Charly
1991
The Prodigy's first official promo video was shot in the rave.Videography
Official The Prodigy music videos and video compilations.
The Prodigy - Firestarter music video
Director: Walter Stern
Producer: ?
I'm sure that everyone knows that video but... The scene is an abandoned London subway. The main focus of attention is on Keith, who runs around with an angle grinder trying to wreck the train tracks, while the rest of the band look on in approval. After this we see Keith hanging on to his life by a few bicycle tubes in a lift shaft, 60 feet off the ground. When you watch the video you can actually see Leeroy hurling towards the TV screen swaying around. The reason is that he got drunk whilst recording the set for Firestarter because he had nothing to do except drinking. Keith wears Tommy Hilfiger "stars and stripes" jumper and that's why many new fans thought that Prodigy was an american band. This also boosted they success in america. Anyway that jumper is real rarity nowadays and many fans are trying to get one from eBay.
The video caused big uproar in the UK. Questions in the House of Commons, bad pressand a record number of complaints to 'Top of the Pops' for showing the video. When the video for Firestarter was aired on 'Top of the Pops' for the first time, the BBC received more complaints than they had received for any other act. 'Top of the Pops' actually asked the band to remake the video, offering to pay the expenses, but were told quit bluntly to "f*** off". Great stuff. Interestingly enough, there are two videos for Firestarter. The original one was directed by the bloke who made the Diesel Jeans advertisement. But it turned out to be a real modern arty type video and the band were hardly in it so they scrapped it and hired their long time friend Walter Stern to direct new one. The budget was really low only 20k pounds. That's why they had to use cheap black and white film.
Taken from Martin James, Prodigy book: The original video for "Firestarter" was directed by a team chosen for their work on a Diesel Jeans TV advert that the band had though was amazing. Their vision for the track had Keith bound up in ropes; the focus was on a huge tyre that had been filmed in negative, and every time the bass dropped, the tyre bounced. However, although the promo proved to be quite slick, the band decided it just didn't represent them as a band. Keith was far too restricted - instead of the images unleashing his personality, as the music had done, his performance was held back.
On a show on MTV titled "Top Ten: Scariest Videos of All Time", Firestarter came in as third scariest video of all time! Suprising how many people consider this video scary.
Related articles
- The Guardian - 27th May 2020 The 100 greatest UK No 1s: No 8, The Prodigy – Firestarter
- Kerrang! - 8th May 2020 Playing With The Prodigy To Partying With Pantera: Jim Davies Is Most Notorious Guitarist You’ve Never Heard Of
- Madness To Creation - 10th April 2020 JIM DAVIES (THE PRODIGY, PITCHSHIFTER) Converses with Mark Dean on “Headwars” and his Illustrious Career”
- Kerrang! - 4th March 2020 My Friend Keith Flint, The Voice Of A Jilted Generation
- Kerrang! - 6th March 2019 Their Law: How The Prodigy Breathed New Life Into Rock
- Kerrang! - 7th November 2018 The Prodigy Thirty years of firestarting; one must-read interview
- BBC - 4th November 2018 The Prodigy: 'We don't need to reinvent ourselves'
- MusicTech magazine - 18th May 2015 Landmark Productions: The Prodigy – The Fat of the Land
- MTV Hive - 4th December 2012 Dissecting the Prodigy: 25 Samples Behind 'The Fat of the Land'
- Spin Magazine - 1st September 1997 It's only rock'n' roll
- NME - 28th June 1997 Selected LP, The Fat of The Land
- Melody Maker - 1st January 1997 Setting America Alight!
- PointCast - 10th December 1996 Talent: The Prodigy
- Future Music - 31st October 1996 Favourite 50 - 1 Korg Prophecy
- Select - 1st April 1996 24 March: Firestarter at the top of the hit parade
- NME - 23rd March 1996 House Of The Razing Arson
- - 1st February 1996 The Prodigy Alternative Dance Supergroup
- The Face - 1st January 1995 The Future Sound of Essex
See also
Everybody In The Place
1991
This was shot in New York.
Fire
1992
Pretty cool half animated video, but picture quality is poor.
Out Of Space
1992
Keith in the boiler suit gas mask. Ostriches, and some dancing.
Wind It Up
1993
Shot in America at Venice Beach California.
One Love
1993
At the time high budget fully computer animated video.
No Good (Start The Dance)
1994
Good black and white Video. Liam breaks a wall.
Voodoo People
1994
Again a high budget video which was shot in a jungle.
Poison
1995
Very good and expensive video, Maxim sings, Leeroy dances, Liam plays the drums.
Breathe
1996
Lots of bugs, and a alligator. Shot in an abandoned apartment.
Smack My Bitch Up
1997
Smack My Bitch Up-video has been banned on most TV channels. MTV Europe has showed it at night a couple of times.
Baby's Got A Temper
2002
The video based on a Liam's dream.
Hotride
2004
They made a video for Hotride but Liam didn't like it at all so it was binned and never released.
Girls
2004
First single/video from the Always Outnumbered album.
Spitfire
2005
Awesome live video with stunning effects. This really captures what Prodigy is about.
Voodoo People (Pendulum Remix)
2005
This video was made to promote their single compilation. This video features also Pendulum.
Invaders Must Die
2008
First music video from Invaders Must Die album.
Omen
2009
Omen was actually the first official single from Invaders Must Die album.
Warriors Dance
2009
An animation resembling stop motion of a secretive fantasy dance party.
Take Me To The Hospital
2009
Last single and video from Invaders Must Die album.
Nasty
2015
First music video from The Day is My Enemy album.
Wild Frontier
2015
A really stunning stop-motion animation video.
Get Your Fight On
2015
Quick and low budget video with live footage.
Ibiza
2015
The Prodigy themselves and Jason Williamson on Sleaford Mods appear in the video for ‘Ibiza’.
Need Some1
2018
Directed by Filipino filmmaker Paco Raterta, the visual was shot entirely in the Philippines.
Light Up The Sky
2018
Timebomb Zone
2018
Music video for "Timebomb Zone" by The Prodigy off the new album No Tourists.
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