When The Prodigy released their classic album The Fat of the Land in the summer of 1997, rock was in trouble. Pundits predicted that guitar rock was in its death throes with its corpse about to be devoured by things like the crab on the front of that record. Electonica was the future. Bands like The Prodigy would see to it.
While that never happened–rock rebounded nicely with the indie rock revival that started a few years later–electronica found its niche and blossomed into the larger EDM scene. Meanwhile, The Prodigy went on to a nice, successful career. Not exactly at the level of The Rolling Stones, but they’ve done fine.
There were three major singles from The Fat of the Land: Breathe, Smack My Bitch Up (which has since been turned into a PC version because so many people believe that it glorifies domestic violence), and this one. Fun fact; Kim Deal of The Breeders got a songwriting credit because that’s her sampled looped wah-wah guitar. Given that the album sold over 10 million copies and that Firestarter was a major single, she must have made good bank for not doing a thing.
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