Prodigy dancer and vocalist Keith Flint found dead aged 49 The iconic vocalist behind one of Essex's better musical exports, Keith Flint of the Prodigy, has been found dead at his home in Dunmow. He was 49. Police released a statement this morning, saying: "We were called to concerns for the welfare of a man at an address in Brook Hill, North End, just after 8.10am on Monday. "We …
It would be very hard to pick a favourite track.
Smack My Bitch Up was above average. Breathe stands out, and Poison. Firestarter also.
Decent videos too; I mean, really quite thought provoking and inspirational. Very different. There's not many bands that make you sit up and take notice quite so early on in their career. The Streets was one that did, but they've not had such a consistent quality output as The Prodigy.
Sad day.
Fun Fact: If you put that on in your car for people that have never heard it you can max out the volume and make them shit themselves once the bass kicks in.
R.I.P. Keith, I'm from the everybody is in the place generation and yes I did a few illegal raves in my time. Getting a text at 5 on a Saturday then partying your bollocks off till Monday night was lots of fun. (usually bank holidays for those not in the know)
I started out with piano based dance music/acid house in the late 80's, avoided bum and face (drum'n'bass), moved onto trance in the late 90's then physically threw up at minimalist techno (brick in a washing machine music) and dubstep (What exactly were people thinking? That's when you know people have taken too many drugs, either that or I got old)
The Prodigy were great, they had some great mixes aside from the mainstream though the mainstream was also very good. I wasn't London based at the time but there were some legendary stories about Keith and co that worked their way up North. Lets just say him and Liam knew how to party and leave it at that, I don't think they would get pass the mods if I went into detail anyway.
Why? Because I honestly had never heard of him/them, just like the other poster. Which is rather odd for me, I usually have my ear to the ground when it comes to music. Note that nowhere did I comment on their style/ability/anything else ... I couldn't, because I quite literally had never heard their music, to the best of my knowledge.
Hard as it might be to believe, not everybody on the planet follows the UK pop scene. I did a little research, and discovered that The Prodigy (like Slade and T. Rex before them) were one-hit wonders here in the United States, and that was back in '97. Is it any wonder that some of us have never heard of them? I'll probably look into their tunes now that I'm aware of them.
But whatever. Keep the downvotes coming. That'll teach us to have missed the meme, and I'm absolutely certain it'll make all y'all feel better.
Have you ever read what ElReg has to say about itself?
https://www.theregister.co.uk/Profile/about_the_register/
Did you parse the first line of that? Allow me to post it here, in case you're one of those people who claim to find it difficult to copy & paste a link: "The Register is a leading gobal online tech publication, with more than nine million monthly unique browsers worldwide."
Here's another select quote: "Today The Register is headquartered in London, San Francisco and Sydney and the sun never sets on its reporting team around the world."
So your point was ... what, exactly?
Not something I was expecting to see when I fired up social media today.
Condolences to his friends and family - from what we've heard so far, this definitely sounds like a tragedy and he will be sorely missed.
I've seen Prodigy three times, and the first time was one of the most memorable experiences I've had - it was my first trip to a German goth festival[*] and they headlined the final night. Pretty much the entire audience ended up bouncing and moshing on the slightly muddy grass.
And for an added bonus, there's a final-night tradition at this festival, where people grab the metal poles from discarded tents/chairs/gazebos and have an impromptu drumming-jam while sat in a big circle on the runway tarmac. Usually, this lasts for a couple of hours, but after the Prodigy's masterclass, people were bouncing and hammering away until the very wee hours of the morning.
The subsequent times I saw them were also great, but as with many other things, there's something about your first time.
[*] German "goth" tends to be a mix of hard electronica and medieval rock. Sometimes they're combined ;)
Definitely a shock
It is, and it's a very sad day. Obviously I loved all their big hits, but must admit to being a little unfamiliar with many of their songs (heavy metal was/is more my thing).
Sadly, suicide remains the biggest single killer of men under 50, and divorce, as seems to be the underlying reason here, remains one of the biggest triggers. Surely the time has come to reorganise the family courts and realign divorce proceedings such that they are not conducted in the adversarial manner of the rest of the legal system.
Well.. for me, it all started in '94 with 'No Good'. Which starts with a fairly normal (and young) Mr Flint beginning his journey of discovery.. And taking a few of us of the jilted & jaded generation along with him.
I saw the Prodigy peform live a few times, and always a full-on experience.. So this is from 2017-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0Olyr9zRto
Not exactly mellowing in their old age :)
I got to know No Good in night clubs in 1994 but it took me quite a while to realise this was by The Prodigy. And quite similar happened with One Love - the first time I came across it was in one of the Pink Floyd trance remixes, probably Atom Heart Mother or Wish You Were Here, where it was sampled in in one of the songs. Only far into the 2010s I found this was actually Prodigy.
And both not so much their typical style as the other, already mentioned and more popular pieces.
no R.I.P. icon?
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Too soon! Get some voodoo people over to send a wake up call and bring him back to breath. Too bad he committed suicide but I guess it'd be an omen. Does anyone know if he took poison? Someone should have taken him to the hospital. Since he was found at home I can only guess he didn't crash full throttle in a diesel powered car doing hyperspeed.
