"Firestarter" is a song by British band

the Prodigy The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboard player and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured dancer and singer Keith Flint and dancer and occasional ...

, released on 18 March 1996 as the first single from their third album, ''

The Fat of the Land ''The Fat of the Land'' is the third studio album by English electronic music group the Prodigy, released on 30 June 1997 through XL Recordings. The album received critical acclaim and topped the UK Albums Chart and the US ''Billboard'' 200. I ...

'' (1997). It was their tenth single overall and is the group's first number-one single on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, staying on top for three weeks, and their first big international hit, topping the charts in the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, and Norway. In 2020, British newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

'' ranked the song number eight on their list of ''The 100 Greatest UK No 1 Singles''.

Composition

The songwriting credits include Kim Deal of

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...

group

the Breeders The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), her twin sister Kelley Deal (lead guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass guitar, vocals) and Jim Macpherso ...

, 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" sample is from the 1984 song " Close (to the Edit)" by

Art of Noise Art of Noise (also The Art of Noise) were an English avant-garde synth-pop group formed in early 1983 by engineer/producer Gary Langan and programmer J. J. Jeczalik, along with keyboardist/arranger Anne Dudley, producer Trevor Horn, and mus ...

. Then-members

Anne Dudley Anne Jennifer Dudley (née Beckingham; born 7 May 1956) is an English composer, keyboardist, conductor and pop musician. She was the first BBC Concert Orchestra's Composer in Association in 2001. She has worked in the classical and pop genr ...

Trevor Horn Trevor Charles Horn (born 15 July 1949) is an English music producer, label and recording studio owner, musician and composer. He is best known for his production work in the 1980s, and for being one half of the new wave band The Buggles (wit ...

, J. J. Jeczalik,

Gary Langan Gary Michael Langan (born 19 April 1956) is an English engineer, record producer, mixer and musician. Biography His career started at age 18 when he worked as an assistant engineer at Sarm East Studios, learning the craft from Gary Lyons and M ...

and

Paul Morley Paul Robert Morley is an English music journalist. He wrote for the ''New Musical Express'' from 1977 to 1983 and has since written for a wide range of publications as well as writing his own books. He was a co-founder of the record label ZTT Re ...

also receive songwriting credits. The "Empirion Mix", which does not include these samples, is credited solely to

Liam Howlett Liam Paul Paris Howlett (born 21 August 1971) is an English record producer, musician, songwriter, co-founder and leader of the British electronic band The Prodigy, and an occasional DJ. Early years Howlett was born in Braintree, Essex, En ...

and Keith Flint.

Critical reception

British magazine ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' rated "Firestarter" five out of five, picking it as Single of the Week. The reviewer added, "Powerful return for the kings of live

techno Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...

." Brad Beatnik from the magazine's ''RM'' Dance Update described it as "a typically searing chunk of heavy techno featuring some manie vocale and an awesome synth line". He concluded, "Straight in the Top 10, no question, and destined to be pounded in the clubs." Gerald Martinez from ''

New Sunday Times The ''New Straits Times'' is an English-language newspaper published in Malaysia. It is Malaysia's oldest newspaper still in print (though not the first), having been founded as '' The Straits Times'' on 15 July 1845. It was relaunched as the ...

'' noted its " heavy metal meets techno-dance stylisations". Writing for

pitchfork.com ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

in 2005, Jess Harvell said, "'Firestarter' sounds like

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and composer. He serves as the lead vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and principal songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, wh ...

in one of his all-too-rare moments of self-aware humor, like

the Bomb Squad The Bomb Squad were an American hip hop production team known for its work with hip hop group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad is noted for its dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track. The ...

at +5 with a pink-haired British bulldog bellowing about how tuff he is." David Sinclair from ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' noted, "A racing, twitchy, all-hands-on-deck rhythmic pulse, with a first beat in the bar that lands like a bodyblow, it is spiced up by a siren-wail synth sound and various shrieks that resemble an

vocal sample."

