Case Study of The Prodigy
My task in this case study is to write about a band/artist that has reached public prominence in the last 10 years within the u.k and that have also had at least one top 20 single within the u.k singles chart. Their music must be completely original and they must have produced at least 1 hit album. The band I am about to write about in this case study is the Dance/Rap band whom some people call the techno terrorists, The Prodigy.
Early History
The Prodigy consisted of 5 original members, 2 dancers, 1 DJ and 2 M.C.s, however before these 5 met the Prodigy didn’t exist and only was a thought inside the DJ and musical genius Liam Howlett’s head.
Howlett was certainly the musical force behind the Prodigy sound. He was born in 1974 in Braintree in Essex. He was educated in music as a classical piano player. As he grew older he began to listen to early ska and punk and by secondary school Liam had become very much attracted to the hip-hop scene and listened to bands like Grand master flash and Run Dmc. Only a few years later, still very much influenced by hip-hop, Liam had saved up enough cash to by two decks or turntables and became the DJ for a rap band called “Cut to Kill”. The band eventually secured a record contract with a record company named “Tam Tam records”. Yet the record deal excluded Liam, despite the fact that the band used one of his tracks to win the contract. After this betrayal Liam left the band, started to loose faith in the rap scene and started to look for brighter more promising areas in music.
While Liam was DJ-ing in the hip-hop scene, a new wave of illegal music had taken to the underground scene – Acid House. This used technology to create fast and powerful head stimulating beats that could never be simulated or created by human beings. The only way to experience this sort of music was to go to large illegal warehouse parties that eventually formed the foundation for what is now known as a rave.
Liam’s first experience of this was at a place called the barn in Rayne, he thought it was the best thing he had ever been to and even begin DJ-ing at some of these illegal underground events. This was then where Liam met dancer Leroy Thornhill and singer/dancer Keith Flint.
Does the amount of schooling measure a person’s intelligence level? The essay “Blue Collar Brilliance” written by Mike Rose, argue that the intelligent a person has should not be measure under the amount of schooling, using the example of his uncle, who did not get a formal education, become the head of general motor. As for this, Rose suggest that education should be taken as priority. I agree with Rose point of view because the one who get formal education do not symbolize success. In older generation, many people could not afford the tuition, however they can also succeed. In the other word, having formal education does not grantee us a successful future.
called Red Edge, when he put an ad in a Brisbane music paper for a lead
The Dave Matthews Band has been a musical power house for years. They have meshed together almost every type of music together to create their extremely unique sounds and attractiveness towards their music. Dave Matthews, lead singer and guitarist from South Africa has put together a band that no one will ever be able to create again. Dave picked four extremely talented and unique sounding men to join his band and together they have created some amazing music. The members of the band include Stefan Lessard on bass, Boyd Tinsley on violin, Leroi Moore on saxophone and one of the best drummers in the world, Carter Beauford. Together these men will one day leave behind a similar reputation as one of the all time greatest "jam" bands of time.
Blakey enjoyed playing the drums, and soon developed a unique style of play. He constantly used sudden dynamic shifts along with odd interjections. His style fit perfectly with Garner's idiosyncratic approach to playing the piano. This band still under the leadership of Blakey would only stay together about four...
Motown paved the way for future artists to explore themselves. It helped created the grounds of a great music and cultural integration in the 1970’s to now and hopefully forever. Hip Hop’s arrival was credit to Motown triumphs in the musical world. Through the mixing of percussion and the rhythm of the drumbeats of funk and disco, hip hop revealed the opposition to social inequality and discrimination
Houston kicked off the Southern hip-hop trends in the 1980's with pioneers such as the Geto Boys and UGK. Both groups we're overtly conscious discussing not only poverty, but also the implications of drug dealing and violence (Smith, 2004; Sanneh 2005). The early 1990's brought in Houston's signature chopped and screwed sound when DJ Screw made his name is a "psychedelic remixer" (Sanneh, 2005.) But the Houston sound took a while to expand to the rest of the US because like the other epicenters the sound of the artist on the independent labels stayed local (Speyer,
Underground hip-hop is filled with groups such as The Pharcyde, The Roots, Jigmastas, and Jurassic 5 who use live instruments to not only enhance their lyrical talents, but also to give audiences a great show. All four of these groups are dedicated to preserving hip-hop culture. Emcees battle to prove they are iller, Djs do the same thing, and breakers, break dancers, poppers, whatever you want to call them, continue the tradition of mixing their dance art form of popping, locking and spinning using the music to help create different techniques.
