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Cinemetal

WHAT DO PEOPLE THINK OF PRONG?

 Wednesday, November 25th, 2009 at 10:30am by

Prong have always been kind of a weird band to me, just barely a blip on my musical radar. Should they be considered a metal band? I’m not really sure. Prong eventually secured their own place in the ’90s pseudo-industrial canon (see also: Killing Joke, Gravity Kills) but the band had firm roots in thrash and punk.

What do you folks thing of Prong? I’m asking because I genuinely want to know. I have a feeling Prong are one of those bands who have a solid core of die-hard followers and not a whole lot of interest outside of that… but who knows, I’ve been wrong before.

Here’s the video for “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck” from the band’s classic album Cleansing.

-VN

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  • Soontohavesyphilis

    Its a pretty good song. I was always felt about them as you do…just a blip

  • Alkahest

    meh.

  • http://www.countshockula.blogspot.com ezra

    You people are insane. Prong rules.
    Well, not that last album, but “Cleansing” was in my car’s cassette player for a year straight.
    Their first 3 or 4 albums are all really good.

    • LoadPuller

      My thoughts exactly. Some recent albums have some good songs as well. Tommy Victor comes up with cool riffs. I like Killing Joke and Ministry so Prong hits the spot. One of my favorite bands.

  • DeathMasqueRed

    I remember watching Headbanger’s Ball as a kid, suffering through Poison and Motley and Britny Fox just so I could possibly see a Testament video. Prong got a lot of airtime with “Beg to Differ”. It was decent at best. I enjoyed it at the time for being an oddity in those three hours of videos. You got mostly hair metal, an Iron Maiden or Judas Priest video, and a few thrash videos. Prong didn’t quite fit into any of those, and it was quite a refreshing break from the hair metal, though not really what I was watching the show for.

    I don’t think anything I just wrote makes much sense. Anyway, I don’t mind Prong, though I don’t own any albums and really only know the one song “Beg to Differ”. I also felt that they were about the same as Helmet.

  • TJ

    They were one of those bands I loved in high school, before I got way into metal.

    That said, the album Cleansing still holds up decently. Snap Your Fingers is a great song, as are songs like Whose Fist is this Anyways?

    Nothing groundbreaking, but Prong is a shitload better than most of the same type of bands who came out at the same time (Gravity Kills, etc).

  • You Don’t Know Me

    Prong are a good solid band. Not horrible but not great. Notable but not amazing. My opinion of them is if you haven’t heard them, listen to them. Otherwise, I don’t think it’s exactly required listening.

  • John

    Who’s theme song was this in ECW? I think thats the only time I’ve really heard of/heard prong

    • d.o.g.o.b.g.y.n.

      Justin Credible

  • Full Metal Fuckface

    Beg to Differ was great back then. Doesn’t hold up as well now, though. Pretty boring.
    Cleansing was alright.
    Never really liked any of the other albums that much.

    • http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/62449cbe5ea8d22bcc2e76890fceaa37.png Lord Bling

      Agreed. Beg to Differ was great at the time but doesn’t hold up now. I can still break it out every once in a while for the nostalgia though.

      However, Scorpio Rising was a much better album than people gave them credit for.

      • CJLsky

        Very very true, that. The production leaves a little to be desired, and there’s a couple clunkers on there (“Regal” comes to mind), but “Scorpio Rising” was a pretty sweet album.

  • http://pandasdestroy.com Greg

    I saw Prong open for Danzig on the I Luciferi tour in 2002, and they remain one of the best live acts I’ve seen. A lot of their material sounds dated now, but Cleansing and Rude Awakening slay.

  • Johnny Death

    I’ve always liked Prong. Mostly the album Cleansing. The other albums I could care less about. I got my first lap dance to Snap your Fingers Snap Your Neck so that song always makes me think more of butt shaking in black leather panties more than anything else.

  • http://www.last.fm/user/groverXIII groverXIII

    I’ll go with the crowd here… Prong are a good, solid band that haven’t done anything particularly spectacular. ‘Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck’ has a pretty killer riff and bassline, and ‘Whose Fist Is This Anyway’ is a great song title. I did rather enjoy ‘Power Of The Damager’ as far as albums go.

    Perhaps my favorite bit of work that Tommy Victor ever did was contributing the guitar riff to ‘Doomsayer’ by Argyle Park (an old project of Klayton from Celldweller and Circle Of Dust), an album that greatly influenced my taste in music these days. He liked it so much that he used it on a Prong song as well.