If it's going to be a cremation, I'd suggest to succeed Firestarter with Fuel My Fire and Heat.
I might have been nasty here but we all don't live forever. If this resonates with you, give me a signal - I'm off to Ibiza.
I met him fleetingly at an amateur bike racing meeting at Cadwell Pk in the nineties, he had not long started competing and had kitted himself out with a Ducati. He saw the bike my mate was racing while walking round the paddock and stopped for a chat.
A nicer more down to earth guy you couldn't meet, his riding wasn't bad either but his music to me stands the test of time.
He was a Prodigy, RIP Keith.
Yelling into a mic at the loudest volume isn't a song. Especially not when half the words are repeated endlessly.
Nor is just playing loud, repetitive bass.
I'm pretty sure that this was one of those "songs" that someone in my sixth form used to play at full volume in the common room and we all hated him for it.
Theres certain kinds of music that are hard to understand unless you are taking the right drugs. The Prodigys version of techno only really works with party drugs (speed, mdma). But Prodigy hit the charts on the back of a massive wave of popularity of that kind of music, the punk influences widened the popularity and thhe videos are great. Hence it hiting the charts.
If you've never indulged in party drugs, loved punk orr generally been a bit anarchic then I can see why you wouldn't like them.
If you need to take drugs to understand "your"[0] music, you are so many kinds of fucked up that I don't even know where to start. Seek help. Or don't ... but kindly don't reproduce before the inevitable.
[0] How can it be "yours" if somebody else tells you what altered state your mind has to be in to listen to it?
@ Mark110
I'm an old fart in my 60s, I got over mind altering chemicals (other than alcohol) way before Prodigy was a thing but the first time I heard them I liked the music. If you need drugs or drink to enjoy yourself I would recommend some counseling or something. The stuff we had in the '60s and '70s was fun but that's all
, those who depended on it were the unlucky ones. Up until a couple of years ago I was still doing security for visitors to Ibiza stone cold sober still enjoying the clubs.
Can't say I ever took any drugs apart from a puff of weed now and then and I can't say I was a huge punk fan [more of a New Romantics thing for me] but Prodigy were utterly f***ing brilliant.
"Fat of the Land" was a monster seller because it was just full of excellent music with an energy that was incredible.
RIP Keith - sounds like a good bloke who just decided he didn't want to be part of life anymore.
I didn't get drunk, take drugs, attend raves (or even exciting parties), yet I developed an appreciation for their music back in the late 90s as a college student... They were on heavy rotation on the local alternative radio station along with other high-energy music/bands, and I was high enough on life to think it all sounded awesome.
Never taken drugs back then (beer is all I ever needed) but I assure you I was surrounded by those that were on the stuff and I still loved and got The Prodigy's music style.
That's not to say powders and pills wouldn't have 'helped it along' or whatnot, just that it was (is) bloody enjoyable whilst sober. Well, maybe a bit pissed but you get my point.
Yelling into a mic at the loudest volume isn't a song. Especially not when half the words are repeated endlessly.Nor is just playing loud, repetitive bass.
Ah yes, the beats that were made illegal. Unless in say, a superclub like Ministry where the money went to the right kind of people.
Personally I think the Prodigy were pretty sophisticated, ie the heavy use of sampling from a very eclectic mix of sources. I think one of the best tributes is the way the Prodigy (and others) changed culture a bit, and the BBC's comment that the Firestarter video was banned for scaring the children. Or waking some up to the blandness that was the rest of the Top 40 in those days.
Music today is really, really bland. We desperately need a “new” Prodigy, Nirvana etc. to shift things.
I’m also slightly afraid that when it comes I’ll be too old (arguably it’d be healthy for the music scene bald, approaching middle age, tubby IT geeks regard it as a terrible racket...)
>Personally I think the Prodigy were pretty sophisticated, ie the heavy use of sampling from a very eclectic mix of sources.
This is pretty much it. Howlett was always the genius behind the music. He used samples heavily and did so very creatively, in a way that produced tracks with a hell of a lot of energy, complex rhythms and catchy vocals. They had two very successful albums under their belt before Flint stepped forward and added his vocals to tracks which, while controversial, were essentially very well-written pop songs.
If you don't get that, then I'm afraid you just don't understand music, whether you actually find it enjoyable to listen to or not. There is a ton of music released over the years which I can't stand, but I can still appreciate the talent that went into creating very good pop songs, even if I don't personally like them.
It was the sheer energy they managed to inject that made the Prodigy popular with drug-fuelled ravers, something which they were happy to take the piss out of (look at the Out of Space video for an example). But ultimately they were beautifully produced, fun pop songs and the Prodigy have a firm place amongst the greatest of British music history. Nothing can change that.
Long live The Prodigy.
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I'd never heard of him either..... until someone sent me the link to firestarter in 2012 2 days after heart surgery with a message "Play this loud, it'll get you moving again"
4am on the high dependency heart ward .... not my fault.... I was stoned out of my head on drugs..
