The Prodigy 34 pcs sticker set

Huge set of The Prodigy stickers. 17 different designs (2 of each) and total of 34 stickers. Sticker sizes vary from 7 cm to 3,5 cm. Order here >

Discography

The Fat Of The Land

The fastest selling dance album in the UK, which sold a record 317,000 copies in its first week. In the USA it sold more than 200,000 in its first week. The album entered the chart at No. 1 in a total of 20 countries, including the USA, the United Kingdom, Canada, Austria and Norway.

The Fat Of The Land
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UK chart position: 1

In the US Wal-Mart refused to sell FOTL because of the track names. So Prodigy's US record company Maverick agreed to censor them on the sleeve. Liam was very pissed about that ofcourse.

The Prodigy 1997. Maxim, Gizz Butt (live guitars), Keith Flint, Leeroy Thornhill and Liam Howlett.

The Fat of the Land is the third studio album by the Prodigy, released on 30 June 1997 through XL Recordings. The album received critical acclaim and topped the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. It managed to reach number 1 in 22 countries in the first week including the UK where it is one fastest selling records ever. It was also nominated for a 1998 Grammy for Best Rock Album. It has sold over 10 million copies worldwide as of 2019.

While Liam Howlett is generally responsible for the compositions and Maxim is featured on two tracks, this is the first record to include contributions by Keith Flint, who provides vocals on four of the songs and co-wrote three songs, including the two biggest hits, both of which reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart. He is also the vocalist on a cover of the L7 song "Fuel My Fire" (from the 1994 album Hungry for Stink). The Fat of the Land album cover featured an image of a Blackback crab and a new logo, dropping "The" and adding an ant silhouette. The album title comes from the old English phrase 'living off the fat of the land', which means living well or being wealthy.

Among the most anticipated releases of 1997, The Prodigy's third full-length album is a bulldozing rock-techno hybrid. But while the guitar/samples/hyper-beats mosaic that made "Firestarter" an MTV breakout are found in every nook and cranny of this album, the overall building blocks are far more diverse, making it a tangible melting pot of pre-millennium pop styles.

There's a definite hip-hop element here. "Diesel Power," which features quality mic control by Kool Keith (of Ultramagnetic MCs and Dr. Octagon fame), is new-style hip-hop sculpture, applying techno and acid-house textures to apocalyptic ends. Both "Funky Shit" and "Smack My Bitch Up" are throbbing dance-floor ejaculations wrapped around, respectively, Beastie Boys and De La Soul refrains. Kula Shaker's Crispin Mills adds vocals to an Eastern-influenced trance workout called "Narayan. " All this adds up to proof positive that THE FAT OF THE LAND is just the tip of the iceberg


Liam about The Fat of the Land

The initial shock was a real surprise, you know. Definitely surprised. We were really happy because it just confirmed what we always thought. We knew it would work in the U.S. It worked everywhere else. There's no reason why it shouldn't. So we were just really happy. We were shocked, to be honest. We knew it was gonna go in to the top 10 and possibly in the top 5, judging on the amount of sales we did in that week and stuff. But, I mean, to go into #1, maybe people will take us seriously.

It was about one in the morning. Richard [Russell] from XL [XL-Recordings, the English label the group is signed to] phoned me up and he told me. I think I spent like about an hour phoning people around, just saying "Yeah, what'd you think about that?"

We want to distance ourselves from it, to be honest. We're wise to hype. We've been doing this for seven years now. We know if something's hyped up too much and it hasn't got any substance then it falls flat on its face. To be honest, after being at #1, I think this helps a lot. A lot of people will take us seriously now. It's almost like we had to have that to let people realize that we're not about hype.

The Chemical Brothers did pretty well to get to #14 in the American charts. But at the end of the day when you actually look at the quantity of records sold, it isn't a great deal, to be honest. It's like 200,000 the first week. We sold twice as many in England in the first week. It's like not that many records, to be honest.

We were really pleased to be at #1. We were surprised. Everyone in England gets the impression that in the American market you need a million records to be at #1. The market isn't like what it used to be; it isn't the same. Two hundred thousand records [in one week] is not that many. You don't expect it to be #1. Number one in itself helps us, you know.
- Liam Howlett

Did you know?

The Fat Of The Land Delay

Ever wondered why 'The Fat Of The Land' was delayed? Liam admitted in a recent interview that the main cause of the late arrival of Fat Of The Land was due to the game 'Tomb Raider'.

Fastest-Selling Dance Album

The fastest selling dance album in the UK is The Fat of the Land (1997) by Prodigy, which sold a record 317,000 copies in its first week. In the USA it sold more than 200,000 in its first week. The album entered the chart at No. 1 in a total of 20 countries, including the USA, the United Kingdom, Canada, Austria and Norway. Source: 'The Guinness 1999 Book of World Records'

Why was Angus Batey thanked in the Fat Of The Land inlay?

