30th Anniversary of ‘One Love’
Exactly 30 years ago, on October 4th, 1993, the release of ‘One Love’ single, one of the most iconic singles in the history of The Prodigy, took place. This release marked a significant step forward for the band, departing from the usual rave sound that Liam had previously produced and ushering in a new stage in the band’s creative development. Today, in honor of the anniversary, we have decided to revisit some of the events leading up to the single’s release, as well as other less obvious facts from that period.
To begin with, ’93 was a turning point for the band. The rave culture started to fade away, the US tour didn’t work out the way guys would have liked, and Liam started looking for new directions in his work. We wrote about it in detail in our article dedicated to the live shows of ’93 – https://theprodi.gy/live1993/
Inspired by German techno, as well as industrial and some alternative rock, Liam began a gradual shift towards a heavier sound. The first tracks of this new wave, oddly enough, were Liam’s remixes of other artists. During ’93, remixes for artists such as Front 242, Jesus Jones, The Magi & Emanation were released. We also have a separate article about all these remixes – https://theprodi.gy/1993remixes/
The same fact can be called one of the reasons why ‘Rhythm Of Life’ is missing on the legendary Earthbound vinyl whitelabel.
Recall that Liam originally released the single on vinyl white-labels called ‘Earthbound 1’ and ‘Earthbound 2’. Legend has it that the idea was to conduct a sort of ‘blind-test’ among DJs, especially those who viewed the band negatively due to their success and commercialization. According to Martin Roach, who mentioned this case in his book, some music magazines even recognized this release as the best whitelabel of the year. Many DJs immediately embraced it and played it relentlessly. However, after the official release of the single, when everybody knew that it was The Prodigy, they stopped playing it. Or something along those lines.
Martin Roach in ‘Electronic Punks: The Official Story’ book: “During the summer of 1993 there was a promotional white label hard house tune circulating around the underground scene by a band calling themselves Earthbound, with two versions available. The record arrived cheaply packaged and with someone’s home address hastily scribbled on the label. Despite the spartan packaging, reactions to these records were very enthusiastic, with all the major DJs of note picking up on them, and crowd reactions were similarly positive. One dance magazine even went as far as to say, “This is the best white label we have received this year”. Clearly, Earthbound was a new act with enormous potential. There was much discussion about who Earthbound were, yet no-one knew or guessed. When the writer of these tracks was finally made known to the public, there was much consternation by the underground scene snobs who had derided The Prodigy for many months because of their commercial success. The record they were now hailing as the year’s best white label was in fact a product of Liam Howlett’s very own Earthbound studios, and the tracks were from the forthcoming release by The Prodigy.”
Liam to Martin Roach: “In a way, the whole scene at that point was confused, unsure, and as such was splitting up into various categories, with one set of DJs going one way and others going elsewhere. I didn’t want to get involved in all the internal politics, because that would have restricted me creatively, I would have been too limited. So ‘One ove’ came from that. With the more typical Prodigy ‘Full Throttle’ and the B-side incorporating the Johnny L mixes, which were more German techno with a touch of breakbeat, it was still a hard record.”
Liam and Leeroy in interview to Nite-FLite (01/08/93): “GOT ANY NEW TRACKS COMING OUT?”
Liam: “We’ve got one coming out in a couple of weeks, it’s a bit different. The A side ‘One Love’ I’d more of a ‘Four to the Flour’ hard house but fast.”
Leeroy: It’s good for the DJs cos they can play it fast or slow and it comes out alright.”
In general, the main tracks on the single, both the original and the remix, leaned towards a more European sound, with a focus on 4/4 house music. However, Elektra, the label that released The Prodigy in the US, accused the track of being too extreme and refused to release the single, despite the track being one of the most accessible since ‘Experience’. The label had previously insisted that Liam re-record his tracks specifically for the US market, making them simpler and more accessible.
A similar case would happen a couple of years later with The Chemical Brothers’ remix of Voodoo People, which was released in the US on the Mute label.
All Souvenirs has completed a full studio reconstruction of this version. Our previous work based on a soundboard recording, this new take is completely rebuilt from the ground up using the original source samples!
The decision to shorten ‘One Love’ for the album was likely influenced by the fact that, unlike the other tracks on the album, ‘One Love’ had already been released almost a year before the album and was already well known to the public. As a result, the edited version became the most familiar to the masses. The full 5:55 version of the original mix remained a luxury for vinyl music enthusiasts and DJs, as it was never officially released anywhere else except in the vinyl edition of the single.
Headmaster: SIXSHOT, SPLIT
Additional thanks to: Martin Roach, James Fry, Danny Kara & Etienne Lebon
Donate
Tether (USDT)
Donate Tether(USDT) to this address
YOOMONEY (RUS): 7928З82272З
The truth is , all this nonsense about promo Earthbound “all major djs picking it up” looks like bullshit. If you’ll check the tracklists for 93 sets by many various djs (in house and rave scene) – “One Love” is rarely played, most likely, played as usual as other Prodigy tracks in UK.
Nothing special, but the default “blah blah blah” by Liam and his surroundings just to show how they cool in the underground scene.
Maybe… Anyway, i think it was done just for better promotion their forthcomin single.
Also they already played ‘One Love’ in their live gigs from May of 1993 and maybe early – https://youtu.be/Z0Brp06WX04?t=3177
Yes, was no internet then, but UK music community i think knew in August what is ‘Earthbound’.
I found the secret. Nice work!