Further back to the 1980s

The post about what would happen if the Prodigy were to start out more recently, well in the late 2000s when that thread was taken, got me thinking about what would happen if the Prodigy came about at the tail end of the 1970s instead of the tail end of the 1980s. Musical trends and the overall cultural atmosphere are different, instead of the emergence of acid house and techno we’d get the emergence of post-punk and new wave. The closest real life precedent the Prodigy has from the late 1970s would be Depeche Mode, as the latter also came from Essex though from Basildon rather than Chelmsford and Braintree. But this would have odd ramifications for some of its members if they started out in the late 1970s as young adults.

Liam Howlett would’ve most likely ended up as a keyboardist for some new wave/post-punk band, pardon if it’s the Duran Duran fan in me peaking through, but he’d essentially be a less stylish Nick Rhodes and one with more classical training beforehand. Maxim Reality was in a duo with somebody else and also considered pursuing a career in reggae, so he would’ve went straight ahead into reggae if he was a young adult in the early 1980s. Leeroy Thornhill said online that he started Djing when he was a teenager, so he would’ve gone on as a DJ for some reggae or dub outfit if he was a young adult in the early 1980s. Keith Flint is probably the hardest for me to pinpoint what he could’ve done as a young man in the early 1980s, given there’s no precedent for him in any way I think of.

He’s done a lot of odd jobs before such as working as an investigative driller, among other things as well as having considered becoming a farmer, but you could argue that he would’ve been part of some post-punk or punk rock outfit. The reason he became the way he was in the Prodigy because he didn’t have anything better to do, so becoming a dancer for the Prodigy was one such outlet for him. Just as the Prodigy would be rather different if they started out in the late 2000s, they’d be just as nearly unrecognisable if they started out in the late 1970s and early 1980s. To reiterate, Liam Howlett would’ve most likely gone on as a keyboardist for some new wave band, Maxim Reality would’ve become a real reggae artist anyways and so on.

In all honesty, Keith Flint is the hardest to come up with any late 1970s precedent for him. You could have a dozen keyboardists for any new wave band that Liam Howlett would’ve easily joined if he was a young adult in the early 1980s, but it’s hard for me to come up with who would be the Keith Flint of the early 1980s. Perhaps you’d say that he could’ve gone on as a punk rock singer, which is just as likely but he could’ve essentially been Ian Curtis of Joy Division. He too committed suicide, leaving behind his colleagues to go on as New Order. Anyways, a Prodigy of the early 1980s would be just as unrecognisable as a Prodigy of the late 2000s given the differing musical milieus that their paths would be different from what the band ended up doing in the late 1980s.

A Product Of Their Times

I remember reading somewhere in a Prodigy forum that if the Prodigy started out in the late 2000s/early 2010s, they’d be making different music by then and would have never met each other much. They’d pursue their own careers, in ways Prodigy fans don’t recognise and like. Liam Howlett could’ve gone on as a rapper in the style of Eminem, given he grew up loving hip hop in the 1980s. Maxim Reality could have gone on as both a rapper and an actor, whilst Leeroy Thornhill would be the only one making music Prodigy fans like. Keith Flint would’ve met his untimely demise sooner than later, ditto what Sharky could’ve gone on had the Prodigy started out in the late 2000s.

When I told this to my cousin, they said that the Prodigy are a product of their times. When I think about it this way, it makes sense why they turned out the way they are/were. Liam Howlett actually pursued a career in hip hop before when he was in the band called Cut 2 Kill, but a record deal got him booted out or something (I’m misremembering things) so he ended up partaking an interest in what would now be called rave music instead. Maxim was in a duo but one that went nowhere, so he turned to rave as well and likely that’s true for both Leeroy and Keith. So what they contributed coalesced into what’s now the band’s ethos and spirit.

Without rave sweeping Britain in the second summer of love, the Prodigy would never come about. Even though they kind of technically outgrew that sound over time, they began in it when starting out together as a group. If the Prodigy came about in the late 2000s instead of the late 1980s, they’d turn out quite differently and may never form as a group together. So they really are a product of their times in some sense, which they owe their musical careers to the second summer of love.

The stronger of the two: thoughts on Keith Flint’s depression

I remember stumbling upon some archived Geocities page about Liam Howlett of the Prodigy where it stated that both his parents (Bill and Vivian Howlett) got divorced when he was at the cusp of puberty, but unlike Keith Flint he never fell into a depression despite likely having some fights with his own father from time to time. Despite his own parents being also divorced, Liam H managed to come out on top. While Keef is the more generous of the two, Liam’s the stronger of the two. One would only wonder if Keef may have been deeply affected by his parents’ divorce, due to his only personality or something that led to his depression.

