Discography

Breathe

The song became the group's second consecutive number-one on both the UK and Finnish singles charts.

Breathe

"Breathe" was released in November 1996 as the second single from the album The Fat of the Land. The song became the group's second consecutive number-one on both the UK and Finnish singles charts.  The song features a drum break from the song "Johnny the Fox Meets Jimmy the Weed" of the group Thin Lizzy. The whiplashing sword sound effect is a sample of the song "Da Mystery of Chessboxin", by Wu-Tang Clan. As in "Firestarter", Jim Davies played the guitar in the song. In 2003, Q Magazine ranked "Breathe" at number 321 in their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever".

The first ever performance of the song was held at a concert at the Pionir hall in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia, on December 8, 1995, 11 months prior to its release. It was the first major international music act to play in Belgrade since the breakup of Yugoslavia, and came shortly after UN sanctionswere partially lifted. Breathe thus became an iconic song for Serbia's urban youth.

An edited version of the song is featured as the opening track on MuchMusic's Diamond-Certified compilation album, Big Shiny Tunes 2. The song also featured in a 2012 television commercial for Tooheys Extra Dry.

The Prodigy performed "Breathe" at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, and won the Viewer's Choice Award. The song was a major worldwide hit, reaching the top 10 in several countries such as Australia, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland.

Breathe was a number-one hit in Finland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The song was also a hit in France, reaching #26. In the United States, the song reached number 18 on the US Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart. The single also returned to the Billboard charts after Flint's death, entering number 14 on its Dance/Electronic Digital Songs Sales chart in its 16 March 2019 issue.

Breathe is to date The Prodigy's biggest selling single ever.

Before 'Breathe' was released Midi Management reported the tracklisting to be the following:
1. Breathe
2. Poison (Live)
3. Their Law (Live)
4. Blow Your Mind

Blow Your Mind was probably a studio version of Diesel Power without Kool Keith on vocals but likely with Maxim instead as heard on several gigs before the release of FOTL.

 


BREATHE

We recorded that straight after "Firestarter. " And it was an instrumental for ages. We were playing it on stage and the guys were just dancing to it and stuff. It was just like an instrumental track. And I thought that it was so obvious to put a vocal on it and I think what happened is they came around and they knew the track anyway. They'd been listening to it for about three months. To tell you the truth, I think I wrote "Breathe" before I did "Firestarter. " I wrote the instrumental of "Breathe" about two months before "Firestarter. " And then about three or four months later I came around and literally set up a mic in the studio. I went into the lounge for about half an hour, watched telly, come back and they'd done the vocals. It was quite a quick sort of thing really. It was just a matter of sorting a couple of syllables out, getting them to fit in right with the beats and then it was just plain sailing, it was done.

Literally for that track it was just like going in and experimenting with a couple of sounds. The first opening line is like a really twangy old guitar sound, really monotone sort of guitar sound. I made that and that was made about six months before we actually recorded the vocals. And it was just literally that, with a beat on it. And all I did was throw some loops down on a DAT. I basically just did that guitar part. [sings] That riff and just threw a beat on there. And just put it down as a loop onto DAT.

When we did the song, it was about confrontation between [singer/dancer] Maxim and Keith. There was no deep meaning. It was like, you want to taste me, come over here and taste me. And then Maxim was like, breathe me, breathe me... It was just more of a confrontational thing between them two. When they do it on stage, that comes across really obviously. I'm not gonna sit here and try and think of some deep meaning because it just hasn't got one. "Firestarter" has but "Breathe" hasn't. It's basically like a full-on, almost punk dance track. It's kind of got the energy of our other tracks but it's also got the edge of "Firestarter" in a way. When you see it live, it's really confrontational between them two. We just wanted to get that on record and it just captured that live part of the show, you know?


Liam Howlett
 

Related articles

| The Music
How VHS Kung Fu Movies Led To The Prodigy's Biggest Hit

| ABC
The J Files: The Prodigy

| NME
Prodigy blow their own gear at Radio 1’s Big Weekend

| NME
The Prodigy – The Stories Behind 10 Of Their Best-Loved Dancefloor Anthems To Date

| The Independent
The Prodigy and their prodigious talent

| VOX
Crash and Burn!

| Kerrang!
Crop Killers

| Kerrang!
Public Enemies Number One

| The Times
Please don't call us techno

See also

What Evil Lurks EP

What Evil Lurks

1991

Charly Single

Charly

1991

Everybody In The Place Single

Everybody In The Place

1991

Fire Single

Fire

1992

Experience Album

Experience

1992

Out of Space Single

Out of Space

1992

WInd It Up Single

WInd It Up

1993

One Love Single

One Love

1993

No Good (Start The Dance) Single

No Good (Start The Dance)

1994

Music For The Jilted Generation Album

Music For The Jilted Generation

1994

Voodoo People Single

Voodoo People

1994

Poison Single

Poison

1995

Firestarter Single

Firestarter

1996

The Fat Of The Land Album

The Fat Of The Land

1997

Smack My Bitch Up Single

Smack My Bitch Up

1997

Prodigy Present: The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One Compilation

Prodigy Present: The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One

1999

The Prodigy Experience - Expanded: Remixes & B-sides Compilation

The Prodigy Experience - Expanded: Remixes & B-sides

2001

Baby's Got A Temper EP

Baby's Got A Temper

2002

Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned Album

Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned

2004

Girls Single

Girls

2004

Hotride Single

Hotride

2004

Spitfire Single

Spitfire

2005

Their Law: The Singles 1990–2005 Compilation

Their Law: The Singles 1990–2005

2005

Voodoo People / Out Of Space Single

Voodoo People / Out Of Space

2005

Back To Mine Compilation

Back To Mine

2006

More Music For The Jilted Generation Compilation

More Music For The Jilted Generation

2008

Invaders Must Die Album

Invaders Must Die

2009

Omen Single

Omen

2009

Warrior's Dance Single

Warrior's Dance

2009

Take Me To The Hospital Single

Take Me To The Hospital

2009

Invaders Must Die EP EP

Invaders Must Die EP

2009

The Added Fat EP EP

The Added Fat EP

2012

Nasty Single

Nasty

2015

Wild Frontier Single

Wild Frontier

2015

The Day Is My Enemy Album

The Day Is My Enemy

2015

Ibiza Single

Ibiza

2015

The Night Is My Friend EP EP

The Night Is My Friend EP

2015

Need Some1 Single

Need Some1

2018

No Tourists Album

No Tourists

2018

Light Up The Sky Single

Light Up The Sky

2018

The Fat Of The Land 25th Anniversary - Remixes EP

The Fat Of The Land 25th Anniversary - Remixes

2023

World's on Fire Compilation

World's on Fire

2011

Jump to official releases main | discography main | Prodigy main
The Prodigy 30 pcs sticker set

Big set of The Prodigy stickers. 15 different designs (2 of each) and total of 30 stickers. Sticker sizes vary from 9 cm to 3,5 cm. Order here >