Celebrating 30 Years of Jilted Generation: The Brainkiller Community Remix Project
August 1, 2024This year marks the 30th anniversary of the iconic *Music For The Jilted Generation*—the second album by The Prodigy.
This extravaganza album led the band in new directions, expanding the electronic punk spectrum. Fast forward to the early 2000s, during a time when the band resumed touring after a two-year hiatus and without Leeroy Thornhill, who had left for his solo project, the fans’ expectations for new material were high.
Brainkiller, a Prodigy fan community, has been active for over two decades, serving as a buzzing forum in times when eagerly awaiting a new album after a five-year gap. “However, in 2003, news broke that Liam Howlett had scrapped all his tracks, leading to disappointment,” recalls Neorev (a.k.a. Michael Matteo), one of the oldest members and administrators of BK.
Brainkiller brought together Prodigy fans from around the globe. Additionally, they were hosting music competitions where various producers submitted their tracks. “I had entered a track under my alias Neorev and secured a spot on the compilation. The community decided to call it *Music From The Jilted Generation*, in honor of The Prodigy’s legendary album. It ended up being immensely popular amongst Prodigy fans, with some of the tracks getting airplay on Radio 101 in Italy (the admin of Brainkiller is based in Italy). Over the next decade, four more volumes would follow, with 2013’s *Music From The Jilted Generation Vol. 5* bringing the series to a close on its 10th anniversary,” Neorev says.
“In early 2023, approaching the 20th anniversary of the first compilation and the 30th anniversary of *Music For The Jilted Generation*, I had an idea to remix the original album. I spent 18 months organizing the project, contacting producers from the community and new ones. Despite some setbacks and last-minute changes, I assembled a strong lineup of remixers.” – Neorev
The project exceeded expectations, with the album being downloaded over 2,000 times on Bandcamp, viewed nearly 7,000 times on YouTube, and streamed over 11,000 times on Soundcloud in its first week. It also topped Mixcloud charts. “On top of that, I even had the master himself, Liam Howlett, email me to say how much he loves the album, calling it ‘fuckin mega.’
It truly means a lot to me and everyone involved to see the album get such an overwhelmingly positive response from the fans and the band. This is a remix album for the fans made by the fans. We hope this album introduces a new generation to the Brainkiller community,” adds Neorev. The album showcases producers who are more mature than ever, displaying their skills and passion for The Prodigy’s spirit.
The Supersonic Army (a.k.a. Tom Waddington) from the UK is one of the essential members of the Brainkiller community. He is involved in the ‘jilted remixes’ with a personal take on The Prodigy’s ‘Break & Enter,’ a track that is probably his favorite Prodigy tune. His work consistently showcases meticulous attention to detail and a deep passion for highlighting the Jilted vibe.
“I wanted my remix to be full of original sounds as much as possible while pulling elements from the original. I think the only bit I actually sampled from Liam’s track was the fx breakdown sound right before the drops. Everything else I recreated and replayed; the sine beeps and the synths I replayed from the original track, same with the strings toward the end—they were all replayed. I used a fair bit of the Korg Polysix and Monopoly throughout the remix to flesh out the sounds, then resampled the vox from the Baby D ‘Cassanova’ track, the beeps from the ‘Trip 2 The Moon’ Acen track, and I sampled the original break from the Subwoofer Agte track.
The beats, in particular, were about 15 layers thick; I chopped up 6 or 7 different breaks and layered them together, along with extra kicks, hi-hats, snares, crashes, and fx. The original Subwoofer break is in there, but it’s not obvious. The break also changes halfway through the track, giving it a different groove. The guitars came courtesy of Andy Dove, who is a top guitarist.
I gave him the notes to play and some direction on the style of guitar sound I wanted, and he absolutely nailed it. It took the remix to the next level and really gave it the sort of urgency that comes from ‘real’ instruments. Finally, a mate of mine called Sethera helped with some of the mixdown, and fellow remixer High Voltage helped mix and master the track in its final stage. Overall, I’m very happy with the end result, and it holds its own against the other remixes on the compilation,” SSA comments.