Enjoyed some of their other stuff too........ when the nurses gave me my phone back
RIP
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Whilst I was listening the Prodigy's music beforehand, The Fat Of The Land was arguably the soundtrack to my first few years of being a sys admin in the big city, stuffed into a basement with a few other like-minded individuals. Fun times indeed (learning now not to run a data centre if nothing else, which has come in handy later on in my career). They've been very active as of late with various tours and the latest album, this is sad news indeed.
Well, thank fuck I saw them a couple of times before today. Personally Voodoo People was always my favourite of theirs.
Topping the charts in 2018 ain't the same as topping the charts back in 1998 or whenever.
That's not knocking The Prodigy's recent efforts (of which I've heard good things), just an observation about the music industry and wider pop culture.
Oh well. After two years of driving it, I've only just found in my works Transit that what I thought was a blanking plate for a redundant fag lighter cutout was actually a 3.5 mm Aux-in socket for its respectably loud stereo. I'm now eager to test the stereo's ability to handle bass, just as soon as I can decide upon some suitable sample material....
Mild correction ... Mark's DQed because he's dead. Iggy's DQed because he's a Yank. Ozzy's DQed because he's Ozzy, and slightly out of phase with the rest of the planet.
Richards, as we all know, is going to outlast the tardigrades. Thus, by definition of living virtually forever, he will have eventually done everything it's possible for a human to do.
this one hit me hard, so unexpected.
Their music hit me when i was around 7 or 8 (so defo no need for drugs to appreciate the genius behind it) and to this day it brings a smile whenever i hear any of it.
Just listening to Experience through and each intro raises the hairs on the back of my neck, the drums on charlie are really something else.
Set the stage for and "legitimised" rave music the world over.
Raising more than one to the firestarter tonight
Keith's antics made it acceptable for a whole generation of guys to unleash the bendy bits ( I think they're called "knees" and "elbows" ) in what can loosely be described as dancing. For allowing us to express ourselves and communicate in this way, we thank you. Although my wife has never quite forgiven the number of times I've managed to stand on her feet in the process.
Keith, if only you could have spoken to someone last night. Us blokes are a bit rubbish like that. So to anyone out there feeling a bit lost right now, if you feel the need to talk to someone, know that there's always someone who will listen:
Calm - https://www.thecalmzone.net
Mind - https://www.mind.org.uk
Samaritans - https://www.samaritans.org
I do wonder sometimes if the efforts of certain authorities only sometimes work.
Case in point, Universal Credit (UC) has unfairly impacted disabled people in some cases leading to starvation, suicide and drug use.
You could argue that UC though its intent was to improve things is now so broken that the "morally correct" thing to do is halt the whole
sorry mess and give those in most immediate need a payment from the emergency funds sitting in bank accounts laughingly called "PPI"
and be done with it.
Its simply not acceptable to allow veterans to starve in shop doorways because some bean counter who probably drives an expensive 4x4 and has
a 62" OLED HDR TV figures that they can find a job at the drop of a hat. Employers have no soul and should be far more reasonable than they are.
Also important: depression is a horrible, horrible disease and far more debilitating than any addiction imaginable
And no it does not have to be medicated as there are effective non-pharmacological treatments available if you seek help.
Not ACing because I woud rather stand up and be counted for my beliefs.
Refreshing to see how many people on here share the same memories and views of their music though.
Firestarter being banned on TOTP as 'he scared kids' is always amusing, as most folk think Smack My Bitch Up was their first to fall to the censors. My first 'proper' gig was The Prodigy in Newcastle (The MAyfair for those that may remember it), where they ended the set with a early version on No Good (Start The Dance) when all there earlier stuff was Charly etc. Cracking tune. Breathe is a tough one to beat mind, but there's a lot to choose from.
I am amazed how so many on here have never heard the music though. Not knowing Keith Flint bey name is fair enough, but the tracks have been doing the rounds for thirty years and he's not exactly a face you'd forget in a hurry.
Apparently it was suicide. As someone else above pointed out, suicide is the biggest killer for men under 45 (in the UK, at least). That statistic is fucking crazy. What a fucking waste of talented men - whether it's Keith Flint or Bob Jones next door.
For anyone affected - potentially or actually - by suicide, you could do a lot worse than to take a peek at this website: https://www.thecalmzone.net/
He will be missed. I was lucky to see them live a few times and they definitely knew how to rock.
On a separate note did anyone else see that in the first few hours after the fact, before the cause of death was widely known, if you went to google and typed in "cause of death Keith Flint" it came up as Fire being the cause of death.
While that would have been very ironic I think it was probably some algorithm at play. It does seem to have been corrected since though.
I got to meet him and ride around north Essex with him a few times in the mid 90's. Not many who could stay with him on the Dunmow to Finchingfield to Braintree roads but then it was his home turf. No "rockstar ego" to him at all and a genuine nice guy with a wicked sense of humour. The intro to Firestarter has been my cellphone ringtone since the first phone where ya could use MP3s (I think it was the Nokia N95) and I will remember him whenever someone phones me.
Firestarter = Wipeout 2097
Sad way to go. It sux when Prodigy mixes with Suicidal Tendencies.
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