Rocktrospectiva: The Groundbreaking "Firestarter" Turns 30

Released on 18 March 1996 "Firestarter" was the groundbreaking song by British electronic dance music band the Prodigy as the first single from their third album, The Fat of the Land (1997). It was co-written and produced by Liam Howlett and featured vocals by Keith Flint. It also 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. In the United States, it peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video was directed by Walter Stern and filmed in the London Underground, in black-and-white. Melody Maker ranked the song number two in their list of "Singles of the Year" in 1996. 

The songwriting credits included Kim Deal of 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" sample is from the 1984 song "Close (to the Edit)" by Art of Noise. Then-members Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, J. J. Jeczalik, Gary Langan and Paul Morley also receive songwriting credits. 

The accompanying black-and-white music video for "Firestarter" was directed by English director Walter Stern and was filmed in an abandoned London Underground tunnel at Aldwych. The video was subsequently banned by the BBC after it was shown on Top of the Pops and supposedly terrorised children.

Critics praised the track because musically this cut found the boys slamming through an exhilarating, breakbeat techno theme for snowboarding freestylers. Half-pipe hardcore — you know the score. Some named it Single of the Week and a the powerful return for the kings of live techno, and that  even managed to make the Chemical Brothers sound soft.

Over the last 30 years "Firestarter" has been used in the Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 reveal trailer and the films Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), The Condemned (2007), Fear Street Part One: 1994 (2021), and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024), as well as the cold opening of The Beauty (2026). 

 

Firestarter Track List:  

 

UK Cassette Single

• Firestarter (Edit)
• Molotov Bitch

US Maxi.CD Single

• Firestarter (Edit)
• Firestarter (Empirion Mix)
• Firestarter (Instrumental)
• Molotov Bitch

European CD Single

• Firestarter (Edit)
• Firestarter (Empirion Mix)

UK And US 12-inch Single

• Firestarter
• Firestarter (Instrumental)
• Firestarter (Emprion Mix)
• Molotov Bitch 

US CD Single And Cassette Single

• Firestarter (Edit)