIA Albums Chart number-one album
13–19 July 1997 		Succeeded by
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