  • Bam

    prong were pretty well known as the band whose song was used for the headbangers ball promos. Tommy Victor is pretty much the core guy in the band who has always been a musicians musician working with ministry and Danzig and other core groups of musicians. One of the other things to note was that ted parsons (godflesh/killing joke/swans/jesu) and Paul Raven (Killing Joke/Ministry/godflesh) were also in this band. I think that they had such notable musicians stuck out as much to me as the band name itself. Anyways, always solid releases even though some songs do run into one another. Earlier stuff like prove you wrong and beg to differ were there thrashest while snap your fingers and prove were more the industrial prong.

  • http://www.last.fm/user/M60Patton Patton

    meh

  • brian roach

    Prong were amazing, their first four records are incredibly ahead of their time and groundbreaking, and they had a huge influence on many, many bands that came after them. Check out ‘Beg to Differ’ or ‘Prove You Wrong’ amazing albums. They are pretty lame now, but in the early-mid 1990s they were amazing! A massively overlooked band…

    • Metallibrarian

      I mostlyagree. When I started listening to them (Force Fed, 1988) they definitely had some different stuff going on. (The guitar tone on some of those songs is just sick.) Beg To Differ brought it out more: jazz chords in addition to the standard power chords, unusual arrangements, good use of texture. I know some of that came from Killing Joke (to whom I was not listening at the time), but the fusion, for lack of a better word, was good stuff.

      They also had an interesting evolution to their sound:

      Primitive Origins was thrash/hardcore crossover–short, fast, dirty and aggressive.
      Force Fed had some of those elements but leaned more to the metal side.
      Beg To Differ was stylistically all over the map, in a good way- heavy, but with surprises along the way (beware very clean, dry production, which some folks don’t like, but if you’re one of them try to listen to the songs in spite of the sound).
      Prove You Wrong brought in their first industrial influences, along with a new bass player (Troy Gregory from Flotsam & Jetsam) – still good, sometimes great (title track, Unconditional, Territorial Rites).
      Cleansing was detuned and more industrial sounding, but super heavy, and still had the textural bits I liked so much (No Question & Test have some great riffs).
      Only with Rude Awakening did I feel I had heard some of it before on Cleansing – more industrial, still detuned, but a little repetitive (still some good songs though).
      I never listened to Scorpio Rising, so can’t comment.
      I got Power of the Damager, but have only listened a few times.

      I’d say their best period is FF-BTD-PYW-Cleansing. Earlier albums had alternating vocals between Tommy Victor & the bassist, whether Troy or his predecessor Mike Kirkland, which I am sometimes a sucker for. From Cleansing on the vocals have been all Tommy, for better or worse. To call them “groove metal” is oversimplification in my opinion. Their middle period was interesting and different at the time, though a lot of their signatures have been co-opted and now don’t really sound innovative.

      Overall I’d say give them a listen, starting in that middle period. There’s a lot of range, but for me it’s consistently good and interesting. When you hear those songs you know it’s Prong.

    • http://seasofdreck.wordpress.com aaron m.

      i agree. prong’s use of the cowbell on “for dear life” was some next level shit.

  • Zoker

    Why would anyone listen to this crap is a mistery to me…

    • Zoker

      *mystery

    • Johnny Death

      Why anyone would heed your advise is a mystery to me….

      • http://pandasdestroy.com Greg

        *advice

        • http://www.myspace.com/ihopeyourot DemiGod

          holy shit, that’s some seriously shitty spelling you guys have going on their*

  • http://buttor.blogspot.com Buttor

    Gravity Kills appeared 10 years after Prong. Comparing them is like comparing Suffocation to Whitechapel…

    • Jerome

      And Killing Joke appeared several years before Prong (1979, to be exact). They helped create the sound of industrial music along with Einsturzende Neubauten, Throbbing Gristle, and Psychic TV, none of which sound like what we call ‘industrial’ today. Labeling them pseudo-anything is a tremendous insult to a hugely influential band.

  • EJ666

    I like all their albums, Primitive Origins and Force Fed were really heavy and fast. While Beg to Differ was their turning point in terms of sound and production. The cool thing about Prong is that they never really repeated themselves. Every album has its own sound and identity.

  • Facebook User

    I haven’t heard ‘Snap Your Fingers Snap Your Neck’ in at least 10 years; fucking awesome. Just downloaded from itunes. However, besides this song I know absolutely nothing about Prong. Maybe I’ll check out Cleansing when I get the chance.

  • Moose_Knuckle

    I like them, there nothing totally amazing but i like a lot of their stuff. I even quite like the new album, although the production sounds a little strange to me.