For introducing Kool Keith to Liam.

The Fat Of The Land cover artwork

Originally, the cover was going to be a doner kebab being roasted on a stick and branded with the name of the album. XL designer Alex Jenkins shot the image, then Howlett changed his mind at the last moment, forcing Jenkins to source the dancing crab photo, which he faxed to Howlett to approve. The claw was increased in size, making it look like the crab is sticking two fingers up to the world.


Reviews

Included in Rolling Stone's Essential Recordings of the 90's.
Rolling Stone (05/13/1999)

Included in Q Magazine's 50 Best Albums of 1997.
Q (01/01/1998)

Ranked #20 on Spin's list of the Top 20 Albums Of The Year.
Spin (01/01/1998)

Ranked #29 in the Village Voice's 1997 Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll.
Village Voice (02/24/1998)

3.5 Stars (out of 5) - ...packs all the visceral punch of rock at its incendiary best....populist electro punk that serves as a perfect Brit counterpart to the industrial noir of Trent Reznor or the jittery soundscapes of Wu-Tang Clan's RZA...
Rolling Stone Magazine (08/07/1997)

7 (out of 10) - ...maybe the best fusion of pseudo-rap and pseudo-punk since Rage Against The Machine...
Spin (09/01/1997)

...the first block rockin' post-Oasis amyl-techno-punk album....as well as reaffirming their position as head-warping slam-kings of the pop underground, [FAT OF THE LAND] seems set to be the ultimate party soundtrack both sides of the ocean...
New Musical Express (06/28/1997)

...Prodigy leader and beat master Liam Howlett has made THE FAT OF THE LAND harder, more subterranean, more diverse, and more vocal-oriented than previous Prodigy records....This is dance music not about release but aggression, making it ideal party music for the end of the century... - Rating: B
Entertainment Weekly (07/11/1997)

Related articles

| The Independent
Firestarters not welcome: How The Prodigy’s The Fat of the Land fell out of favour

| Mix Mag
10 iconic The Prodigy moments

| Kerrang!
Their Law: How The Prodigy Breathed New Life Into Rock

| Loud and quiet
We were so busy being scared by The Prodigy’s ‘The Fat of The Land’ that nobody noticed how utterly corny it was

| MusicTech magazine
Landmark Productions: The Prodigy – The Fat of the Land

| MTV Hive
Dissecting the Prodigy: 25 Samples Behind 'The Fat of the Land'

| BPM
Prodigy Unauthorized

| Toronto Sun
Decline of the Jedi Knights

| Select
Liam Howlett, Chief Spokesman For The Jilted Generation

| Power On
Catching Up With The Prodigy

| Q Magazine
Essex Boys Come First

| CPYU
IN THE HOTLIGHT: The Prodigy - Making music for the new millemnium

| Select
This is dangerous

| The Rolling Stone
Hot Phenom Prodigy

| Metro
High-Fat Content: Can the Prodigy reignite America's passion for rock & roll?

| VOX
Crash and Burn!

| Soundi
Likaista musiikkia puhtaalta maaseudulta

|
Take America - Take The World

| Kerrang!
Crop Killers

| Kerrang!
Prodigy Take on the World

| Mojo
Burning Down the House

| NME
Funky Shit Happens

| NME
Selected LP, The Fat of The Land

| Rockin' On
The Fat Of The Land advert

| NME
Never Mind The Bullocks!

| The Guardian
About The Fat Of The Land!

| Hot Press
Keith Flint interview

| Toronto Sun
Prodigy's Land breaks new ground

| Future Music
Favourite 50 - 1 Korg Prophecy

| NME
Prodigy Plump Up The Volume!

Reviews in the press

| Rock & Folk
The Fat of the Land review

| Citypages.com
Rave Right - Fascist Firestarters?: Prodigy's rock & roll revolution.

| Electronic Telegraph
Rock Records: Prodigy The Fat of the Land (XL).

| Mix Mag
In Fat Of The Land - Mixmag Album of The Month

| Jam! Showbiz
Fat of the Land

| The Rolling Stone
The Fat Of The Land review

| Keskisuomalainen
Megaa & anarkiaa

| Spin Magazine
Review: Prodigy – Fat of the Land

Press releases, promotional ads & press photos

See other scans on the article archive

See picture section for more photos

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

Breathe Single

Breathe

1996

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

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The Prodigy 34 pcs sticker set

Huge set of The Prodigy stickers. 17 different designs (2 of each) and total of 34 stickers. Sticker sizes vary from 7 cm to 3,5 cm. Order here >