Having tragedy in one’s life doesn’t necessarily make somebody depressed, but a certain personality trait makes you more susceptible to it. I’m inclined to think there’s something about Keef’s personality that made him more susceptible to depression than it would for Liam, since I recall reading somewhere about the Big Five (the big five elements of what makes a personality, more on that later) that neuroticism makes you more vulnerable to depression and other mental health problems. It may not always be the case but it does make sense if there’s something about Keef that made him very vulnerable to depression.

The Big Five tends to consist of openness to experience (intellect and open-mindedness), agreeableness (compassion and friendliness), extraversion (being outgoing and sociable), neuroticism (moodiness) and conscientiousness (being orderly and principled), though it takes certain factors for a certain personality trait to be kind of exaggerated, in its own sometimes tragic way when it comes to depression. I have two relatives suffering from depression, one of them works in healthcare but according to this post certain people who feel compelled to care for others become depressed due to stress.

One early sign that she had depression is when she hated all dogs for a while, having anhedonia or losing pleasure in something is a sign of depression. Along with that aloof, zombieish air that should indicate vulnerability to a certain mental illness, not strength since those who withdraw from others aren’t mentally that strong. They withdraw from others due to persistent bad feelings, stress and other factors and reasons, so it’s not so much strength but weakness is what they really have. It would be easy to miss it out if you don’t suspect that there must be something wrong with them.

It actually took a sermon in church that made me realise that she is depressed, she is doing better now but still a lot to work on her other faults like a love for the occult. It seems the love of worldly things has made her depressed in that no matter how alluring and enticing they are, they don’t satisfy in the long run which goes to show you how empty these are. Perhaps this is true for Keef, no matter how rich he got he still felt empty from time to time. Even if he’s famous, deep down inside he’s empty. Not that he’s stupid or anything else but there was an emptiness to him that’s obvious if you’re around depressed people.

Believe it or not people, I have written a story where I portrayed PD James’s Adam Dalgliesh as really suffering from depression. To the point of writing suicidal poems, plotting to kill himself, harming himself and drinking the pain away, doing anything to withdraw from loved ones regardless of the bad effects it has on them. It’s called Finding Adam and it’s how his depression led to his habit of disappearing only to show up in a bar to drink, causing his wife to cheat behind his back multiple times because she’s lonely and desperate for company. Mostly because before writing it, I knew he has depression.

It’s not a pleasant subject matter to dwell upon at times, likely why it got rejected several times despite my attempts at getting permission from her estate. But it’s also something that has to be said because no matter how successful or put together somebody is, they’re still human and just as prone to mental illness as their less famous or poorer counterparts are. They could even be prone to certain vices such as lust, greed and any other deadly sin really, which is something the Bible has pointed out many times before. Mental illness, let alone something a famous character has, is going to be tricky to portray.

Either it’s demonised or fetishised but seldom portrayed realistically as it is, not all depressed people commit suicide nor do drugs. But a number of depressed people get addicted to something as a way to escape their pain, even if they know they’re doing wrong they still feel wrong and wronged. I even think romance novels and the like are guilty of fetishising depression, especially male depression but if Flint’s breakup with Mayumi Kai’s any indication, just because she’s a woman doesn’t automatically make her good at fixing people, nor is she going to be good at empathising all the time.

I think Kai tried her hardest to be empathetic but at other times, she couldn’t stand it and this is likely why both of them broke up. Sometimes she merely tolerated it, assuming if she’s not always the nicest. Assuming if she’s not a mental health professional that she likely gave her best, but it’s also something she couldn’t take anymore that they got divorced anyways. Things like romance novels and their ilk, which I think PD James’s Dalgliesh stories are just as guilty of, go in the direction where a woman’s love can cure a man’s depression but if Talinda Bennington and Mayumi Kai are any indication, it would never be a panacea.

Even if they tried their hardest to be loving and kind, they could never spare the men they loved from depression and eventually suicide. It’s something they didn’t foresee, or in Kai’s case, as a consequence of her breaking up with Keef. Because they didn’t see it coming, it’s something that likely surprised them. It seems in Keef’s case, neither his friends nor his ex-wife could save him from suicide and depression. They have no idea what he was really going through, though they also tried at various points. But when they’re not mental health professionals and therapists, they gave their all when it comes to putting up with a mentally ill man like Keith Flint.