Music video

The accompanying black-and-white

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devic ...

for "Firestarter" was directed by English director Walter Stern and was filmed in an abandoned

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

tunnel at

Aldwych Aldwych (pronounced ) is a street and the name of the area immediately surrounding it in central London, England, within the City of Westminster. The street starts east-northeast of Charing Cross, the conventional map centre-point of the city ...

Impact and legacy

In October 2011, '' NME'' placed it at number 52 on its list ''150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years''. 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 one 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 ''Billboard'' dance chart. In 2020, British newspaper ''

'' ranked "Firestarter" number eight on their list of ''The 100 Greatest UK No 1 Singles''. In 2022, ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

'' ranked it number 110 on their list of ''200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time''.

Track listings

* UK and Australian CD single, US maxi-CD single # "Firestarter" (edit) – 3:45 # "Firestarter" (

Empirion Empirion are a British industrial dance band from Essex, England. They were formed in 1993, and the original line-up consisted of Austin Morsely, Bob Glennie and Jamie Smart. Beginnings Smart was a resident DJ at the Essex nightclubs, Osc ...

mix) – 7:49 # "Firestarter" (instrumental) – 4:39 # "Molotov Bitch" – 4:51 * UK and US 12-inch single :A1. "Firestarter" – 4:40 :A2. "Firestarter" (instrumental) – 4:39 :B1. "Firestarter" (Empirion mix) – 7:49 :B2. "Molotov Bitch" – 4:51 * UK cassette single # "Firestarter" (edit) – 3:45 # "Molotov Bitch" – 4:51 * European CD single # "Firestarter" (edit) – 3:45 # "Firestarter" (Empirion mix) – 7:49 * US CD single and cassette single # "Firestarter" (edit) # "Firestarter" (instrumental)

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Notable cover versions

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specific ...

created a loose parody of "Firestarter", titled "Lousy Haircut", for an episode of ''

The Weird Al Show ''The Weird Al Show'' is an American television show hosted by "Weird Al" Yankovic. Produced in association with Dick Clark Productions and taped at NBC Studios, it aired on Saturday mornings on the CBS TV network. The show ran for one season, ...

''; 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

Jimmy Eat World Jimmy Eat World is an American rock band formed in 1993 in Mesa, Arizona. The band is composed of lead vocalist and lead guitarist Jim Adkins, rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist Tom Linton, bassist Rick Burch, and drummer Zach Lind. They ...

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; he, חיים ויץ, ; born August 25, 1949) is an Israeli-American musician. Also known by his stage persona The Demon, he is the bassist and co-lead singer of Kiss, the hard rock band he co-founded with Paul ...

KISS A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

, Torre Florim of De Staat,

Sepultura Sepultura (, "grave")Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 17. is a Brazilian heavy metal band from Belo Horizonte. Formed in 1984 by brothers Max and Igor Cavalera,Barcinski & Gomes 1999, page 16. the band was a major force in the groove metal, thra ...

Papa Roach Papa Roach is an American rock band from Vacaville, California, formed in 1993. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist Jacoby Shaddix, guitarist Jerry Horton, drummer Dave Buckner, bassist Will James, and trombonist Ben Luther. After t ...

, and

Kristina Esfandiari Kristina Esfandiari (born 4 March 1988) is an American singer-songwriter and producer who writes music and performs under the monikers Dalmatian, Miserable, and NGHTCRWLR, and with the bands King Woman and Sugar High. Early life Kristina Esfandia ...

under her project NGHTCRWLR.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Firestarter (Song) 1995 songs 1996 singles Black-and-white music videos Maverick Records singles Music videos directed by Walter Stern Mute Records singles Number-one singles in the Czech Republic Number-one singles in Finland Number-one singles in Hungary Number-one singles in Norway The Prodigy songs Songs written by Anne Dudley Songs written by Kim Deal Songs written by Liam Howlett Songs written by Trevor Horn Techno songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles XL Recordings singles