Firestarter (song)

"Firestarter"
Single by The Prodigy
from the album The Fat of the Land
Released	18 March 1996
Format	12 inch vinyl record CD single
Recorded	Essex, England
Genre	Oldskool jungle, big beat, synthpunk
Length	3:45 (Edit) 4:42 (album version)
Label	XL Recordings Maverick Records Mute Records
Writer(s)	Kim Deal, Anne Dudley, Keith Flint, Trevor Horn, Liam Howlett, J.J. Jeczalik, Gary Langan, Paul Morley
Producer	Liam Howlett
Certification	Gold (BPI, RIAA)
The Prodigy singles chronology
"Poison" (1995) "Firestarter" (1996) "Breathe" (1996)

"Firestarter" is a song by the English band The Prodigy, released on 19 March 1996. It was the first single from their third album The Fat of the Land, and their tenth single. It was also the group's first number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, staying on top for three weeks. It was The Prodigy's first big national and international hit, also reaching number one in Finland and Norway. It featured Flint's punky vocals which showcased him as the group's frontman. The title and lyrics were subject of controversy in the UK because of their violent nature. The music video further boosted these controversies.

The songwriting credits—among Liam Howlett and Keith Flint—include Kim Deal of alt-rock group The Breeders. The looped wah-wah guitar riff in "Firestarter" was sampled from The Breeders' track "S.O.S." from the album Last Splash. Because of the use of a sample from a 1984 single "Close (to the Edit)" songwriting credits also list Art of Noise's then-members: Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, J.J. Jeczalik, Gary Langan and Paul Morley. The "Empirion Mix," which does not include these samples, is credited solely to Howlett and Flint. Howlett has also revealed that a version with additional "oomph" will feature in their set at the Warriors' Dance festival organised by The Prodigy.

In October 2011, NME placed it at number 52 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".

Track listing

XL recordings

12" vinyl record

1. "Firestarter" (4:40)
2. "Firestarter" (Instrumental) (4:39)
3. "Firestarter" (Empirion Mix) (7:49)
4. "Molotov Bitch" (4:51)

CD single

1. "Firestarter" (Edit) (3:45)
2. "Firestarter" (Empirion Mix) (7:49)
3. "Firestarter" (Instrumental) (4:39)
4. "Molotov Bitch" (4:51)

Maverick records 12" vinyl record

1. "Firestarter" (4:40)
2. "Firestarter" (Instrumental) (4:39)
3. "Firestarter" (Empirion Mix) (7:49)
4. "Molotov Bitch" (4:51)

Mute records CD single

1. "Firestarter" (Edit) (3:45)
2. "Firestarter" (Empirion Mix) (7:49)
3. "Firestarter" (Instrumental) (4:39)
4. "Molotov Bitch" (4:51)

Single firestarter sold in UK over 510 000 copies in 1996

Music video

The music video was directed by Walter Stern and was filmed in an abandoned London Underground tunnel at Aldwych. Keith Flint's appearance and the video's stark black and white also instigated controversies about being too scary for children watching it. Some television channels even refused to show the video until after the watershed.

Chart performances

The song was a #1 hit in Finland, Norway and the United Kingdom. It also made the top 5 in New Zealand and Sweden, the top 10 in Austria and the top 20 in several countries, such as Belgium (Flanders and Wallonia), The Netherlands and Switzerland. In addition, it reached #22 in Australia, and #30 in the United States.

Appearances, covers and parodies

An instrumental version of the song appeared on the PlayStation game 'WipEout XL/WipEout 2097 in 1996. The song appeared in the film Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, as a reference to Drew Barrymore's role as Charlie McGee in the film Firestarter. It also appeared in the film The Condemned in 2007 and featured as the opening song in the episode "Scorched" of the TV series Numb3rs. The basketball team Phoenix Suns use "Firestarter" while being introduced at the US Airways Center. The National Hockey League's New Jersey Devils play the song when they take the ice for the third period at Prudential Center. Also, the song was featured in a short clip shown before and after the advertisement breaks of the Greek TV comedy show A.M.A.N. Ta Katharmata. A reference to the track appeared in an episode of British sitcom Peep Show, when Sophie's father burns down his neighbour's barn dragging the reluctant Mark and Jeremy along as accomplices. As the barn sets alight, Mark's internal monologue says "My god, I'm a firestarter! A twisted firestarter!"

Several bands and artists have covered the song, including Jimmy Eat World on their Last Christmas EP and later Firestarter in 2001 and 2004 respectively, Gene Simmons of Kiss recorded it for his second solo album Asshole in 2004 and Sneaker Pimps did a lounge version for their "Six Underground" single re-release, though few copies were produced. The British OAP band The Zimmers has also covered the song in their debut album Lust For Life in 2008 and shot a video clip for their cover.

"Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the song and video on The Weird Al Show in a song about a haircut entitled "Lousy Haircut". It featured Yankovic dancing in an abandoned tunnel with a suit and haircut similar to Keith Flint's outfit in the original.

The video release of the show NileCity 105,6 omitted Firestarter by The Prodigy as the group refused to give them permission to include it. It was replaced by a short commentary featuring Henrik Schyffert and Robert Gustafsson who explain the situation to the viewers. They also quote parts of what they claim is a letter from the Prodigy, saying "we refuse to have our music on your shit programme". Schyffert then jokes that they probably meant to say "hit programme".

There was a small parody of the song and video in the The Venture Bros. episode "What Goes Down Must Come Up", where Doctor Venture is trapped in a tunnel with an underground inhabitant dressed like Keith Flint, while the opening riff of the song plays. When asked by Brock Samson who he is, Doctor Venture states, "I don't know, he just keeps saying he's the Firestarter."

In the Kenny vs. Spenny TV show, one of the episodes consisted of one the people of the show, Kenny, to be in the Woods. While Kenny started the fire he sung the famous line of the Song "I'm the Firestarter".

Fellow British band The Zimmers, known for being entirely composed of aged pensioners, covered the song for their debut album, Lust For Life. The music video for the song parodied Flint's hairstyle and Captain America costume used in the original clip.

An instrumental version of this song also appears in the video game MK 2: Armageddon. It's the background song in a certain part of the first level playing as Kurt.

The song is mentioned in the book "Firestarter" by Catherine Forde by the teenage character Reese, who is also an arsonist.

It was also used as background music for the official video highlights of the 2009 Brazilian Grand Prix.

A cover version was recorded by brazilian metal band Sepultura and released as a bonus track on their 2011 album Kairos.

The instrumental version is heard in the trailer for the 1996 film Maximum Risk.

External links

• "Firestarter" music video on YouTube

Preceded by "How Deep Is Your Love" by Take That

UK Singles Chart number-one single 24 March 1996 (3 weeks)

Succeeded by "Return of the Mack" by Mark Morrison