RIP: Keith Flint of The Prodigy (1969 - 2019)

Hi guys, there was a piece of news that saddened me recently: Keith Flint of highly successful UK electronic dance at The Prodigy took his own life on the 4 March 2019. Little is reported about why he took his life but he was extremely rich, successful and seemed to have the kind of life that we would only dream of, traveling the world and performing in concerts whilst still producing new music. The music of The Prodigy was a huge part of my teenage years - I was a fan of their music right from the start when they first made a name for themselves with Charly (that was so-so) and Everybody In The Place (now that blew my mind) in 1991. But when they hit the charts with Out Of Space in 1992, they well and truly became one of my favourite groups in the 1990s - I was 16 and doing my O levels at that time. I was a troubled kid with a lot of crap in my life at that time and their music was a wonderful source of escapism for me. I remember paying something like S$40 for the album Experience in late 1992 at Valentine Music Center (in Far East Plaza, I remember if anyone remembers that place - it was the coolest and best music shop in Singapore in those days). That was considered expensive in those days as most album CDs were under S$20 but there must have been like ten copies of that album in Singapore or so at that time. There were other tracks in that album which were never released as singles such as Weather Experience which were not your typical Prodigy type material (it has a far more laid-back trance-like feel to it) which I totally adored. Their music was also featured in the soundtrack of another popular film from that period, Hackers.

I continued being a fan of The Prodigy in the mind and late 1990s when they released their second and third albums: Music For The Jilted Generation and The Fat Of The Land. That covered the troubled period from when I was doing my A levels right through my army days to when I finally left Singapore. When you're an angry young man with so many pent up feelings and no outlets, one way I dealt with those feelings to let them out was to listen to the music of The Prodigy very, very loudly through my ear phones. I couldn't talk about my anger with anyone then, I had no one in my life whom I trusted enough or I thought would even come close to understanding me. Songs like No Good (Start The Dance), Firestarter, Breathe and Smack My Bitch Up had that certain angry vibe which were the outlet to my anger in that period. When you're angry, there are two ways you can react to that with music: some people would prefer to listen to something soothing and calming, to help distance themselves away from the anger and change their mood. Whereas for me at that time, nobody knew just how angry and frustrated I was, I was expected to keep quiet and bottle up my feelings. So listening to music that came across as angry somehow validated my feelings in a small but personal way - I almost felt that the people who came up with this music, the people who wrote these songs, the people behind The Prodigy understood how I felt and thus they created this brilliant music that I could totally relate to halfway around the world. And when I had no one to turn to in my life, I had the music of The Prodigy; so they were a huge part of my teenage years.

It took The Prodigy 5 long years to come back with Baby's Got A Temper in 2002 after their last huge hit in 1997 Smack My Bitch Up. By then, I had already graduated from university, got myself a job, was in a relationship and life was so much different for me compared to the dark days of despair in Singapore where I was waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel. I was already in a better place in my life, feeling a lot better about myself and my future - the music of The Prodigy was just as angry but somehow, even though I enjoyed it, I never quite related to it the same way I did to the album Music For The Jilted Generation from 1994. I guess the difference was that I did have many more friends in the UK than I ever did in Singapore, I had people in my life who understood me, whom I could turn to and pour my heart and soul out to whenever I had problems. I no longer had to hide in the corner and listen to the entire Prodigy album at full volume just to feel that someone could relate to my anger and pain. The Prodigy had far less success commercially in the later years of their career - they chalked up only three top ten hits in the UK in the 2000s with Baby's Got A Temper, Omen and Warrior's Dance - they continued to produce more music and performing worldwide after their last commercial success with Warrior's Dance but even though their two subsequent albums did go to number one in the album charts, none of the singles charted in the commercial charts. The music industry had moved on and evolved, tastes have changed for the younger generation and I suppose that was the time I started taking a greater interest in other genres of music. I lost interest in The Prodigy by then, their music was something I would associate with my childhood and teenage years rather than my adult life in here the UK - that's so ironic as they are a British band and I am living in London now.

I suppose there was a part of me that couldn't reconcile or understand why Flint wanted to kill himself despite having everything in life from money to fame to success - what more could a man want or need? He was clearly a free spirited rebel - he was heavily tattooed and clearly never wanted to look like your average man in the street, he always had this larger than life persona on stage. Yet he was clearly deeply unhappy and was looking to escape his pain. This was somewhat different from the death of George Michael - another singer who was a huge part of my life. George Michael died of natural causes on Christmas day 2016 but he had subjected his body to a lot of drugs and alcohol over the years, nonetheless he still didn't commit suicide. It really saddens me that a man with so much talent, so had so much to give and so much to live for would want to kill himself, that he didn't have the people in his life to turn to when he experienced so much pain. After his death, tributes poured in from so many big names in the music industry to demonstrate that there were people indeed who loved him, respected him and cared for him. Why didn't he turn to anyone for help then? Perhaps it is somewhat naive of me to think that the people who commit suicide only do it as a final last resort, when they have no one to turn to because they have no friends, no family members who will understand them or be in a position to help them. Flint had people in his life but I would never quite understand the circumstances that led to his tragic suicide.

Mind you, I still have my CD of The Prodigy Experience - yup, the same one I bought in 1992 in Far East Plaza. I wrote a lot of darker, angrier stuff about suicide but I censored myself and deleted all that. I read what I wrote and thought, no, let's not go there - I just wanted to play tribute to The Prodigy and Keith Flint, for the wonderful music that was so much a part of my teenage years. I shall end here - what do you think? What are you thoughts of celebrities like Kurt Cobain and Keith Flint who commit suicide - why would someone so rich and successful want to take their own lives? Are you familiar with the music of the Prodigy? Is there a band or singer whose music formed so much a part of your childhood and teenage years? Leave a comment below and let me know what you think. Many thanks for reading - I shall leave you with a clip of Weather Experience, quite a different kind of track from the Prodigy but hauntingly beautiful in its own way.