Keith Flint – Prodigy

I think the artwork nicely sums up what was going on for me and a lot of my friends at the time. Sad news.

Sad. Memories of bombing along in my old VW camper in the 90s on the way to Santa Pod and Run To The Sun with their music so load the engine could’ve blown up and all the wheels fallen off and we wouldn’t have known about it until we came to a stop.

there’s nothing wrong with that artwork. It’s about the criminal justice bill, which made outside raves illegal.

I know what it’s about, I was there dancing at them. Just think it’s a terrible bit of art

Very sad about keith. Whenever these happen it’s usually ‘no comment’ and the suspicion is usually (accidental) drug overdose. Odd that they’ve confirmed suicide publically – all the more so given there seemed to be no impression in public that he was ‘troubled’.

Incredibly sad.
I was about to post that I loved that inner sleeve artwork… it kind of summed up the whole rave generation feeling for me. Happy days.
Playing 3 Kilos and welling up. RIP Keith.

Been a fan since I first heard Charly. At the time we were also sampling and mashing around with beats and samples using an Amiga ST plus a few synths (Juno 6 oh how I miss you) and a Roland TR-606 (why did I ever sell you).

But for me the stand out tune, the one that still makes the hairs on the back of my neck tingle even as I write this is Skylined from Jilted Generation. I’m a bit of a sucker for strings and it brings back so many memories of standing in fields.

Remember the Criminal Justice Bill, shows how scared the authorities were at the time, banning groups from assembling and trying to define a form of music purely as having a “repetitive beat” snuck quietly into the Bill going through, seems ridiculous now.

The artwork may seem daft, but it summed things up then, and you have to remember the whole scene was driven by the flyer, all the flyers for the raves were bright and day-glo, with the acid smiley and similar, they weren’t works of art but they were part of parcel of it all.

Recently went through a box in my mum’s loft full of those tape-packs you used to get, with 6 or 8 cassettes in there and the flyers to go with them, made this middle aged man quite nostalgic for simpler times.

Can still remember 1994, 14 year old, on the train home from town listening to a newly bought Jilted Generation while looking at that artwork.

Then there was the summer holiday to Centre Parks Sherwood Forest that year, fishing for carp by day and ‘being sociable’ at night. Happy days.

That artwork is awesome. We bought one of the limited edition signed prints that were available a couple of years ago.

Sad day.

My first gig was the Proj in 94, Livingston forum, great night.

Numbnut – I was there too. RIP Keith.

it is very sad

Trying to distill what some of those early tracks meant into words but I just can’t do it justice. It just seamed like there was this period of 6-9 months where you could not go to a club or a rave without hearing either charly, everybody, or out of space at least once. Yeah I know he was ‘the dancer’ back then compared to the later stuff, but I’m sure he put his hand in there somewhere.

rip

At the IoW, it started to rain before The Prodigy came on, and had settled into a fair downpour during their set. When I went back to the arena the following morning it was sodden, huge puddles, straw being put down, mud everywhere, got to the arena and the grass was perfectly dry! Not even damp, I think the crowd were producing so much heat the rain was evaporating and turning to steam and not touching the ground.
Firestarters indeed. Great gig, that, I even got the obligatory random bloke pissing down the back of my leg…

Remember seeing the Firestarter video for the first time, I was on my first snowboarding trip, and thinking WOW this takes things to a new level.

And saw them live supporting Oasis at Knebworth. For all the hype surrounding that gig for Oasis it was Prodigy, for me, who put on a far better show…. remember feeling somewhat disappointed with Oasis.

Love a bit of early prodigy but when I saw them in Plymouth a few years back they were shite, came on late, went through the motions and left after 45mins.

Definitely worth saying on a thread about one of them dying, jam bo. Cheers.

Sad times 🙁

Didn’t realise he was only 2 years older than me as the Prodigy seem to have been around forever.

Ever since me and a mate messed about with a car subwoofer, large amplifier and very lucky box tuning resulting in Charly saying ‘a little bit of bass’ then half his house shaking like crazy, I have been hooked.

One of the only bands that every song has me reaching to turn the volume up.

Absolutely gutted

It makes the premier of Beats last night all the more poignant, set in 1994 to the backdrop of the Criminal Justice Bill.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/culture/film/glasgow-film-festival-review-beats-1-4882772/amp

Ah bollocks.

