Here’s What Billy Joel Thinks of Fall Out Boy’s ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ Update
Written by djfrosty on July 10, 2023
Billy Joel’s history-filled, 1989 hit “We Didn’t Start the Fire” got a modern-day update thanks to Fall Out Boy, and now the OG is giving his thoughts.
In a new interview with BBC Radio2 this week, Joel said that he has heard the new verses. “Everybody’s been wanting to know when there’s going to be an updated version of it, because my song started in ’49 and ended in ’89 — it was a 40 year span. Everybody said, ‘Well, aren’t you going to do a part two?’ I said, ‘Nah, I’ve already done part one.’ So, Fall Our Boy, go ahead. Great, take it away.”
While Joel’s track was filled to the brim with pop-culture headlines from the middle of the 20th Century to 1989, Fall Out Boy took over from there and continued the references from 1989 to the present. Taylor Swift — who was born in 1989 — is mentioned alongside Kanye West who notoriously grabbed the microphone from her at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.
Among the many other references in the updated version are Woodstock ’99, Fyre Fest, Harry Potter, Twilight, Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man, Stranger Things, Avatar, SpongeBob SquarePants, Pokemon, MySpace and many more.
Listen to Billy Joel’s thoughts on “We Didn’t Start the Fire” part two below.