This was straight up scary when it first came out. I was a child and had no idea what it was; Marilyn Manson was the closest thing to this but I always looked at him in the same way as I would look at a scary movie—it wasn’t about music. But this … This was music, this was serious; so I couldn’t dismiss it as simple scary-movie theatrics. And since this was before the internet, a lot of questions went unanswered.

What is this?! What is the singer on about? Is he going to jump out of the screen and kill me and burn my house down?! Why are they underground? Why is the other guy (Liam Howlett) just standing there?

But the sound was so undeniable in this—and next songs that leaked little by little into the mainstream—that I eventually just understood: they’re a fucking great band THAT is what they are. Everything else is just theatrics.

• The Prodigy – Firestarter