(6) FUNK: THE PRODIGY – SMACK MY B*TCH UP (1997)

B-side: Firestarter (1996)

“Oh my god – that’s the funky sh*t!”

We flashback to my hardcore stark raving techno dance bunny days with The Prodigy and their ant logo, although my taste has mellowed somewhat since then.

The Prodigy are an enduring electronic music band, although their high point was as one of the most important bands of the “big beat” subgenre of the 1990’s – not coincidentally, one might recognize the others from other funk entries in my top ten.

The musical prodigy behind The Prodigy is Liam Howlett, with the actual prodigy behind the name being his Moog Prodigy synthesizer. The Prodigy’s early material was largely straightforward rave with humorous samples thrown in, as shown by their debut album Experience. They ramped this up for their second album, Music for the Jilted Generation, “cultivating an angry, heavy sound drawing from techno, breakbeat and industrial rock”. Although I like the sound of both albums, this entry can only go to this single from their landmark album, The Fat of the Land in 1997, in which Howlett openly aimed at an alternative rock audience, “making the beats heavier”.

Of course, it does have that somewhat unfortunate title and lyric (sampled from “Give The Drummer Some” by the Ultramagnetic MCs), although I’ve always assumed it to be metaphorical – for “doing anything intensely” as the band itself claimed, or the sort of drunken or drug-fueled excess in the controversially explicit video.

I particularly enjoy the female vocals, performed by Shahin Badar, with vocals and harmonies in turn based on “Nana (The Dreaming)” by Sheila Chandra (initially as a direct sample but later with the vocal re-sung after sample clearance issues). Some of you may also recognize it from the Charlie’s Angels film soundtrack, where it was used to great effect in the action or fight sequences.

“I’m the trouble starter, punkin’ instigator

I’m the fear addicted, a danger illustrated

I’m a firestarter, twisted firestarter

You’re a firestarter, twisted firestarter!”

And as for my B-Side, it’s finely balanced between the two other leading singles from that album (such that it may vary by day and my mood), but I’ll go with their first single from the album and their first big hit – Firestarter.

“It showcased Keith Flint, with punk rock-style vocals, as the group’s frontman and is an important crossover song, meshing electronic beats with industrial metal and punk rock”.

RIP Keith Flint 4 March 2019

And here’s my Top 10 Prodigy songs for hardcore fans:

(3) Breathe (Fat of the Land 1996)

(4) No Good (Start the Dance (Music for the Jilted Generation 1994)

(5) Voodoo People (Music for the Jilted Generation 1994)

(6) Music Reach (1,2,3,4) (Experience 1992)

(7) Wind It Up (Experience 1992)

(8) Your Love (Experience 1992)

(9) Their Law (Music for the Jilted Generation 1994)

(“What we’re dealing with here is a total lack of respect for the law”)

(10) Poison (Music for the Jilted Generation 1995)

(“I got the poison / I got the remedy”)

RATING: 4 STARS****

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(7) FUNK: JAMIROQUAI – LOVE FOOLOSOPHY (A FUNK ODYSSEY 2001)

B-Side: Don’t Give Hate a Chance (2005)

“Baby baby, I feel these sweet sensations

Honey honey, looks like a superstar”

It doesn’t get much funkier than Jamiroquai – indeed, Wikipedia lists the band’s genres as “funk, acid jazz, jazz funk, nu-funk, pop and disco-rock”.

Jamiroquai is best known by its lead singer Jay Kay, dubbed the cat in the hat – particularly in his incarnation as the Buffalo Man, the silhouette character on their album covers – and his idiosyncratic style of dancing, showcased to best effect in the trippy video to Virtual Insanity, their best-selling single.

Or to its fans, the use of their single Canned Heat in that dance scene from Napoleon Dynamite. (Vote for Pedro!)