SSA also had a brief stint with the Prodigy tribute band Flint Fire, participating in five gigs.
“I never wanted to be part of a tribute band, but Eddy (i.e. ‘Royle Eddy’ curator of Flint Fire) is a close friend, and I did it specifically to help him out. To ensure this was an original live act, I recreated as much of The Prodigy’s music as I could.
I think in total I spent about four months rebuilding or remixing Prodigy material. For example, I produced the 2005 live mix of ‘Hotride’ from scratch, using all the ‘El Batori’ mixes of the track, along with the original song from AONO to piece it all together. I created an instrumental version of ‘Serial Thrilla,’ using the original Nirvana and Autechre samples. I also did an instrumental version of the lesser-heard track ‘Razor.’
I recreated the modern version of ‘No Good’ for a live jam, along with an original remix of ‘Pandemonium’ from ’91 that I put together for fun. Finally, the version of ‘Firestarter’ that I produced took me weeks to create. It’s based on the versions from around the mid-2010s that the band would play with Flinty before he sadly passed. I wanted to give Eddy and the rest of Flint Fire lads the best footing to succeed and move forward, and I think we achieved that with the tracks I did for the band.
I only agreed to the initial five gigs, and then Connor took over from me behind the keys, and he is smashing it. I gave him all the source material, and he has continued to tweak and improve on the tracks I started,” SSA notes.
*Music For The Jilted Generation* has numerous fans from around the globe and Neorev’s story can find similarities to anyone out there. For a young kid from the US, influenced by Guns ‘N’ Roses, The 2 Live Crew, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, but to name a few, in the good old MTV days, there was poor information about a band like The Prodigy in the early 90s. So when he got the *MFTJG* album in his hands, he got shocked.
“The uplifting vibes of rave and breakbeat hardcore were gone. Replaced with darker, more sinister grooves that pulsated and erupted across the speaker. What I admired most was that it took guts to shed their rave roots and change up their sound.
This album was a pure adrenaline-fueled journey from beginning to end,” he remembers. And the story drives to the mid-90s and the rise of electronica in the States, fueled by the Wipeout XL soundtrack and MTV’s Amp. Inspired to create his electronic music, Neorev began experimenting with MTV Music Generator for the PlayStation in 1999.
This experimentation led him to Fruity Loops, introduced by a friend of his brother who ran illegal raves in New York. Thus began Neorev’s deep dive into electronic music production, spending the following years refining his skills with Fruity Loops, Sonic Foundry’s Sound Forge, and Acid as his first DAW.
All in all, it’s clear that the spirit of *Music For The Jilted Generation* continues to resonate profoundly with both new and longtime fans. This fan project not only celebrates the 30th anniversary of an iconic album, but also exemplifies the enduring influence of The Prodigy’s groundbreaking sound. Neorev and The Supersonic Army are excellent examples of producers who have thrived within the Prodigy vibe over the years.
Eventually, anyone can realize the power and inspiration that this band has provided over the years, evoking the talent of producers involved in a vibrant community that keeps the band’s spirit alive. And as the *MFTJG* record opens:
“So, I’ve decided to take my work back underground. To stop it falling into the wrong hands.”
Free download the *MFTJG* remix album here:
https://brainkillerprodigy.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-the-jilted-generation-remixed
https://brainkillerprodigy.bandcamp.com/album/music-for-the-jilted-generation-remixed
Brainkiller: https://linktr.ee/brainkillerprodigy](https://linktr.ee/brainkillerprodigy
Neorev: https://linktr.ee/neorevmusic](https://linktr.ee/neorevmusic
The Supersonic Army: https://thesupersonicarmy.bandcamp.com/](https://thesupersonicarmy.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/neorev_music/
https://www.instagram.com/supersonicarmy/
Review: Peri GLOWKiD – http://www.glowkidmusic.com](http://www.glowkidmusic.com