Songfacts®:

• Released as a single from the very successful Freeze Frame album, this song didn't crack the pop charts, but it did make #25 R&B. It was written by their keyboard player Seth Justman, who explained to NME when asked about "Flamethrower": "It's not just about a woman, it's about a woman factory worker and how she lets loose at night. It's about a certain spirit that's in everybody. In the middle of that song the spirit in the body has taken over. It's not just a hot chick in hot pants. It's a woman who punches the clock every day at 8 and 5 and when she leaves she does something with her life, whatever she has to do to punch the clock the next day and not go crazy. That punch clock is in everyone; there's something inside everyone that makes you want to go on and get better and stronger."
• Luther Vandross and Cissy Houston are among the backup singers on this track.