The Prodigy’s The Fat of the Land: How band’s album fell out of favour

Sign up to Roisin O’Connor’s free weekly newsletter Now Hear This for the inside track on all things music Get our Now Hear This email for free Get our Now Hear This email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Eyes popping, mohawk bristling, the Prodigy’s late frontman, Keith Flint, is a Nineties icon – as instantly recognisable as a Spice Girl or a Britpop star in a zip-up trackie shouting “Oi!” at the traffic. The Fat of the Land was unleashed as the Prodigy were still riding high on the notoriety of 1996’s “Firestarter”. The Prodigy claimed the song was a tribute to early hip hop “B-boy” culture, the offensive line coming from “Give the Drummer Some” by Howlett’s favourite rap group, Ultramagnetic MCs. “The breathtakingly huge global fandom love the album, but I think contemporary media would have a hard time defending ‘Smack My Bitch Up’ now so it’s better not to celebrate problematic albums,” says Martin James, professor of creative and cultural industries at Solent University, Southampton and the author of several books about The Prodigy.