Word: hip-hop
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...week. Even the Chemical Brothers, after a media push that would make Madonna blush, has failed to crack Billboard's Top 10. And what's worse, these CDs have been creatively wanting--the Chemical Brothers' Dig Your Own Hole (Astralwerks) features a few songs that energetically blend rock and hip-hop, but Public Enemy and the Beastie Boys did it better in the '80s. The Future Sound of London's Dead Cities (Astralwerks) is as exciting as a dead Tamagotchi, and Underworld's Pearl's Girl (Wax Trax! Records) is only a trifle more fun than having a fax machine...
Some veteran artists sneer at the hype. "I'm not a big fan of racist-conspiracy theories, but it's hard not to notice that for the last 15 years every R.-and-B., hip-hop and dance record has been an electronic record," says U.S. techno pioneer Moby, who is white. "Then two white British guys [the Chemical Brothers] come along sampling hip-hop without the lyrics, and they're hailed as avant-garde...
...Land rocks. The already released single, Firestarter, has some of the rebelliousness of the Sex Pistols and the funkiness of good hip-hop; the album's most ambitious track, Climbatize, has an orchestral span but maintains a rock immediacy. While only a few other tracks on the album (Breathe and Mindfields) stand out, the CD is consistently dynamic. The only real misstep is the first track, the punchy but unfortunately titled Smack My Bitch Up. Howlett says the title isn't literal; let's hope this isn't a trend, given the success of singer Meredith Brooks' song Bitch...
Howlett, the founder and creative core of the band, and a native of Chelmsford, England, says he received his earliest inspiration from American hip-hop acts like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. He subsequently submerged himself in Britain's burgeoning hip-hop-influenced, Ecstasy-popping rave culture. In 1989 he formed a band with Flint, Keith Palmer (Maxim) and Leeroy Thornhill, who became the group's featured dancer. Their early CDs featured soft techno-dance tunes. They were hits in England, but they sold poorly in the U.S., and the Prodigy's first record label, Elektra, let the band...
...Prodigy's sound has since grown edgier, drawing from commercially successful rock and hard-core hip-hop. Last year the major music labels fought a bidding war to sign the band. Madonna's Maverick won with a contract worth a reported $5 million. When, earlier this year, MTV announced its intention to program more electronica and started a show, Amp, to promote the genre, the Prodigy, thanks to its anthemic song, Firestarter, became the techno band of the moment...