Beginning with the late 1960’s counterculture in San Francisco, music and drugs will forever be inter-linked. Hippie bands such as the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers, and Phish are associated with marijuana, mushrooms, and LSD. Modern electronic “rave” , or club music is associated with MDMA or Ecstasy. When one thinks of rock and roll, sex and drugs immediately come to mind. While the use of drugs is not essential for the creation or performance of all new music, it was certainly in important factor for the counterculture music of the late 1960’s. While some of the most important and influential music was made with the help of psychoactive drugs, it was often to the detriment of the artist. Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, and countless other tremendously talented artists had their lives cut short due to drug use. Drugs were most often good for the music, but deadly for the music makers.
We, as a society, feel the need to draw imaginary lines to separate ourselves whether it’s the line between color of our skin, our religion differences, our political beliefs, or the status of our class. As much as I wish there wasn’t a defining line between high class and the educated vs. low class and uneducated, there is. In Mike Rose’s narrative essay “Blue-Collar Brilliance,” he describes his mother’s lack of education and her hard labor work which is the quote on quote the blue collar working class.
In the early 1980s, the "new wave" movement, a sub genre of punk rock that began in the '70s, was generating a more sophisticated pop sound. In Britain, artists including bands such as the Clash, Squeeze, and the Police attained both critical and commercial acceptance. The Pretenders, another British band established in the late 70s, was led by an American-born singer and songwriter, Chrissie Hynde. In the United States, the Los Angeles-based band X navigated the transition from punk to new wave, and the New York-based group Talking Heads with a big assist from MTV, succeeded in fusing art rock with funk and African rhythms. Which leads me to my next new 80's genre.
The exact origin of raves is unknown, though many say the gatherings are reminiscent of American Indian religious ceremonies, like pow-wows. The first modern raves are said to have occurred in English warehouses around 1987 and were focused around homosexual males. Since then, raves have grown more than anyone might think possible. With this growth has come evolution as well. Raves are now held in nearly almost city or town, whether it be heavily populated or in the middle of cornfields. Customarily, they are centered in abandoned warehouses decked out in black lights and strobes, but they have taken place on beaches, in caves, and virtually any other place with enough room for the 500-1500 person congregation.
A state that undertakes custody of a child is declaring that it can do a better job providing protection. This system is a powerful agent of support, providing positive nurturing environments that enable a child to reach his or her potential. Nonetheless, when children suffer additional abuse in the system, this government intervention should be questioned.
Is it better to be book smart or street smart? Is it better to be happy and stable or unhappy and ‘rich’? Blue-collar jobs require you to learn skills that college cannot teach you; Rose points this out in his essay, stating: “It was like schooling, where you’re constantly learning” (277). In the essay “Blue Collar Brilliance” written by Mike Rose, he talks about how his mother worked as a waitress and how his uncle Joe dropped out of high school, eventually got a job working on the assembly line for General Motors and was then moved up to supervisor of the paint and body section. Rose suggests that intelligence is not represented by the amount of schooling someone has or the type of job they work. In this essay I will be explaining why Rose
"40 Years on from the Party Where Hip Hop Was Born." BBC Culture. N.p., 9 Aug. 2013. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
One of the most influential groups of the 20th Century—the Beatles revolutionized rock and roll into what we know it as today. Not only were they great musicians, they wrote and composed each of their songs. The band proved to be popular and exciting causing mass hysteria at each of their public performances. The “Fab Four’s” talent was so great that the phenomenon was termed “Beatlemania” in Britain and eventually erupted in the United States being called the British Invasion of the Beatles (Britannica Online, 2005).