  • Bob

    how are they not a metal band ?

    everything they have done to Rude Awakening crushes.

    Although they are in large responsible for a whole genre of shitty “metal” , even Danzig told Tommy Victor “…..you should get royalties (from all these nu metal bands)”

    I can’t see how you can deny the the metal-ness of Cleansing ??

    Honestly I can’t really give shit about them without Ted Parsons and Paul Raven.
    the albums since their departure clearly demonstrates that Prong is not Tommy Victor, although the latest wasn’t half bad but Scorpio Rising was just …..pedestrian.

    Prong the only “groove” metal band you can like with out being a tribal tattoo having extreme sports drink chugging ass hat.
    they were way darker and rooted firmly in reality than their groovy counterparts ,i.e. Pantera , White Zombie,etc.

    charter member of Prong fan club circa 1989,
    Bob

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Anthony-P-Stine/1314021455 Anthony P Stine

    I enjoyed Prong in High School. Cleansing and the album that came after were decent.

  • AATHD

    Their late 80′s stuff is pretty good but during the 90′s they decided to to go an alt-funk rout so that lost me. Same thing with Helmet. In fact Godflesh may have tried to go this rout with their last 2 records.

    • Bob

      funk?
      abuhhh?

  • seagoat

    I’m in on Prong. I have most of their albums and still like listening to ‘Beg’, ‘Cleansing’, and ‘Damager’ from time to time. The latest one isn’t bad but I seem to get a little bored with it after a while. All in all, good band with good albums.

  • Tonberry

    Ha, I remember this song only because it was Justin Credible’s entrance music in ECW. I think Grinspoon covered it for the entrance music CD they put out, which also included stuff like Motorhead doing Enter Sandman.

  • Trux

    Beg To Differ was an album that I loved when it came out….. and has aged very well to this day if you ask me….. My favorite by far.

    The song Lost and Found is still my favorite song by them.

    And remember that For Dear Life was featured in Headbangers Ball as the show`s song in the early 90s.

    A solid band just as everyone has noted.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Tom-Campagna/40702766 Tom Campagna

      totally agree there sir some heavy riffing indeed

  • Mike Pattongill

    Everything Tommy Victor touches turns to meh.

  • http://www.thepathlesstraveledrecords.com Sean

    Dig ‘em. Their first 3 or 4 releases were great. I haven’t heard their newest output yet.

  • justin

    i remember being 13-15 in the early/mid 90′s and liking prong a lot, however, i’ve not liked any of their recent output. they were also really good on stage back then.

  • gnarlk

    don’t lump killing joke in with the “pseudo 90′s industrial whatever”, every band that jumped on that bandwagon owes a huge amount to them and really couldn’t come close to them whatsoever…

    • runaan

      You’re goddamn right about that. Don’t insult the Joke, MS.

      • RobotScythe

        Fuckin A.

        • Grymmbear

          Agreed!

          KJ > Prong

  • Motoghost

    Aside from the song “Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck” which I only knew because Demon Hunter covered it, Prong has been this group I only hear Max Cavalera or Tony Campos rave about. Now have I gone out of my way to check them out? No, and I don’t plan to.

  • http://www.theblacklaser.net Joe The Wizard

    I love Prong. Cleansing is up there with my most listened-to albums ever.

  • HueyLewisandTheFaceless

    Prong is a good band. I think they deserve more cred then they get.

  • Itheus

    I thinik Static-X must have listened to a lot of Prong.

  • SouthFL Infidel

    My only knowledge of Prong was seeing the “Snap…” video on Beavis and Butthead. I’m also familiar with most of Tommy Victor’s work with Danzig. I wouldn’t be against the idea of checking them out, but I’m probably gonna just forget about them as soon as I click “submit”.

  • Mike Arose

    Awesome as fuck band suprised that they don’t get more credit

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Richard-He/749730660 Richard He

    Never knew much about Prong themselves – just wanted to say how cool (no, really) it is that their bassist Monte Pittman plays guitar in Madonna and Adam Lambert’s touring bands… hell, Tommy Victor himself played with a pre-fame Lambert in a band. Weird as hell, but kinda cool that talented metal players are crossing over into pop.

  • Sammy

    I’d answer your two questions as, “Yes they’re a metal band in some form or another”, and “I had Beg to Differ and found it mostly boring and forgettable.”

  • http://runningthevoodoodown.blogspot.com pdf

    Funny you should post this – I was just listening to Beg To Differ this morning. That and Prove You Wrong are the only two Prong albums in my iPod, but I like ‘em both, BTD in particular. I love the ultra-dry sound they had on that record; I wish more bands would record like that. The first four songs on BTD are unkillable.

