When the drums died down: Keith Flint

What hit me like a point-blank shot was the fact that Prodigy had re-sampled Iggy Pop’s Lust for Life, just about two and a half years ago as part of the soundtrack to T2, the sequel to Danny Boyle’s Trainspotting (1996).

The original song, which kick-starts Trainspotting and the now legendary Choose Life monologue, was a ‘balls to the wall, call to arms’, bursting with youthful exuberance, and it became a watershed for all things punk and provocative. And few epitomized this sense of rebellion on par with Flint, who for all practical purposes was the face of Prodigy. The British band had defined the sound of drum and bass (D&B), rave, techno and dance for more than two decades with their Juno synthesiser bass drops and guttural guitar notes. 

Like many Indian fans of western music, I was introduced to the group in the summer of 1997, right before my Class 10 Boards in Goa (yes, go figure). Channel V’s midnight hour was the Holy Grail for most of us back then, as any music considered too abstract, unsuitable for mainstream consumption would be showcased in programmes like Over the Edge or Amped. Here’s where I learned about bands like Tool, Sepultura, Massive Attack and Morcheeba. 

And that’s where I first saw the video for Breathe, one of Prodigy’s biggest hits. By the time Firestarter, began gaining airplay, Prodigy had moved on to become a fullscale commercial-hit belting band. And these two songs headlining their album Fat of the Land, gained instant notoriety with Smack my Bitch up, which my friends and I played in full volume at the Naval gymnasium.

Fans including myself waited for about 14 years, revisiting the bands roots with albums like Music for the Jilted Generation, before our prayers were finally answered in 2011 when Prodigy decided to put up a gig in Bengaluru. 

The opening act was a D&B sensation called Pendulum, who went on to collaborate with Prodigy later. Words can never do justice to a concert experience. Those who were there felt it and would remember it for eons to come. On Flint’s passing, I remember T2’s updated monologue which (spoiler alert) ends with the line, ‘Choose losing the ones you love, and as they fall from view, a piece of you dies with them.’ But I hope fans will keep that flame of his music alive. I hope.