"Loco Foco" became the name of a a radical political group in the 1830s:

"Sensing defeat, the minions of Tammany Hall dimmed the gas lights, plunging the meeting into darkness. Responding to the shout "Let there be light!" the quick-thinking radicals struck a new brand of matches called "Loco Focos," and the name stuck."

Previously matches could only be lighted by striking the on a surface containing phosphorus.Apparently the loco-focos were the first strike-anywhere matches.