I’m sure we all know of if not heard Billy Joel’s classic “We Didn’t Start The Fire,” a song Joel admits to not like playing live as it is hard to remember the lyrics, got a modern update from pop-rock band Fall Out Boy. “We Didn’t Start The Fire” was a song through fast-paced lyrics includes brief references to 118 significant political, cultural, scientific, and sporting events between 1948 (the year before Joel’s birth) and 1989, in mainly chronological order. Fall Out Boy decided to update the song continuing on from 1989 to our current year 2023.
The Fall Out Boy version includes references to Brexit, Boston Marathon Bombing, Kaepernick, Royal Weddings ect. Though it left out several major events like the pandemic, Hillary and Bill Clinton, Titanic (film) and O. J. Simpson. The song has been panned by critics for missing the major elements like those I listed as well as panning the tone and no where near as chronological as Joel’s version.
Fall Out Boy seems like an odd band to tackle an updated version of the Billy Joel classic, and it is easy to see where people are not fans of the “new” version of the song that is jsut all over the place and missed major events in light of much smaller ones. In attempts to make the rhyming work it “George Floyd” with “Metroid,” The game was released and was popular in 1986, so before the time period of the song. It is safe to say not all songs need covers or updated lyrics.
Check it out for yourself:
– Everett
