The Fat of the Land

The Fat of the Land
Studio album by The Prodigy
Released	July 1, 1997
Recorded	Earthbound Central
Genre	Techno, big beat, breakbeat, electronica
Length	52:21
Label	XL
Producer	Liam Howlett
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Pitchfork Media (7.9/10) link Q June 1997 Robert Christgau link
The Prodigy chronology
Voodoo People (1995) The Fat of the Land (1997) The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One (1999)

The Fat of the Land is an album by The Prodigy. The album was released by XL Recordings on July 1, 1997 (and on June 30, 1997 in the UK) (see 1997 in music).

History

The album caused some minor controversy in Britain. The video for the first single, "Firestarter", caused a minor uproar because of vocalist Keith Flint's appearance, and several people objected to the seeming misogyny of "Smack My Bitch Up", though the band maintains that it was a humorous poke at gangsta rap. This album entered the Guinness World Records as the fastest-selling UK album in 1999 and was also nominated for a Grammy Award.^[1] The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. This was an extremely rare feat as most electronic music albums fail to sell well in the U.S. The album has since gone double platinum selling over 2 million units in the U.S. The album was nominated for the 1997 Mercury Music Prize. "Mindfields" later appeared on the soundtrack of the film The Matrix, while "Smack My Bitch Up" has appeared in both Charlie's Angels and Closer. "Funky Shit" appeared in the trailers for the film Event Horizon (film) and also played over the end credits. "Serial Thrilla" features a sample of a riff by Skunk Anansie, "Funky Shit" features a sample from "Root Down" from the Beastie Boys album Ill Communication, "Fuel My Fire" is a cover of an L7 song from Hungry for Stink. "Smack My Bitch Up" takes a sample from an Ultramagnetic MCs song, "Give the Drummer Some", and thus the Prodigy invited Kool Keith to do the lyrics and vocals for another track, "Diesel Power." Matt Cameron of Soundgarden, 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] In 1998 Q magazine readers voted The Fat of the Land the ninth greatest album of all time. In 2000 the same magazine placed it at number 47 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. The album is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Track listing

1. "Smack My Bitch Up" (L. Howlett, M. Smith, C. Miller, K. Thornton, T. Randolph) – 5:42
2. "Breathe" (L. Howlett, K. Flint, Maxim) – 5:35
3. "Diesel Power" (L. Howlett, K. Thornton) – 4:17
4. "Funky Shit" (L. Howlett) – 5:16
5. "Serial Thrilla" (L. Howlett, K. Flint, Skin, Arran) – 5:11
6. "Mindfields" (L. Howlett) – 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) – 6:36
10. "Fuel My Fire" (D.J. Sparks, Walsh, James, Knight) – 4:19
11. "Molotov Bitch" (Japan bonus track) – 4:54
12. "No Man Army" (Japan bonus track) – 4:45

Personnel

• Christian Ammann – photography
• Shahin Badar – vocals
• Jim Davies (Pitchshifter) – guitar
• Keith Flint – vocals
• Jake Holloway – illustrations
• Liam Howlett – producer, art direction, mixing
• Alex Jenkins – art direction, design, photography
• Kool Keith – vocals
• Maxim – vocals
• Crispian Mills (Kula Shaker) – vocals
• Neil McLellan – engineer
• Pat Pope – photography
• Saffron (Republica) – vocals
• Matt Cameron (Soundgarden) – drums [3]
• Alex Scaglia – photography
• Lou Smith – photography
• Terry Whittaker – photography
• Konrad Wothe – photography

Chart positions

Album

Singles

References