In a children’s program, Howlett found the voice of a boy who translates his cat’s meow: “Charly says always tell you mummy before you go off somewhere.” Innocent, but also words that were full of double meanings: Charly is slang for cocaine and go off is a synonym for “going crazy.” Much chuckling among house lovers, especially because at that time there was a lot of media attention for the dangers of house music. What distinguished “Charly”, however, was the characteristic voice sample.
“Charly” is said to rule the dance floor along with “Dominator” and “Mentasm”. The Prodigy’s breakthrough happened in the summer of 1991 when house music got faster and louder. In England, the song caused controversy because of its potentially vandalistic message, promptly leading “Firestarter” to the top of the charts (in the Netherlands it reached eighth place.) A masterpiece that transcends genres. The new look with make-up and piercings perfectly matched the aggressive sound and anarchic lyrics of “Firestarter” that Keith delivered with passion. His long hair had been cut off and exchanged for a bizarre punk haircut. Contrary to expectations, dancer Keith was suddenly pushed forward as a singer / frontman. The first single from the album Fat of the Land was not only a radical step for The Prodigy, it would also become one of the most important songs of the 1990s. Only Queen could keep this classic from the first place in England, partly because of the death of Freddie Mercury. The song is periodically interrupted by a circus-like melody, after which a voice chases the dancer with the lyrics from the title. “Everybody in the Place” is driven by a nervous break beat and a melody played against the rules by a heavy bass. The Prodigy carefully worked out the song in different versions until an extremely cheerful mix that sounded like a wild fairground attraction. “Everybody in the Place” was one of the biggest dance hits of 1991. After sex, the gaze is turned to a mirror and the person turns out to be a woman.
Eventually the vandal comes home with a stripper. The video was filmed from the perspective of someone who goes out for a night and drinks and snorts a lot, gets aggressive, smashes things and throws up.
The video was broadcast by MTV after midnight with difficulty and would become an audience favorite. Due to the misogyny of the phrase “smack my bitch up”, the song was not played on BBC radio. In addition, the group managed to cause controversy with both the minimal lyrics and the video of the song. The third single from Fat of the Land was not a big hit but was said to be very influential and set the model for much of the energetic electronic music used in video games.
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