“I love it”: The electronic band Jeff Beck adored
“It’s like The Who and the Yardbirds,” Jeff Beck once enthused. The legendary guitarist, who was, of course, a member of the Yardbirds where he replaced Eric Clapton, rarely gushed over fellow greats, but here he places one of his favourite acts alongside his own launching pad on a pedestal. Alongside Jimmy Page, Beck became an integral part of an alumni of musicians who defined an era of musical evolution.
Between Beck and Page, ‘Rave Up’ was born, a pioneering sonic movement that platformed high energy, instrumental passage and soloing. What resulted was Beck becoming a stalwart in the pantheon of guitar greats, a stylistic footprint that can be traced onto any legend thereafter: Eddie Van Halen, David Gilmour and Slash, to name but a few.
So it comes as no surprise that Beck has a keen ear for innovation, no matter the genre. In his interview with Guitar World for his then-upcoming album Who Else!, Beck said, “I’m a great fan of The Prodigy. They kick butt and they make that great, wallowing-in-the-mud sort of festival music. I love it. It’s like The Who and the Yardbirds. I love their drum sounds. They’re punky, but they’re articulated and beautiful. It’s not trashy.”
David Gilmour, one of the very guitarists Beck went on to influence, said that Beck was “a maverick guitar player who doesn’t like to repeat himself. [One] who takes big risks all the time and has done all the way throughout his career”. All those aforementioned maverick characteristics have been historically linked to The Prodigy for their influence on 1990s rave culture. They were risk-takers in a manner akin to arsonists.
They’re similarly innovative and authentic to the era in which they existed, pushing boundaries by marrying Liam Howlett’s intricate sampling and Keith Flint’s menacing vocal deliveries. This relationship between Beck and The Prodigy acts as somewhat of a closed loop of influence. The Prodigy’s sample use is innovative but forthright, celebrating their influences in unison with their adaptation of them. Many of the samples used by the band were from artists like the bluesman Johnny Pate, who was a songwriting collaborator of Beck.
So it almost feels like poetic irony that in 1999 Beck found himself being influenced by a band who repurposed his influence to create something new.
In referencing their impact on his Who Else! creative process, Beck said, “I wanted to capture that power with my guitar on top of it. I wanted to marry that notion of techno with a real drummer. I ended up using drum machines some of the time, though. I’m not a purist. I’ll go wherever I need to go to get the result”.
What resulted in Who Else! was a kaleidoscopic record of sounds, tempos and tones. Rehoming his signature blues riff-playing guitar style to a home of electronic drum kits, Beck maintained his status as a curve-beating musician. While certain tracks didn’t necessarily land commercially, the imprint his innovation left on albums like Who Else! is why his name is said with such mythology.
Perhaps without the early Jeff Beck records, there may not have been The Prodigy and without The Prodigy, no Who Else!. While influence and evolution are nothing new, the closed-loop interaction seen here between Beck and The Prodigy is something to saviour, particularly when the genre cross over feels so irreverant.
