"We Didn't Start the Fire" is a 2023 single by American rock band Fall Out Boy. It is a cover of Billy Joel's 1989 song "We Didn't Start the Fire", updating the song's cultural references to span the years since the original was released. Critics reacted negatively to the song, panning the tone and content of its updated lyrics.
| "We Didn't Start the Fire" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Fall Out Boy | ||||
| from the album So Much (for) Stardust (Digital Deluxe edition) | ||||
| Released | June 28, 2023 | |||
| Genre | Alternative rock | |||
| Length | 3:35 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) | Neal Avron | |||
| Fall Out Boy singles chronology | ||||
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Composition
"We Didn't Start the Fire", like Billy Joel's original version released in 1989, is a catalog of major events in world history through a certain time period. Joel's original mainly centers around the events during and surrounding the Cold War, and Fall Out Boy's version continues where Joel's ends, covering the events from 1989 to 2023. Fall Out Boy's version includes references to Woodstock 99, the 1992 Los Angeles riots, the Oklahoma City Bombing, the September 11 attacks, Brexit;[1] the Boston Marathon bombing; Bush v. Gore;[2] the assassination of Shinzo Abe; [3] and MySpace, which Stereogum notes was connected to the band's rise to fame.[4] In the chorus, the original lyric "we tried to fight it" is replaced with "we're trying to fight it", and in the bridge, "will it still burn on and on…" is replaced with "it will still go on and on…".
In a deviation from the original, Fall Out Boy's updated lyrics abandon chronological ordering, at one point referencing Rodney King next to deepfakes.[2][5] Pete Wentz explained the choice in an interview with Zane Lowe:
Listen, we did our best. It's very, very, very difficult. His is not totally in chronological order, but it's more in chronological order than ours. We just wanted the JFK blown away line, and clearly, I think that the World Trade one was a little more… that was probably… People probably felt a similar way. You remember where you were or whatever. So it's just a little bit out of order, but it is what it is. Listen, we wanted the Internet to still have something to complain about.[6]
The COVID-19 pandemic is notably absent from the song;[1][7] Wentz cites the event's ubiquity and the need for rhyme space for Bush v. Gore in explaining why it was not included.[6]
Critical response
"We Didn't Start the Fire" was met with a mocking and negative reaction from critics. Chris DeVille with Stereogum wrote "Well, this is happening.";[4] the staff of Slate wrote "Move over, Gal Gadot's 'Imagine'!";[8] and Alexandra del Rosario with the Los Angeles Times wrote "sugar, it isn't goin' down well with some fans".[7] James Rettig with Stereogum described the song as "abominable"[6] and Owen S. Good with Polygon described it as "tasteless", the latter with the respect to the song's rhyming of "George Floyd" with "Metroid".[2] Reviewers also criticized the song's omission of several notable events and people; Lyndsey Parker with Yahoo! Entertainment noted the lack of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as Hillary and Bill Clinton;[9] the staff of Slate brought up the film Titanic and O. J. Simpson as missing elements.[8] Morgan Hines with USA Today and del Rosario described reaction on social media as mixed and controversial.[1][7]