Their breakthrough album, particularly in the American music scene, was Travelling without Moving – apparently the best-selling funk album according to the Guinness Book of Records, with the aforementioned Virtual Insanity as its flagship single. Personally, I prefer the single Alright as funkier (“Let’s spend the night together, wake up and live forever”), although my true soft spot is for the sci-fi boogie of Cosmic Girls and its cheesy lyrics:

“I’m scanning all my radars

Well she said she’s from a quasar

Forty thousand million light years away

It’s a distant solar system

I tried to phone but they don’t list ’em

So I asked her for a number all the same

She said, step in my transporter

So I can teleport ya

All around my heavenly body…

She’s just a cosmic girl

From another galaxy”

However, my favorite Jamiroquai single and accordingly this entry is from their fifth album A Funk Odyssey (aptly enough in 2001) – Love Foolosophy.

Close-runner-up is a single from their sixth album Dynamite (and their singles compilation High Times) – (Don’t) Give Hate a Chance.

And as for the balance of my Top 10 Jamiroquai songs:

(3) Alright (Travelling Without Moving 1997)

(4) Cosmic Girl (Travelling with Moving 1996)

(5) Supersonic (1999)

(6) Little L (A Funk Odyssey 2001)

(7) You Give Me Something (A Funk Odyssey 2001)

(8) Corner of the Earth (A Funk Odyssey 2001)

(9) Feel So Good (A Funk Odyssey 2001)

(10) Feels Just Like it Should (2005)

Although Supersonic (Synkronized 1999) is a close runner-up, particularly for its trippy video

RATING: 4 STARS****

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Groove Armada’s logo

(6) FUNK: GROOVE ARMADA –
I SEE YOU BABY (1999)
B-side: Paper Romance (2010)

“This is the house that funk built – Groove Armada style!”

Nuff said.

Or perhaps not – Groove Armada (English electronic music duo Andy Cato and Tom Findlay) is another big beat funk entry from the 1990’s.

This entry, I See You Baby, is arguably their signature single and certainly one of the defining songs of 1999-2000. Although the original single was funky in itself, I prefer the even funkier remix by Fatboy Slim. (Interestingly, the duo DJ’d Fatboy Slim’s – or rather, Norman Cook’s – wedding). Watch out for that video – it gets a little raunchy

“You got to get on the dance floor…Oh this party got it going on!”

Don’t look for much in the way of lyrical depth (or lyrics) there – it’s all about the funk.

For my B-side – their 2010 single Paper Romance from their album Black Light (also remixed with other songs in their White Light album that year)

As for the balance of my Top 10 Groove Armada songs:
(3) Song 4 Mutya (2007)
(4) If Everybody Looked the Same (1999)
(5) Madder (2003)
(6) Superstyling (2001)
(7) My Friend (2001)
( 8 ) Think Twice (2002)
(9) Purple Haze (2002)
(10) But I Feel Good (2003)

RATING: 4 STARS****
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(3) FUNK: FATBOY SLIM (NORMAN COOK) –
ROCKAFELLER SKANK (1998)
B-Side: Weapon of Choice (2001)

Right about now – the funk soul brother! Check it out now – the funk soul brother!

And we’re in the electronic dance funk end of the funk scale, so don’t look for lyrical depth – or any lyrics beyond the above.

A prolific producer or mixer of dance music, Norman Cook has an appealing array of musical funk sub-genres attributed to him by Wikipedia – electronica, acid house, trip hop, nu-funk and the nomenclature with which I identify him, big beat.

Of course, not many people identify him as Norman Cook – he is best known by the moniker he adopted in 1996, Fatboy Slim, and under which he released the album which represented perhaps the height of his acclaim, You’ve Come a Long Way Baby. And that album featured this entry, Rockafeller Skank.

I am also partial to the following Fatboy Slim album Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars, particularly my B-side selection Weapon of Choice and its video, because who doesn’t love Christopher Walken dancing?

And as for the rest of my Top 10 Fatboy Slim songs (including his previous incarnation as Pizzaman):
(3) Happiness (Pizzamania 1995)
(4) Sex on the Streets (Pizzamania 1995)
(5) Going Out of My Head (1997)
(6) Right Here Right Now (You’ve Come a Long Way Baby 1999)
(7) Praise You (You’ve Come a Long Way Baby 1999)
( 8 ) Sunset / Bird of Prey (Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars 2000) – I mean, come on, it samples Jim Morrison!
(9) Don’t Let the Man Get You Down (2005)
(10) That Old Pair of Jeans (2006)

RATING: 4 STARS****
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