  • festernaecus

    you want to know about prong? forget cleansing. listen to beg to differ and prove you wrong. then ask me if they should be considered metal. fucking new jacks!

    • Chris

      Much agreed,Prove you Wrong and Beg to differ are awesome…actually those are the only two albums by them i give a shit about lol.

  • The Rev’Rend

    I started listening to them around “Cleansing” time, since that’s when I was old enough to stay up and watch the Ball. “Force Fed” is the only album they did I didn’t like. (“Rude Awakening” was kinda “meh”, but still okay.) Even the newer ones crush, IMO. (Also, if you end up being dragged to some hipster bar with people actually cheering when Morrissey comes on the jukebox as I was once last year, “Another Worldly Device” will get them to shut up pretty quick.)

  • David

    Prong also came across like a second-tier band: something you’d get into after you wore out your Helmet discography. They kinda remind me of Tombs actually: New Yorkish, (pre)hipster, not very relevant.

  • joshkid

    decent song. nothin more than MEH. I never heard anything from this band til now.

  • http://www.kingdomofnoise.blogspot.com MetalMatt

    snap your fingers is a great song. I thought I had the album but I guess I don’t. If I saw it in a used store, I’d buy it.

  • http://www.concatenationrecords.com Kodiak

    I loved Cleansing and Rude Awakening as a teenager and can still put on those discs and rock out today.

    Cleansing was a lot more raw and while the 2nd half of the album was a little weaker on the composition (from One Outnumbered to Sublime), the first five tracks and the closer (Test) were powerhouses.

    Rude Awakening was definitely more polished, melodic and flowed better from front to back, though it was still pretty heavy and the grooves were better than they were on Cleansing.

    Prove You Wrong is the only other disc I have of theirs, and it doesn’t do much for me. It’s either the production or the sparseness of the songwriting – a little too NY hardcore for me, I think.

    While I still enjoy Prong, I’m definitely more fond of the rhythm section’s other work – Paul with Killing Joke and Ted with Swans, Godflesh, and jesu.

  • Jonathan

    Meh. I don’t mind Prong, but I think Demon Hunter’s version of this song is much improved upon this.

  • Mr. Metal

    i like dry kill logic’s cover better

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8lN5Tr83jM

  • Harold

    Prong = greatest underrated band of all time!

    Saw them live for the 1st time this year and have been a fan for 17 years.

  • elvin

    Solid band, always loved them. Very peculiar style

  • Ben

    I love Prong. From what I’ve heard they’re kinda rough live but having never seen them, that’s second hand info to me.

  • Binkles

    I love that band…also dug their last one…power of the damager, favorite since cleansing

  • bobovdeath

    1st few albums are good,i love the song “rude awakening”….after ted parsons and paul raven,i havent heard any of it. that “power of the damager” song is pretty good.

    id rather listen to early prong than any of these nowadays stupidass tight sissy pants,lip ring,sideways sissy hair bands thats for damn sure

  • Death to “Bro-Metal”

    I actaully saw them live a couple weeks ago and it was an awesome show

  • Sirhan Sirhan

    this shit is wack son

  • Death to “Bro-Metal”

    I actually saw them live a couple weeks ago and it was an awesome show – what’s not to love? Prong have that ol’ school groove

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/David-Hulsey/653830783 David Hulsey

    I saw them a few weeks back and they were great live. They upstaged Soulfly for sure, but I expected that.

  • http://www.metalsucks.net DeaThrash

    Great band, solid riffs, awesome groove, Tommy Victor is one of my favorite guitar players of all time.

  • DocZeng

    Used to wear out Rude Awakening, then didn’t listen to them for years — began to like more brutal stuff. Recently heard “The Banishment” and really liked it = immediate download into rotation.

  • SeanN

    I remember seeing Prong during the Rude Awakening tour back in the 90′s. They played with Sister Machine Gun and Hanzel Und Gretyl and it was an amazing show. I recall Tommy smashing the shit out of what appeared to be a pretty expensive guitar. “Cleansing” has always be my favorite record from them, followed by “Beg To Differ”.

  • MidwestMetal

    I like Prong and have for a number of years.
    I caught them with Overkill a few years ago and that rekindled my enjoyment of Prong. They are a much better live band than on disc, so I understand all the ‘meh’ comments above.
    Tommy writes some riffs with balls and groove and if you catch them live, even though you will try to stop it, your head will move up and down like a broken bobblehead on speed.

