1001 Songs Challenge #778: Out of Space (1992)

On 11 February 2019 I set myself the challenge of reading 1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die by Robert Dimery (ed.) and following the book’s advice to the letter. I’ve previously read 1001 Films… and started 1001 Albums… but felt 1001 Songs… would be a sensible place to start for what I have in mind here.

My challenge is to read about one song per day and listen to it (YouTube and Spotify, I need you tonight!) before sharing my own thoughts. Some songs I will love, others I’ll hate, and I’m sure there will be those that leave me perplexed but listen to them I shall.

I’ll also try, and most likely fail, to pinpoint the best song from the 1001 on offer but I’m nothing if not foolhardy. Instead of one song, I’m predicting I’ll have about 100 favourites by the end and may have to resort to a Top 10 so far to maintain any semblance of sanity.

So long as I post every day (including Christmas) then this challenge should come to an end on Wednesday 8 November 2021. Staying with the Barney Stinson theme I am hoping that the whole experience will prove to be…

 

The Prodigy – Out of Space (1992)

 

 

We’re leaving the US today, dear reader, and returning to the UK. To Braintree in Essex we find ourselves and it is time we had a spot of rave and electronica. Formed in 1990 by Liam Howlett, The Prodigy were part of the rave scene in the early 1990s and soon rose to prominence though their biggest success came later in the decade. We join them in 1992 with their debut album – Experience – and from there 1001 Songs have gone with the track – Out of Space. 

Out of Space is lyrically limited with the only sung words being samples taken from other artists including Max Romeo’s Chase the Devil, which was a reggae song dating back to 1976. The song talks of sending someone into space to find another race and boasts about having superior intelligence to another. That is all lyrically. Where the song excels is more in the music with the dance and rave beat running throughout, blended with the reggae it samples.

Out of Space was the fourth single from The Prodigy and landed the group a place in the UK Top 5. Whatever your view on sampling other songs, the group resonated with the early 1990s rave scene and climbing to the higher echelons of the charts is no easy task. Greater success was still to come for the group and it is from that period that I am most familiar with The Prodigy.

 

Favourite songs so far:

The Animals – House of the Rising Sun (1964)

Simon & Garfunkel – The Sounds of Silence (1965)

The Beatles – A Day in the Life (1967)

The Doors – The End (1967)

Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here (1975)

Meat Loaf – Bat Out of Hell (1977)

Ultravox – Vienna (1980)

The Smiths – How Soon Is Now? (1984)

Tracy Chapman – Fast Car (1988)

U2 – One (1991)