Album
No Tourists
2018
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.
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.
- 30th June 1997, 2 x 12”, XL-Recordings, XLLP 121
- 30th June 1997, CD, XL-Recordings XLCD 121
- Magic Stone / Avex Trax & XL-Recordings, MED-188
- Other versions
The Prodigy 1997. Maxim, Gizz Butt (live guitars), Keith Flint, Leeroy Thornhill and Liam Howlett.
The Fat of the Land was released on June 30th 1997 and 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. 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
Related articles
- Kerrang! - 6th March 2019 Their Law: How The Prodigy Breathed New Life Into Rock
- MusicTech magazine - 18th May 2015 Landmark Productions: The Prodigy – The Fat of the Land
- MTV Hive - 4th December 2012 Dissecting the Prodigy: 25 Samples Behind 'The Fat of the Land'
- BPM - 1st July 2002 Prodigy Unauthorized
- Toronto Sun - 15th May 1999 Decline of the Jedi Knights
- Power On - 1st January 1999 Catching Up With The Prodigy
- Select - 5th December 1998 Liam Howlett, Chief Spokesman For The Jilted Generation
- Q Magazine - 1st December 1997 Essex Boys Come First
- CPYU - 1st October 1997 IN THE HOTLIGHT: The Prodigy - Making music for the new millemnium
- Select - 1st September 1997 Interview with The Prodigy
- The Rolling Stone - 21st August 1997 Hot Phenom Prodigy
- Metro - 14th August 1997 High-Fat Content: Can the Prodigy reignite America's passion for rock & roll?
- Soundi - 1st August 1997 Likaista musiikkia puhtaalta maaseudulta
- - 10th July 1997 Take America - Take The World
- Electronic Telegraph - 5th July 1997 Rock Records: Prodigy The Fat of the Land (XL).
- Kerrang! - 1st July 1997 Prodigy Take on the World
- Mojo - 30th June 1997 Burning Down the House
- NME - 28th June 1997 Funky Shit Happens
- NME - 28th June 1997 Selected LP, The Fat of The Land
- Rockin' On - 1st June 1997 The Fat Of The Land advert
- NME - 21st May 1997 Never Mind The Bullocks!
- The Guardian - 1st January 1997 About The Fat Of The Land!
- Hot Press - 1st January 1997 Keith Flint interview
- Toronto Sun - 8th August 1997 Prodigy's Land breaks new ground
- NME - 1st January 1996 Prodigy Plump Up The Volume!
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
The Mix Mag 1st
July 1997 (In Fat Of The Land -
Mixmag Album of The Month)
Toronto Sun High-voltage Prodigy (Fat of the Land
reviewed by Jane Stevensson)
Fascist Firestarters?: Prodigy's
rock & roll revolution (Fat of the Land reviewed by Jim DeRogatis)
Jam! Showbiz (Fat of the Land reviewed by John
Sakamoto)
Rolling Stone (Fat of
the Land review)
Keskisuomalainen: Megaa & anarkiaa kirj.
TIMO LIEVEMAA (Prodigy: The fat of the land)
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)
See also
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Album
Experience
1992
EP
What Evil Lurks
1991
Album
Music For The Jilted Generation
1994
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Always Outnumbered Never Outgunned
2004
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Invaders Must Die
2009
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The Day Is My Enemy
2015
Single
Need Some1
2018
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Ibiza
2015
Single
Wild Frontier
2015
Single
The Day Is My Enemy (Expanded Edition)
2015
EP
The Night Is My Friend EP
2015
Album
More Music For The Jilted Generation
2008
Compilation
Their Law: The Singles 1990–2005
2005
EP
The Added Fat EP
2012
Compilation
Prodigy Present: The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One
1999
Compilation
The Prodigy Experience - Expanded: Remixes & B-sides
2001
Single
Light Up The Sky
2018
Single
Nasty
2015
Compilation
Back To Mine
2006
EP
Invaders Must Die EP
2009
Single
Smack My Bitch Up
1997
Single
Warrior's Dance
2009
Single
Omen
2009
EP
Baby's Got A Temper
2002
Single
Firestarter
1996
Single
Everybody In The Place
1991
Single
Fire
1992
Single
Take Me To The Hospital
2009
Single
Girls
2004
Single
Breathe
1996