Which songs did Firestarter sample? Everything you need to know about The Prodigy's hit

18 March 2024, 12:00

The Prodigy - Firestarter (Official Video)

Everything you ever wanted to know about the classic track and its amazing video starring the late, great Keith Flint.

The Prodigy released their single Firestarter on 18th March 1996 - which quickly shot to number one.

Their band's late frontman Keith Flint and his impact has spanned genres and decades, with people from all over the music world being inspired by his music and stage presence.

And nothing encapsulates Flint's memory more than the visuals for Firestarter - the first single from the band's third studio album, The Fat of The Land.

But do you think you know everything about the video for the band's classic single and their first ever UK number one?

Get our facts about the iconic track here...

1. Firestarter was meant to be an instrumental song

   

   "I recorded it as an instrumental," Liam Howlett told NME back in March 1996.

   “And as usual, all three of the others come round to have a listen. Keith happened to be the first, and I said to him, ‘We need one more element’. Now I’d have been happy with a good sample, but Keith says, I’d really like to try some vocals on that’. And I’m like, ‘Whaaaaaaat?!”

2. Firestarter saw Keith Flint lay down his first proper vocals for the band

   

   Yes, that's right. Unbelievably, before Firestarter, Keef had never fronted on a Prodigy song before.

   Usually a dancer, he was felt compelled to sing - or even shout - along to this tune.

   The rest, as they say, is history.

3. The track samples The Breeders S.O.S. - among other songs

   

   S.O.S.

   Kim Deal is one of the artists who appears on the songwriting credits, with the looped wah-wah riff taken from their 1993 track.

   The drum loop is clipped from the Voice Of Paradise mix of Ten City's 1987 debut single Devotion, while the "Hey!" voice is that of Camilla Pilkington-Smyth, originally recorded for the 1984 single Close (To The Edit) by the Art Of Noise.

   

   Art of Noise - Close (To The Edit) Version 1 (ZTPS 01)

4. The famous Firestarter video was actually the band's second attempt

   

   Before the famous visuals we all know and love, The Prodigy had spent one hundred grand on a video we'll probably never see.

   However, Liam, Keith and co weren't happy with the finished result, and ended up binning it at the last minute with very little time and money to spare.

   Speaking to the BBC, Howlett revealed "In the original, Keef was in a straight jacket and had this ball bouncing – it was just nonsense. It cost like £100,000 but I just put it in the bin."

5. The video was filmed in an abandoned London tube tunnel

   

   It's no secret that the Firestarter video was shot in an old disused London Underground tunnel in Aldwych.

   Howlett recalled it being so dusty, the band were "whingeing [they were] gonna get asbestos poisoning".

6. The Prodigy shot the video in black and white because they had no money left

   

   After losing an obscene amount of money on their now discarded first attempt, Howlett put in calls to get Walter Stern on board as the director, and chose to shoot the film without colour to cut down on costs.

   He added to the BBC: "Videos cost a lot more money in those days and I think we only had £20,000 left, so I asked Walter if he could help us out.

   "The reason why the video was black and white was because we couldn’t pay for colour".

7. The stars and stripes jumper Keith Flint wears was bought for £5 on the way to the shoot

   

   Speaking to Triple J as part of their Inspired podcast, Flint revealed: “I was on my way to the video and went to Camden Market to find something to wear.

   "I went to this second-hand store, saw the stars and stripes, and I liked the contradiction of us being this British band and wearing the stars and stripes jumper.

   "It was five quid. I bunged it on, and it had its own impact. I really mildly thought about it, just threw it together, very DIY, and sometimes that natural, honest approach to just doing what you do always pays off. Nothing's trying too hard."

8. Keith Flint threw up on set after filming ended

   

   Though Howlett, Maxim and (now former member) Leeroy Thornhill - and the crew were in the bowels of the London Underground tunnel for half the day, it was Keith who had to put in the performance of a lifetime for the 12 hours or more it took to shoot the video.

   As documented by NME's Johnny Cigarettes in 1996 while on set, those not in front of the camera were given "barely adequate paper masks," while Flint mostly went without.

   It's no surprise that it's reported that Flint threw up on set, after declaring: "Wow! Fackin’ weird buzz man!"

READ MORE: The Prodigy's Keith Flint inspired Stereophonics' Performance and Cocktails track