The Prodigy say their new album is an attack on formula based Dance Music
DRAGON LANCE
Posts: 1,424 Forum Member
✭✭✭
http://www.nme.com/news/the-prodigy/80710
Good to hear they are still feeling "violent." I appreciate the sentiment. Its not to say their is no innovation in modern dance music, but so much of it is so horribly generic now. Whilst I would say its a good thing there are tutorials out there for budding DJ's on You-Tube, I totally take his point at how its also opened the doors for talentless people making some seriously bland music using the same sets of tricks.
Indeed I believe Deadmau5 recently expressed his disgust at how Paris Hilton has started a career as a DJ and now apparently earns silly money (up to 1 million dollars at time!) to "play a CD" as Deadmau5 kindly put it.
Does show the world has gone totally mad.
Excellent if the Prodigy can shake things up with their new album.
Good to hear they are still feeling "violent." I appreciate the sentiment. Its not to say their is no innovation in modern dance music, but so much of it is so horribly generic now. Whilst I would say its a good thing there are tutorials out there for budding DJ's on You-Tube, I totally take his point at how its also opened the doors for talentless people making some seriously bland music using the same sets of tricks.
Indeed I believe Deadmau5 recently expressed his disgust at how Paris Hilton has started a career as a DJ and now apparently earns silly money (up to 1 million dollars at time!) to "play a CD" as Deadmau5 kindly put it.
Does show the world has gone totally mad.
Excellent if the Prodigy can shake things up with their new album.
0
Comments
Why is that a problem?
That's kind of what I was alluding to.
lol it's true. A lot of their fans seem to be people who like guitar music, rather than people into actual rhythmic styles of music. Kind of reminds me of Pendulum, they do drum & bass music, yet for some reason a lot of guitar music fans decided to like them (and not any other drum & bass artists). Also the same with people like Gorillaz, The Streets, Eminem. For example, I find it difficult to understand how people can like The Streets, yet not like any other hip hop/UK garage artists...
I do understand what they're saying though. I've seen this in real life around my city too. I know a guy who started DJing in September last year (and only in his room for fun), then just a few months later he was already DJing in one of the most famous clubs around here. Another one of my friends has also managed to DJ in the same club, and even he admits he's not very good. I just don't understand how this kind of stuff happens. Maybe it's always been like this, I don't know. I always imagined it'd be a little more difficult to DJ in places like those. There's also a girl I know who's currently travelling around the world DJing. I grew up with her, so I know she had little interest in music beforehand, yet now she's somehow being booked to DJ all over the place, even in Asia and the US. She can't have been DJing more than a couple of years maximum.
I think people like Martin Garrix just watched some Youtube tutorials, illegally downloaded FL Studio or Ableton or Logic Pro or whatever, made a song, then probably paid some company to get his song high on Beatport, then once you're high on Beatport everybody listens to your song because they think it's actually popular (or going to be), then things just take off from there.
I do think dance music has improved recently, at least in the mainstream. It was worse a few years ago imo.
They helped create the formula based dance music that they keep moaning about
exactly....
i dont understand how prodigy created the problem when they were far from formulaic themselves creating some original dance 20 odd years ago. (pre firestarter).
i know quite a few rock fans from the 70's that got into dance via the likes of prodigy and klf. rock had become rather samish by c1990, most of the styles had been created and it was becoming passe... rock fans i knew turned to dance because it was exciting and new and the rhythms they liked in rock were now being found in dance.
is dance formulaic now?... well yes to a large degree, because most of the stronger styles appear to have been discovered and exploited. as with rock, its harder now then ever to create something original that doesnt borrow either deliberately or accidentally from previous sounds.
but they were part of the underground scene, they were the ones who got a lucky break...
no...they helped create dance music, its only become formulaic when new avenues of styles became exhausted.
They got panned for that song, "Charly killed rave" the headline. And they responded evolving into to something totally unique. On Jilted Generation they were very much dance orientated but darker and very different to their peers at the time. Fat of the Land of course saw them hit the big time with the Rave Rock Firestarter.
I always rather liked their album Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned too. After all the stupid Smack My Bitch Up lyrics, I thought it was a great response by Liam Howlett to dump the male vocalists Keith Flint & Maxim to do an album with female vocalists and rappers.
If they became "dance music for white boys who like guitars" at their peak they did it in style and were effectively their generations Sex Pistols. They were the ones that invented the template that Pendulum and co. have copied since.
So quite a varied career really with lots of different things in the mix, some bad, some great and some innovation along the way along with some controversy. After everything they have done The Prodigy have earned the right the lash out at current cockie cutter DJ's culture if they want to.
And Deadmau5's comments about Ms Hilton are hilarious as he seems to have only just realised that these celeb/model DJs are being payed daft money for playing a CD. That has been going on for years!
I was a massive fan of The Prodigy from Experience up to Fat Of The Land but Liam Howlett chats some utter bollocks. The Prodigy are well and truly past it now. Music has moved on without them. There are better, hungrier producers out there with better ideas and making better music that I'd rather spend my time listening to.
Exactly.
To be fair Paris has been "hosting" as she calls it for a number of years now and has always made a lot of money doing it. Usually on NYE. If someone is willing to pay silly money for her to do it then so be it. I admire her for making the most of it.. she could live off mummy and daddy but she makes her own money. Smart girl. She talks about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBqnIVrWyCU
Anyway back to The Prodigy.. agree with the sentiments that their recent work wasn't great. I think it's just one of those sad realities that back when they did their best work they were younger.. the music scene was richer, more varied and they were able to produce good sounds for the time. Things have changed now. Maybe they'll pull it off but I think it's just life really. The Prodigy will always be that 90s band.
It's a shame. Personally I always thought they were brilliant. But then so were The Petshop Boys, Pulp, Oasis, Blur.. I could go on and on. You get the idea. The tragedy is I don't see any young artists or bands really hitting the same quality. But maybe I'm just getting old.
Invaders Must Die is a hell of a lot better than Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned, and much more underrated than The Fat of the Land if nowhere near their early 1991-1995 material.
They helped destroy a dance scene too! I love prodigy from the early 90's to 1994. Playing at legendary clubs like shelleys laserdome gave them a massive boost.