DJ Jay Q

14/07/2025

When you thought it's The Weekend, but it's only Wednesday 😭😭

02/07/2025

From the Gospel of Saint Liam 🙏

Back in the early-'90s, The Prodigy came dangerously close to having their fledgling career overshadowed by a novelty sampled hook, all thanks to the double-edged success of the band’s breakthrough single.

First released in 1991, Charly is a breakbeat-driven rave tune built around a bendy synth bassline and a sample of James Brown scatting. The song’s most recognisable element, however, is the voice of its titular cartoon cat.

Written, recorded and produced entirely by Prodigy lynchpin Liam Howlett, Charly marked something of a turning point for UK rave music as one of the first tracks to break through onto the radio and beyond the underground realm of the raves themselves.

That kind of early breakout success can often prove difficult for a band or artist to live up to, particularly when it comes attached to a recognisable gimmick like Charly’s subversion of childish innocence. Speaking to Future Music in 1992, Howlett was well aware of the potential pitfalls of trying to follow-up Charly with something too similar.

"If we'd have tried to write another Charly," he says, "it would have been the downfall for us: we'd have been labelled the cartoon samplers, the toy-town techno group."

Charly and the run of Prodigy singles that followed it did a lot to raise the profile of the UK rave sound, something that led to a certain amount of pushback from the hardcore hardcore. But Howlett was adamant about pushing back on the idea that The Prodigy were selling out the scene.

"We know the music and the scene really well and we try to stay true to that," he tells FM. "We're not trying to commercialise the rave scene; the records get in the charts because people buy them. People say 'Why did you put that into the charts?' We say, 'You bought it, you put it into the charts, not us’."

Looking back, the manner in which The Prodigy responded to the success of Charly is a textbook example of how to break free from the shackles of a debut hit.

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Listen….

11/05/2025

The good old days. Simpler times …..

02/05/2025

Proud to have DJ’d this unique and stunning event for Awesome Events

02/03/2025

🙌 🌹last ever tune @ Space Ibiza by the godfather Carl Cox

Not Copyright intended. Carl Cox playing Wish I Didn't Miss You by Angie Stone, his last time after 15 years of residency. Just Enjoy the Music. Not Copyrigh...