I Do Not Like Mondays

Here is something you probably don’t know and something you probably do, once again from waaay back in the day. This is an instrumental version of “Firestarter” by The Prodigy.

While that song, which was highly awarded and is likely the band’s best-known work, was initially released in mid-1996 as part of an electronica compilation, The Prodigy’s album containing it, The Fat of the Land, didn’t hit record stores until well into the following year.

In fall 1996, though, “Firestarter” was included in an original PlayStation game, “Wipeout XL” in North America and “Wipeout 2097” everywhere else. It was a fast, futuristic racing game with floating race craft that looked like small versions of the Imperial Shuttle from Star Wars, yet the game somehow felt like it broke new ground.

Part of that was its hip soundtrack, which you could buy on disc and featured extensive techno talent like Daft Punk, The Future Sound of London, Fluke, Underworld, Photek and The Chemical Brothers, many of which I got to know after being exposed to them through the game.

It all made for some great music to which to set a race, and to many — myself included — the standout you always hoped for when a new race was starting was The Prodigy’s instrumental “Firestarter.” Even without its vocals, the song is something like canned adrenaline and pumps up the fun factor.

Above I’ve included a YouTube video that shows what the game looked like paired with the song. Of course, “Firestarter” became an international hit with some staying power and is widely known. It deserves to be broken out on its own; complete with its vocals and lyrics, “Firestarter” has plenty to pick apart.

You can’t miss frontman Keith Flint in the official music video, who as the song builds looks at one point like a boxer waiting for the bell to ring in the next round of the fight. He’s got his head shaved on top in the middle with tufts spiked up on the sides looking like horns and eyeshadow accentuating wild-looking eyes.

Flint was said to have a gentle, friendly nature off stage, but was known for his intensity while performing, when he looks a little crazy. I will tell you right now, this is something I saw in person several times with Brits, and they may do this better than Americans: you find some of these intense ones like that, and you kind of think, “Yeah, you look like you actually want to kill me, and might just.”

When I watch “Firestarter’s” video, Flint has some of that, or at least can turn it on for the show. The shirt he’s wearing looks like a simplified American flag; is he making a statement there, calling the United States an instigator and arsonist of sorts? Listen to the lyrics and decide for yourself — maybe there are no politics involved. But The Fat of the Land’s disc, by the way, has a big “A” for “anarchy” printed on it.

The song leads off:

“I’m the trouble starter, punkin’ instigator

I’m the fear-addicted, and a danger illustrated”

The song’s refrain is to repeat and vary “I’m the firestarter, twisted firestarter.”

An instrumental version of “Firestarter” in Sony’s Wipeout XL/2097 game was an appropriate choice since Keith Flint also raced motorcycles, and I’m talking extremely fast sport bikes.

That’s beyond my skill, but I have an older brother who might like that. While I love cruisers and bikes that ooze style, people like Flint can get a motorcycle near horizontal tearing/leaning hard through the curves. Not for me.

There’s a fairly recent sad ending here. Keith Flint was found unresponsive and hanging on March 4, 2019, which led many to believe he’d committed suicide. But an inquest into his death left things open-ended, finding the frontman, then 49, had codeine and alcohol in his system and indeed died of hanging, but may not have intended to end his life.

Artists around the globe paid tribute to Flint, along with a host of his fans. There was even an effort to promote “Firestarter” via social media to try to push it to the top of music charts again — rarified real estate the song had occupied in the United Kingdom back in the 1990s.

Content © Aaron G. Marsh

Featured image capture by DJShangTsung from Sony Playstation Wipeout XL