The Prodigy - Music For The Jilted Generation

By 1994 the British government was writing laws against rave culture, and Liam Howlett answered with the angriest dance record the country had ever heard. Music For The Jilted Generation landed that July on XL Recordings in the middle of the fight over the Criminal Justice Bill, the legislation that set out to shut down free parties, and it went straight to number one on the UK album chart. A band that had been written off as a novelty rave act suddenly sounded like the voice of a scene under siege.

The shift from the debut is obvious within minutes. After a short cinematic intro, breaking glass kicks off "Break & Enter," and from there the album keeps its foot down: darker, grubbier and far heavier than anything The Prodigy's peers were making. "Their Law," built with Pop Will Eat Itself, bolts a snarling guitar riff onto a breakbeat and turns it into a protest song. "Voodoo People" pairs rock guitar with a huge trance melody, "No Good (Start The Dance)" became a top five UK single, and "Poison" brings Maxim to the mic over a slow, lurching hip-hop beat. The record closes with "The Narcotic Suite," a three-part comedown that shows how far Howlett's ambitions had stretched beyond the dancefloor.

It earned a Mercury Prize nomination and proved that electronic music could carry the weight and aggression of punk and metal without giving up the rush of rave. Three years before The Fat Of The Land made them global stars, this is where The Prodigy became a band that mattered, and for a lot of fans it is still their best album.

This XL Recordings edition spreads all 13 tracks across a double LP, with printed inner sleeves. A landmark of nineties dance music, built to be played loud.