The Prodigy - Music for the Jilted Generation
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כתב: Moti Kupfer
תאריך הוצאה - 04.07.1994
"What we're dealing with here is a total lack of respect for the law"
Without a doubt, it was a bold and unmistakable statement by "The Prodigy" against the authorities, delivered through "Their Law", from their second studio album, "Music for the Jilted Generation," released on July 4, 1994.
The album's production, handled primarily by Liam Howlett, was heavily influenced by the growing hostility within the British mainstream toward rave culture. That atmosphere culminated in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, legislation designed to restrict rave events and crack down on unlicensed gatherings, which were officially characterized as anti-social behavior.
"The Prodigy" took a firm stand against the proposed Criminal Justice Bill, whose supporters sought to suppress the rave scene, associating it with widespread drug use and excessive alcohol consumption.
Where the band's debut album, "Experience," was built around uplifting hardcore rave energy and feel-good dancefloor anthems, "Music for the Jilted Generation" lives up to its title by offering a soundtrack for a generation that felt rejected by both the establishment and mainstream society.
As a result, the material on "Jilted" is darker and more closely connected to the ecstasy-fueled rave culture from which the band emerged. Alongside massive, high-energy dancefloor anthems, Liam Howlett reveals a far more sophisticated side of "The Prodigy," experimenting for the first time with blending electronic music and guitars while helping shape an early form of breakbeat built around fractured rhythms.
If the closing thoughts of our review of "Experience" looked toward Howlett and his bandmates as trendsetters with an uncanny ability to anticipate the future, "Jilted" delivers the proof. It is an album that confidently fuses rave, breakbeat, techno, and hardcore into a bold artistic statement.
The album opens with the brief "Intro," featuring the spoken words: "So I've decided to take my work back underground, to stop it falling into the wrong hands." The message is clear: the band refused to become prisoners of commercial expectations. True to that philosophy, they deliberately avoided mainstream exposure, turning down invitations to appear on "Top of the Pops" and other major British television programs.
Next comes "Break & Enter," a complex breakbeat composition built around a sample from "Casanova" by British breakbeat act "Baby D." The variety continues with "Their Law," a collaboration with alternative rock band "Pop Will Eat Itself," which also incorporates a sample from "Drop That Bassline" by "Techno Grooves."
The album also includes two tracks recorded during the transitional period between the band's first and second albums: "Full Throttle," which features a sample from Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, and the rave anthem "One Love," the album's first single, which incorporates a sample of an Arabic muezzin.
The third single, "Voodoo People," features a sample from "You're Starting Too Fast" by Johnny Pate. Its unforgettable guitar riff is based on "Very Ape" by "Nirvana" from "In Utero," performed by Lance Riddler.
One of the album's most impressive moments is the breakbeat masterpiece "Poison," which seamlessly weaves together no fewer than three different samples.
The album's most commercially successful single, "No Good (Start the Dance)," which reached No. 4 on the UK chart, also relies on two prominent samples, taken from recordings by Kelly Charles and Bahamian funk group "The Beginning of the End."
"The Guardian" praised "Jilted" as a complex and powerful album that helped pave the way for dance music to become an accepted part of major rock performances.
Despite "The Prodigy's" determined efforts to distance themselves from anything that resembled commercial music, the public embraced the album wholeheartedly. "Jilted" sold more than one million copies, marking the beginning of a new era for the band, who would continue to redefine both what people listened to and what they danced to on their next album.
The album artwork was created by Stuart Haygarth and Les Edwards. The inner artwork reflects the conflict between ravers and the police during the era of the 1994 Criminal Justice legislation.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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