Music for the Jilted Generation

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Music for the Jilted Generation
TheProdigy-MusicForTheJiltedGeneration.jpg
Studio album by
the Prodigy
Released4 July 1994 (1994-07-04)
StudioEarthbound, The Strongroom
Genre
Length78:07
Label
Producer
The Prodigy chronology
Experience
(1992)		Music for the Jilted Generation
(1994)		 The Fat of the Land
(1997)
Singles from Music for the Jilted Generation
  1. "One Love"
    Released: 4 October 1993
  2. "No Good (Start the Dance)"
    Released: 16 May 1994
  3. "Voodoo People"
    Released: 12 September 1994
  4. "Poison"
    Released: 6 March 1995

Music for the Jilted Generation is the second studio album by English electronic music group the Prodigy. It was first released on 4 July 1994 by XL Recordings in the United Kingdom and by Mute Records in the United States. As with the group's debut album, Experience (1992), Maxim Reality and Liam Howlett were the only official members of the group to contribute to the album. The other two members, Keith Flint and Leeroy Thornhill, were not credited on any tracks (although all four individuals were pictured in the liner notes). [1]

Contents

A remastered and expanded edition of the album, titled More Music for the Jilted Generation, was released in 2008. [2]

Music and content

Music for the Jilted Generation incorporates elements of rave, [3] breakbeat techno, [3] techno, [4] and hardcore techno. [5]

The album is largely a response to the corruption of the rave scene in Britain by its mainstream success, as well as the United Kingdom's Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which criminalised raves and aspects of rave culture. [3] This is exemplified in the song "Their Law", with the spoken-word intro and the predominant lyric: the "Fuck 'em and their law" sample. Many years later, after the controversy had subsided, Liam Howlett criticised the album's title, referring to it as "stupid", and insisted that the album was never intended to be political. [6]

Many of the samples featured on the album are sound clips from, or inspired by, films. "Full Throttle" contains a reversed sample from the original Star Wars film, and "The Heat (The Energy)" features a sample from Poltergeist III , [6] while "Claustrophobic Sting" includes a recreation of dialogue from 2001: A Space Odyssey .

When Liam Howlett arrived at the cutting room for the final stage of the album's production, he realised that all the tracks he had planned would not fit onto a CD. As a result, "One Love" was edited down to approximately 3 minutes and 53 seconds, "The Heat (The Energy)" was slightly shortened, and "We Eat Rhythm" was omitted. "We Eat Rhythm" was later released on a free cassette with Select magazine in October 1994, titled Select Future Tracks. Howlett later stated that he felt the edited versions of "One Love" and "Full Throttle" could have been omitted from the track listing altogether. [6]

Inner sleeve artwork by Les Edwards The Prodigy Jilted Generation artwork.jpg
Inner sleeve artwork by Les Edwards

Artwork

The album artwork for Music for the Jilted Generation was designed by Stewart Haygarth (cover) and Les Edwards (inner). The inner artwork, which alludes to the conflicts between ravers and the police during the era of the 1994 Criminal Justice Act, is particularly well-regarded. [7] [8]

Reception

Professional ratings
Contemporary reviews
Review scores
SourceRating
The Boston Phoenix Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [9]
Christgau's Consumer Guide A [10]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [4]
NME 9/10 [11]
Rolling Stone Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Select 5/5 [12]
Smash Hits 4/5 [13]
Professional ratings
Retrospective reviews
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [3]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [14]
Q Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [15]
Record Collector Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [16]

Music for the Jilted Generation has received critical acclaim. Rolling Stone awarded it three-and-a-half stars, describing it as "truly trippy" and stating that it "generates universal dance fever". [5] Alternative Press noted that it "throws much darker shapes than its predecessor" and "slams harder and rawer and covers more ground". [17]

Robert Christgau praised the album, calling it "one of the rare records that's damn near everything you want cheap music to be". [10]

Mojo ranked it number 83 in their "100 Modern Classics" list,[ citation needed ] while Spin ranked it number 60 in their "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s". [18] NME placed it at number 9 in their "Top 50 Albums of 1994". [19]

On 4 December 2008, radio presenter Zane Lowe inducted the album into his 'Masterpieces' series by playing it in full on his BBC Radio 1 show.

It was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 1994 and is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . [20]

"An amazing record," remarked David Bowie. "It impressed me quite a lot." [21]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Liam Howlett, unless indicated otherwise. Tracks 5-9 from the second CD are previously released

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Intro" 0:45
2."Break & Enter" 8:24
3."Their Law" (featuring Pop Will Eat Itself)Howlett, Pop Will Eat Itself6:40
4."Full Throttle" 5:02
5."Voodoo People" 6:27
6."Speedway (Theme From Fastlane)" 8:56
7."The Heat (The Energy)" 4:27
8."Poison"Howlett, Maxim Reality 6:42
9."No Good (Start the Dance)"Howlett, Kelly Charles, James Bratton6:17
10."One Love (Edit)" 3:53
11."The Narcotic Suite: 3 Kilos" 7:19
12."The Narcotic Suite: Skylined" 5:56
13."The Narcotic Suite: Claustrophobic Sting" 7:13
Total length:78:07
More Music for the Jilted Generation disc 2
No.TitleLength
1."Voodoo People (Radio 1 Maida Vale Session)"4:18
2."Poison (Radio 1 Maida Vale Session)"4:42
3."Break & Enter (2005 Live Edit)"4:56
4."Their Law (Live at Pukkelpop)"5:27
5."No Good (Start the Dance) (Bad for You Mix)"6:49
6."Scienide"5:49
7."Goa (The Heat The Energy Part 2)"6:03
8."Rat Poison"5:31
9."Voodoo People (Dust Brothers Remix)"5:55

Samples

In addition to the film samples mentioned above, Liam Howlett incorporated a significant amount of musical material from other artists: [22]


Charts

Certifications

RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA) [49] Platinum70,000^
Canada (Music Canada) [50] Gold50,000^
Finland (Musiikkituottajat) [51] Gold20,830 [51]
Poland (ZPAV) [52] Gold50,000*
Sweden (GLF) [53] Gold50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [54] 2× Platinum600,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Personnel

The Prodigy [1]

Other personnel

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References

  1. 1 2 Music for the Jilted Generation Credits (liner notes). XL Recordings. XLCD 114. Retrieved 13 September 2024.
  2. ↑ "More Music for the Jilted Generation", 2008 release (Retrieved 26 May 2008)
  3. 1 2 3 4 Bush, John. "Music for the Jilted Generation – The Prodigy". AllMusic . Retrieved 11 September 2011.
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  16. ↑ "The Prodigy: Music for the Jilted Generation". Record Collector . 2008. p. 83. Under the booming breakbeats, thrash guitars and inflammatory soundbites, Howlett's supernova's talent was on overdrive...
  17. ↑ "The Prodigy: Music for the Jilted Generation". Alternative Press . No. 81. April 1995. p. 84.
  18. ↑ (September 1999, p. 150)
  19. ↑ (24 December 1994, p. 22)
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