Unlike most in the electronic music scene, Prodigy knows how to put on a show. Their sound is big and loud, but that's not the half of it. They also blast audiences with arena-sized performances, complete with strobe lights, the occasional pyrotechnic display, a professional dancer named Leeroy, and

Agitated, Dark, Excessive, Gritty, In-your-face, Techno/house/big beat, Violent

Stokley Carmichael once said, "Everything is political." Apparently, poet Linton Kwesi Johnson agrees. The sound of his voice stays low and docile, as the humming of dub beats in the background lends a trance-like mood. But his are not calm words. The wrath of a gentle tiger broils in his laments aga

Agitated, Angry, Gritty, In-your-face, Lyrical, Overflowing, Political, Reggae, Social revolution, Spiritual

If Paul Rotha was going to be fired, he was going to be fired by the best. In the early years of his career, while working as an assistant designer for Hitchcock, Rotha published a scathing article on the stagnation of British film. The future master of suspense was not impressed. Hitchcock canned Ro

British documentary movement, Egalitarian, Gritty, Political, Sincere

If Britain had a blacklist during the Thatcher era, Ken Loach was on it. Pound the pavement though he might, he couldn't persuade anyone to fund his films. His made-for-TV documentaries met with steep resistance -- in fact, his depiction of the 1984 coal miners' strike was banned outright. Why? Loach

British documentary movement, Gritty, Industrial, Intense, Political, Sincere, Violent, Young british/kitchen sink/free cinema