30 years ago today, 18 March 1996 - The Prodigy released “Firestarter”, the first single to be taken from 1997s The Fat of the Land, and what would become not only the beginning of the groups commerical peak, but serve as an iconic influental 90s anthem that spent 3 weeks at No1 in the UK.

The track started out in 1995 as a simple guitar loop and was initially an instrumental with that guitar loop serving as its distinctive distorted main riff, with Liam now heavily influenced by the guitar heavy anthems of the early-mid 1990s from American bands like Rage Against The Machine, The Breeders, Foo Fighters and Nirvana. Indeed Kim Deal (who was not asked at the time, and was not pleased about this..) gets a writing credit on the single as the guitars on Breeders' track “S.O.S.” were heavily sampled to add tension to the song. In addition to this the 'Hey, hey, hey' sample is taken from Art of Noise's “Close (To The Edit)” - a sample for which Liam apparently had to pay heavily for, despite it being easily available as a studio sample since the late 1980s. Liam was apparently happy to use a good sampled vocal on the track but Keith Flint had other ideas.

Keith, who up to this point was primarily an onstage dancer and MC, and who Liam was not keen to have sing on the track, was inspired to write and provide vocals for the track, the distinctive and passionate invective which completed the piece and gave it its title. Firestarter literally describing the man himself - the person who ignites the fire in people, puts life into the party, and gets people pumped. Some of the angry and self critical lyrics are deeply personal to Flint and it clearly fires him up to sing them live, that is part of the beauty of the track, and I think the thing that most resonates with the audience. Of course the title did spark some controversy in the media at the time naturaly, but that doesn't explain the singles success here. It is simply one of those rare moments in music where an anthem is born.

They don't make number 1s like this anymore!

There's a great interview with the band from 2019 about the making of the track here: https://www.abc.net.au/triplej/programs/mornings/inspired-the-prodigy-firestarter/10780224

A truly classic number one!

Simultaneously one of the greatest dance, greatest rock and greatest rap records. Brilliant.

Firestarter is among my favourite number 1s ever. I loved it at the time but it's only got better with time. The layering is incredible in this and it just keeps getting more and more exciting as it goes on. It's one of the most original songs ever despite the punky nature of the vocals.

All you have to do is have a look at this video to appreciate that Liam Howlet is a genius.

Edited Sunday at 15:222 days by Colm