  • rivetz

    Prong is cool and all, but they never really had “it”. Part of the problem for me was that Tommy Victor’s vocals never really grabbed you, though it was hard to argue with the riffs, and they were tackling industrial crossover at a time that it was pretty wide open as a genre. They were inarguably great live, though. I saw them in (I think) 1993 with Clutch and it was a killer, killer show. I keep expecting Tommy Victor to rise from the ashes with some new project and wow us all but it hasn’t happened.

    Another big issue is that they repeatedly alienated a lot of headbangers with those shitty remix attempts to inexplicably make metal danceable.

  • rivetz

    btw speaking of those extremely middlin-in-quality remixes, there’s a Broken Peace remix that’s dominated through the entire song by this simple, badass repeating guitar riff that’s NOT in the original song and is almost better than any riff on the original album. That riff makes that dippy remix maybe my favorite Prong track, and I have everything by them all the way back to Primitive Origins.

  • Mitchell

    This song is fucking awesome. Haven’t heard much else by them cause I’m a young’in, lol

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Niccol-Carli/1356993987 Niccolò Carli

    One of the greatest bands ever. People should complain about shitty euro metal, non about mighty Prong! :)

  • Joe

    I like Prong. I wouldn’t consider myself a fan per say, but I like their style and – because of that – a few of their more groovy, heavier songs. I just find that a lot of their songs could be more well-written, because I think their downfall is a real lack of lyrical quality or musical consistency, making them kind of anonymous.

  • Adam

    Their Rude Awakening album was actually really good. But Cleansing, the album that this song came from, wasn’t very good at all; except this song and the song ‘Whose Fist is this Anyway’.

    You can hear a lot of influence on Static X in these guys music. Take that for what it’s worth.

  • http://www.blacklodges.com steven

    one of my favourite bands in the early 90s, certainly opened the door for me to a lot of other great bands.
    my favourite album is Prove You Wrong, I never liked Cleansing and anything after, well Cleansing was kind of cool, but Prove You Wrong was hugely influential to me personally. Amazing riffs and great stuff to get stoned to.

    • Drunk Dude

      Prove You Wrong was the high point for me. Beg To Differ was ok, Cleansing was a simplification riffwise though I dug the heavier guitar tone. Rude Awakening was the beginning of the meh. Didn’t keep up after that.

  • Marcel

    Prong has been (and will be) one of my favorite bands. I think they in the same league as King’s X: Huge critical acclaim, but not picked up by the masses.
    Beg to differ, Prove you wrong and Cleansing are a cornucopia of riffs and cool drumming, and they still hold their up imo. The last bit of “Just the same”, when the speedmetal-chug slows down to a quarter of the speed during a tombreak, just kills. And don’t forget the ‘patented’ “gated snare”!

    I’ve seen them many times when these albums were released, and those shows were just onslaughts of riffs. I would really like to see the Victor/Kirkland/Parsons lineup again, but sadly that might not happen.

  • Whompyjawed

    Wow. They. suck. ass. Seriously. I am laughing so hard at this video. I think that’s what ruins it for me. I mean come on! A crying statue? I know a certain unspeakable genre THAT belongs in. The vocals are pretty poor too. Monotone, They don’t hit you at all. Get rid of the singer and they’d be halfway in. Lose the pathetic theatrics as well. What a boring, boring, boring band!!

  • http://ethertap.blogspot.com Magpie

    I remember liking them at the time, but while they were a little ahead of their time, the metal world quickly caught up and crushed them in a wave of Nu-metal crap.

  • Facebook User

    Most prong songs sound all the same. I remember their Rude Awakening album spent the entire inside cover thanking all other bands that were more popular than they were. They were an opening act, and nothing more.

  • Kuranes

    It may be hard to get into this stuff after the fact, but I can’t say because I’ve had Prove You Wrong and Cleansing since they came out. Some great riffs, and Tommy Victor is one of those singers that I like in spite of his inherent silliness.

  • I Hate Ziltoid (aka Nacho Cheese Doritos)

    My first mosh pit ever at an X Fest in Indy…so two thumbs up.

  • illist ninja

    The Dry Kill Logic version of this song much much better!!! Why don’t you guys have an update on some bands like Becoming the Archetype?

  • Brooklynite

    This band is unbelievably underrated, underestimated and under-appreciated.

    They were hugely influential on metal in the early 90′s and still are. Always felt they influenced Pantera a lot.

    When they came out there was truly nothing like them. I always thought they pretty much started groove-metal.

    Beg to Differ is in my top ten metal albums ever.