Today the world woke in shock to discover that The Prodigy lead singer, Keith Flint, had been found dead at his home in Dunmow, Essex, aged 49. Early on, reports confirmed Flint had committed suicide and as news filtered out as the day progressed, it emerged that he’d been plunged into depression after his split with his wife, Keith Flint with wife Mayumi KaiJapanese beauty and DJ Mayumi Kai. Flint had just put their marital home on the market days before he ended his life. He had previously credited Kai with saving him from a long battle with drugs, alcohol and depresssion.

Only two days before hand, Flint had attained his personal best in the Chelmsford 5km Central Parkrun. His bandmate Liam Howlett posted on Twitter, “The news is true, I can’t believe I’m saying this but our brother Keith took his own life over the weekend. I’m shell shocked, f**kin’ angry, confused and heart broken…r.i.p brother Liam”. Soberingly, in a 2015 interview, Keith Flint had said “I’ve always had this thing inside me that when I’m done, I’ll kill myself.” Unsettlingly it can be said that you can see how that was possible in Flint’s incendiary and explosive performance style and emotional spectrum with its dark moods and extremity.

The Prodigy rode the crest of a collossal wave of success in the 1990’s on the basis of only two albums, 1994’s ‘Music For The Jilted Generation’ and 1997’s ‘The Fat Of The Land’, widely regarded as their finest moment. In Australia, ‘Music For The Jilted Generation’ was an alternative dance hit and JJJ favourite that spawned three hits, the very catchy and energetic ‘Voodoo People‘, which ended up on JJJ’s 1995 Hottest 100 CD based on the hottest 100 songs from 1994, ‘Poison‘ and ‘Their Law‘. This was before the 90’s dance music movement really exploded into the mainstream, even though dance was huge in the first half of the 90’s with techno and house music.

While The Prodigy were certainly serious about their punk ethos, there was an element in their early 90’s fandom of try-hard middle class kids who were appropriating the electronic punk of The Prodigy as a somewhat pretentious fashion statement without a sincere commitment to its punk spirit and values. It was a curious relationship, even though there is no denying the quality and urgency of The Prodigy’s music.

Dance, alternative rock, indie pop and mainstream pop were the four big movements of 90’s music, all of them rich, vibrant, deeply varied and textured and explosively colourful.

By the time 1996 rolled around, the more underground bite of some of these musical cultures had waned a little but what they did do was catapult into a frenzied, joyful hyperreality. In dance, the Prodigy found themselves at the eye of this storm along with acts such as the Chemical Brothers and Beastie Boys, with the release of The Prodigy’s ‘Firestarter‘ in early 1996, followed by monster hit ‘Breathe‘ later in the year. ‘Breathe’ was the song that made them superstars and kings of the alternative dance/rock movement from then until the end of the 90’s.

The album from which these songs came from, 1997’s ‘The Fat Of The Land‘ was more slick in production and Keith Flint as the focal point of The Prodigy, while a raucous and outrageous performer, was also more glamorous and sophisticated in his punk stylings. The album spawned another huge and confronting hit, ‘Smack My Bitch Up‘ in 1997. From there, The Prodigy didn’t record another album until 2004’s ‘Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned‘, which while not reaching the same dizzy heights of success of ‘The Fat Of The Land’, was still keenly anticipated and met with a warm reception.

They released three more albums between 2008 – 2018, ‘Invaders Must Die‘, ‘The Day Is My Enemy‘ and ‘No Tourists‘ and while never attaining the stratospheric success of the late 90’s, maintained a consistent standard and steady following, being a live and festival favourite throughout that time. Keith Flint has left us too early in the most sad of circumstances but in his time here he blazed a trail as the unique, fiery and singular frontman of one of the greatest electronic punk bands ever known. R.I.P. Keith, you will be long loved and remembered by the legions of Prodigy fans around the world for your and your band’s stunning achievements in music.