Prodigy Burns Down Barriers Dividing Rock, Hip-Hop, Dance

Prodigy’s Liam Howlett obviously doesn’t mind a little controversy, but then what would you expect from someone whose influences range from the Sex Pistols (the rebellion) to Public Enemy (the beat)?

The young Englishman must have known that there would be parental complaints last year when he came up with the “Firestarter� single, even though he says the title is simply a description of the combustible stage presence of the group’s hyperactive singer-dancer Keith Flint--not a cry for kids to start setting their rooms ablaze.

Similarly, Howlett starts off “The Fat of the Land,� the first essential collection of the ‘90s dance-rock movement, with a song whose title is bound to stop a lot of listeners cold: “Smack My Bitch Up.�

Howlett has said that he’s not referring to women in the title, arguing the B-word has assumed a wider definition (from prized car to phat beat) in the world of hip-hop.

But the real provocation of Prodigy and the album is the way Howlett, his three bandmates and such guests as rapper Kool Keith (of Doctor Octagon) and rock singer Crispian Mills (of Kula Shaker) attack the frustratingly rigid--especially in the U.S.--boundaries between the dance and rock fields.

When Prodigy’s Maxim Reality says, “This is dangerous� during “Mindfields,� he’s not talking about cartoonish danger or fright tactics employed by the likes of Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson. Instead, the music is “dangerous� to those who believe pop music has to stay in safe, conventional categories. Maxim Reality taunts the pop conservatives by adding, “Open up your head / Feel the shell shock.�

Prodigy was wise not to tour the U.S. as part of a synthesizer-driven dance-band package this summer because the band’s musical spirit is as aligned with rock and hip-hop as hard-core dance. (The group headlines the Lollapalooza stop Aug. 8 at Glen Helen Blockbuster Pavilion.) Don’t, for instance, think you’ve seen or heard Prodigy just because you’ve run across the Chemical Brothers, the other big stars on the British dance-rock scene.

Prodigy’s music is far more compelling. The tracks here have more identifiable pop structures and, generally, more dynamic dance textures. Except for too much Kula Shaker mysticism on the nine-minute “Narayana,� the album--which employs samples from such varied sources as Ultramagnetic M.C.’s to the Breeders--carries you along with the sonic rise and fall of a spectacular roller-coaster ride.

*

Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four stars (excellent).

Hear the Music

* Excerpts from these albums and other recent pop music releases are available on The Times’ World Wide Web site. Point your browser to: http://ukobiw.net./soundclips