That artwork and the slogan underneath got me suspended from college, I had the tee shirt of it. 😂

Ro5ey

Member

And saw them live supporting Oasis at Knebworth. For all the hype surrounding that gig for Oasis it was Prodigy, for me, who put on a far better show…. remember feeling somewhat disappointed with Oasis

I was also there and thought exactly the same.

Met him a couple of times through the motorbikes, he just seemed like a really genuine, passionate guy, no slouch on track either… Their Law is causing some harm to my little PC speakers right now.

Apparently I saw them at Reading 98. 🤷‍♂️ No bloody recollection at all. Apparently I got narked with some blokes pogoing to into people like knobs.

Nope. Not a clue.

Sad day for me too. Saw them a few times but I think the most memorable was when they played Battersea Power Station a few years back. Industrial wasteland was about as perfect as you could get for their sound at the time. Gone but never forgotten.

Gutted. I think it’s because the soundtrack of your formative years when you are finding yourself in the world is a little part of your own comfort blanket that you carry through your own life and when something happens like this it has a marked effect.

Ever since me and a mate messed about with a car subwoofer, large amplifier and very lucky box tuning resulting in Charly saying ‘a little bit of bass’ then half his house shaking like crazy, I have been hooked.

Yep same here, this was the one we used to ‘test the parents’ with, and the woofers, and the stage monitors that filled the boot of my mates car. Prodge were the main part of the soundtrack of my teens, sad day!

For me it was ‘Their Law’ with PWEI that just about summed them up. I saw PWEI do it back in the day and The Prodigy do it much more recently. Both were amazing. So sad.

Very sad news. My first proper night out as a spotty teenager was seeing them at the Barrowlands in 92 during The Prodigy Experience period. That was an eye opener! Just watched a video of it on YouTube. I wasn’t too in to the stuff after that, but he was a maverick and I respect that.

Rest easy.

A sad day indeed and I feel for his Dad who was on my local radio station just last week talking about his famous son. He was very proud of him but was sad that they hadn’t got together for a long time.

Saw them at Tic Toc club in Coventry early 90’s (ish!). Main thing I remember apart from them being excellent was they blew all the fuses – in the street!!! Whole area was plunged into darkness 😂

He also owned Team Traction Control. A very successful mortorbike team

Gutted. 1994 Leeds Town and Country. They blew my mind. That simple really.
Keith was in a giant hamster ball for some of it I think…

rip keith flynt

Bad times. Will be spinning experience later. Epoch defining sound and stage shows. Rave on Keith.

Gutted. I think it’s because the soundtrack of your formative years when you are finding yourself in the world is a little part of your own comfort blanket that you carry through your own life and when something happens like this it has a marked effect.

Nicely put.

Not as popular as some, but this was the most frequently repeated track on my Aiwa 🙂

Worldwide FM smashing out a Prodigy mix tape right now. Banging.

I remembered when I left work earlier I still had my music for the jilted generation cd in the car from a few months ago, break and enter as loud as the stereo would go sounded awesome.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw the video to smack my bitch up either, not one of their greatest tracks but what an ending.

Definitely not work safe, child safe or the sort of thing to show your nan etc Unless shes into that sort of thing!

https://youtu.be/79iqeItl4SE

Had to quickly edit that as the YouTube video link I originally posted had some boobies in the picture!

And saw them live supporting Oasis at Knebworth. For all the hype surrounding that gig for Oasis it was Prodigy, for me, who put on a far better show…. remember feeling somewhat disappointed with Oasis

Second that. I remember 100k-odd jumping along to The Prodigy. Oasis were very poor in comparison.

Music of my youth as well, Fat of the Land and back to Jilted. Used to get some amount of grief at school for having music too loud. **** ’em and their law!

Odd that they’ve confirmed suicide publically – all the more so given there seemed to be no impression in public that he was ‘troubled’.

If only it was that easy. I only found out my mate was depressed (understatement) a few months before he hung himself off a washing line. Turned out he had been battling deep depression for far longer than the 15 years I knew him.

I’d like to add the paragraph just before slowoldmans quote:

His is a loss which will be felt keenly by people who have little in common with each other beyond that sudden kick to the heart rate at the opening siren of Firestarter, but it is that moment of exhilaration which unites them as human and family in an otherwise uncaring world.

Never a truer word spoken.