"Firestarter" is a song by Britishelectronic dance music bandthe Prodigy, released on 18 March 1996 byXL Recordings as the first single from their third album,The Fat of the Land (1997). It was co-written and produced byLiam Howlett and features vocals byKeith Flint. It also was the group's first number-one single on theUK 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 theBillboard Hot 100. The music video was directed byWalter Stern and filmed in theLondon Underground, in black-and-white.Melody Maker ranked the song number two in their list of "Singles of the Year" in 1996.[4] 24 years later,The Guardian ranked it number eight in their list of "The 100 Greatest UK No 1 Singles".[5]
Martin James fromMelody Maker wrote, "'Firestarter' finds onstage dancer, MC and man of scary eye make-upKeith Flint delivering his first vocal performance and...it's not really up to much. A 60-Marlboros-a-day growl more suited to guitar-drenched cider punk than The Prodigy's fast and furiouscyber punk. Never mind though, because musically this cut finds the boys slamming through an exhilarating,breakbeat techno theme for snowboarding freestylers. Half-pipe hardcore — you know the score."[6] A reviewer fromMusic Week gave "Firestarter" top score of five out of five, and named it Single of the Week and a "Powerful return for the kings of livetechno."[7] Gerald Martinez fromNew Sunday Times noted its "heavy metal meets techno-dance stylisations".[8] Brad Beatnik from theRecord Mirror Dance Update described it as "a typically searing chunk of heavy techno featuring some manic vocale and an awesome synth line". He concluded, "Straight in the Top 10, no question, and destined to be pounded in the clubs."[9] Writing forPitchfork in 2005, Jess Harvell said, "'Firestarter' sounds likeTrent Reznor in one of his all-too-rare moments of self-aware humor, likethe Bomb Squad at +5 with a pink-haired British bulldog bellowing about how tuff he is."[10] DJ Freshy-D ofSmash Hits gave it four out of five, saying, "Mad metal guitary bits, scary vocals and the bangin'est of beats make for a momentousindie-dance track! Hey, 'Firestarter' even manages to makethe Chemical Brothers sound soft... LET'S ROCK!"[11] David Sinclair fromThe 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 anArt of Noise vocal sample."[12]
The accompanying black-and-white music video for "Firestarter" was directed by English directorWalter Stern and was filmed in an abandonedLondon Underground tunnel atAldwych.[13] The video was subsequently banned by theBBC after it was shown onTop of the Pops and supposedly terrorised children.[14]
In December 1996,Melody Maker ranked "Firestarter" number two in their list of "Singles of the Year", writing, "Bringing vague but keenly felt terror to a million living rooms, "Firestarter" was superbly ominous, a funny, freakish and pulse-quickening rumble through the tunnels of the psychotic mind."[4] In October 2011,NME placed it at number 52 in its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".[15] In 2017,Billboard magazine ranked "Firestarter" number 25 in their list of "The 100 Greatest Pop Songs of 1997".[16] FollowingKeith 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 Flint and to raise awareness of suicide among men.[17] During this time the single also returned to the USBillboard 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 aBillboard dance chart.[18] In June 2020,The Guardian ranked "Firestarter" number eight in their list of "The 100 Greatest UK No 1 Singles".[19] In July 2022,Rolling Stone ranked it number 110 in their list of "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time".[20] In March 2025,Billboard magazine ranked it number 47 in their "The 100 Best Dance Songs of All Time", writing that it "was less of a lit fuse than a powder keg ready to blow everything to smithereens."[14]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