Changing Fashions

If there’s anything that can be gleamed from even a handful of celebrities is the ever-changing fashion sense, even when they’re not massive fashion icons themselves but it’s not hard to see how they change their fashion sense. They may not always be big on trends but sometimes they do change their fashion sense, upon encountering something that interests me though that’s just me projecting my experience onto them even if theirs is not identical to mine. For instance, a musician would stumble upon clothes that they end up liking more than the ones they’re used to when they were younger.

While Liam Howlett of the Prodigy may not be a real style icon, his fashion sense has kind of changed with the times. When starting out in the early 1990s, judging by early video clips and photographs, he tended to wear rather baggy clothes. Then as time passed he not only got his hair cut, but also bleached multiple times over and still does to this day. Either he put his old clothes in the rubbish or gave it to charity, the richer he got that he uses it to spend it on the things he’s come to like. He’s not always the most stylish dresser but there’s no denying that once he got more disposable income and perhaps his own changing tastes in clothing, he has come a long way from his early 90s days sartorially speaking.

Onto David Bowie, there’s no denying that he’s a style icon. But he’s also someone who’s changed with the times, whether if he’s following the fashions of the style or by his own whims and accord. For a while from the early 1970s up to 1974, I think, he dressed very flamboyantly and had a red mullet (one of the nicest mullets on earth). In all honesty, he did inspire one character of mine: Jean-Louis Lumiere. Right down to the fashion sense, hairstyle and fake red hair, though his personality and personal history aren’t entirely identical to his. But there’s also no mistaking that Bowie himself changed with the times, sometimes simply wearing something new, sometimes jumping on trends.

I myself have changed tastes in clothing as time passes, going from trying to be Goth in black to dressing in more colours and even florals and a general girly girl fashion sense to something in hanfu or the traditional clothing of the Han Chinese. I may not always be that beholden to fashion trends, but even then it shows how one’s fashion sense changes over time, especially whenever they encounter something new and interesting along the way. I myself could end up finding something new and interesting along the way, even to the point of trying it out for myself. I finally succeeded at sewing more clothes and especially some hanfu, but there are others I’ve yet to tackle.

This could even extend to even more different kinds of clothing, not just hanfu and hanyuansu but also something else altogether. It’s still telling that at other times, even when someone’s not beholden to trends, that their fashion sense would change over time whenever they encounter something new and interesting. That’s how it is with me when it comes to going from Goth to girly girl and finally hanfu and hanyuansu, this is probably also true for David Bowie at other times in his career when you consider this.

Emotional labour of being a musician

I think I suspected this all along (though just recently) on why a good number of musicians commit suicide and it’s also got to do with emotional labour. In the sense of trying really hard to manage their bad feelings whilst trying to also get along with fans and having to live up to a public image. That people can demand too much of them is really heartbreaking. But that’s also something they themselves can’t always live up to, sometimes literally through suicide.

I think I even have an adage that it’s not so much that money doesn’t bring happiness but that either one or both of them don’t come easily to people. There’s a reason why Robin Williams committed suicide, especially considering his happy facade and ongoing mental health problems. Same with Kate Spade. I actually think even if you take away mental health, there’ll always be people who have it harder.

In the sense of being made to live up to an image they themselves can’t always handle or maintain. And that it can be contrary to who they really are and what they’re actually going through. The person who perpetually puts on a happy facade and represses their bad emotions might be well-aware of their own anger problems. (Or why people who things that are so jarring.)

I even think The Prodigy’s now late poster child Keith Flint committed suicide. Here’s a bloke who really struggled a lot in school, didn’t have much support early on, got caught up with bad influences real quickly and got pressured way too much really. Even if some musicians don’t kill themselves, they still go through the same problems. It wouldn’t matter whether if they wrote their own songs or not.

In some cases, they’re very much literally pressured to do the things they never intended to do and that’s going to cause lots of problems later on in life. (I have a feeling a certain popstar might happily quit music to focus on bigger, more ambitious things.) If not mistaken, there’s one popstar who actually intended to become a country or blues singer but ended up doing things that ruined her life.

So there’s always the pressure to fit a certain image even when it’s contrary to their actual personalities and struggles. It’s not wrong to compromise but not when it’s at the expense of somebody’s mental health that the only other option if they’re too awkward at times is to consider a better alternative. That’s something the music industry should take note of.