Firestarter (The Prodigy song)
"Firestarter" is a song by the British band the Prodigy, released on 18 March 1996. It was the first single from their third album The Fat of the Land, and their tenth single overall. It was the group's first number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, staying on top for three weeks, and their first big international hit, topping the charts in the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, and Norway.
It showcased Keith Flint, with punk rock-style vocals, as the group's frontman and is an important crossover song, meshing electronic beats, with industrial metal and punk rock.
Composition
The songwriting credits include Kim Deal of alternative rock group the Breeders, as the looped wah-wah guitar riff in "Firestarter" was sampled from the Breeders' track "S.O.S." from the album Last Splash. The drums are sampled from a remix of the song "Devotion" of the group Ten City. The "hey hey hey" sample is from the 1984 song "Close " by Art of Noise. Then-members Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, J. J. Jeczalik, Gary Langan and Paul Morley also receive songwriting credits. The "Empirion Mix", which does not include these samples, is credited solely to Liam Howlett and Keith Flint.Critical reception
In October 2011, NME placed it at number 52 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years". Writing for pitchfork.com in 2005, Jess Harvell said, "'Firestarter' sounds like Trent Reznor in one of his all-too-rare moments of self-aware humor, like the Bomb Squad at +5 with a pink-haired British bulldog bellowing about how tuff he is."Following Flint’s death on 4 March 2019, fans used the hashtag ‘Firestarter4Number1’ on various social media platforms to replicate the song’s success by getting it to the number 1 spot again. This was done out of respect for Keith Flint and to raise awareness of suicide among men.
During this time the single also returned to the Billboard charts, entering number 13 on its Dance/Electronic Digital Songs Sales chart in its 16 March 2019 issue, marking the first time that this song has appeared on a Dance chart of any kind.
Notable cover versions
created a loose parody of "Firestarter", titled "Lousy Haircut", for an episode of The Weird Al Show; he could not do a full parody of the song as the network CBS did not want to pay royalties to the Prodigy.The song has also been covered by Gene Simmons of KISS, Torre Florim of De Staat, Sepultura and Papa Roach.
Music video
The music video was directed by Walter Stern and was filmed in an abandoned London Underground tunnel at Aldwych.Track listing
XL Recordings/Maverick/Mute
12-inch single
CD single
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
| Chart | Peak position |
| US Dance/Electronic Digital Songs | 13 |
Year-end charts
| Chart | Position |
| New Zealand | 9 |