We Didn't Start the Fire

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This article is about the song. For the Grey's Anatomy episode, see We Didn't Start the Fire (Grey's Anatomy).

"We Didn't Start the Fire"
WeDidntStarttheFire.jpg
Single by Billy Joel
from the album Storm Front
B-side"House of Blue Light"
ReleasedSeptember 27, 1989
RecordedJuly 1989
GenrePop rock[1]
Length4:49 (Album version)
4:29 (Single version)
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)Billy Joel
Producer(s)
  • Mick Jones
  • Billy Joel
Billy Joel singles chronology
"Baby Grand"
(1987) 		"We Didn't Start the Fire"
(1989) 		"Leningrad"
(1989)
Music video
"We Didn't Start the Fire" on YouTube

"We Didn't Start the Fire" is a song written and performed by American musician Billy Joel. The song was released as a single on September 27, 1989, and later released as part of Joel's album Storm Front on October 17, 1989. A list song, its fast-paced lyrics include brief references to 118 significant political, cultural, scientific, and sporting events between 1949, the year of Joel's birth, and 1989, in a mainly chronological order. The song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became Joel's third single to reach number one on the United States Billboard Hot 100 in late 1989. Storm Front became Joel's third album to reach number one in the United States. "We Didn't Start the Fire", particularly in the 21st century, has become the basis of many pop culture parodies, and continues to be repurposed in various television shows, advertisements, and comedic productions.

History[]

Joel conceived the idea for the song when he had just turned 40. He was in a recording studio and met a 21-year-old friend of Sean Lennon who said "It's a terrible time to be 21!" Joel replied to him, "Yeah, I remember when I was 21 – I thought it was an awful time and we had Vietnam, and y'know, drug problems, and civil rights problems and everything seemed to be awful." The friend replied, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's different for you. You were a kid in the fifties and everybody knows that nothing happened in the fifties". Joel retorted, "Wait a minute, didn't you hear of the Korean War or the Suez Canal Crisis?" Joel later said those headlines formed the basic framework for the song.[2] Joel has also criticized the song on strictly musical grounds. In 1993, when discussing it with documentary filmmaker David Horn, Joel compared its melodic content unfavorably to his song "The Longest Time": "Take a song like 'We Didn't Start the Fire.' It's really not much of a song ... If you take the melody by itself, terrible. Like a dentist drill."[3]

When asked if he deliberately intended to chronicle the Cold War with his song[4] he responded, "It was just my luck that the Soviet Union decided to close down shop [soon after putting out the song]", and that this span "had a symmetry to it, it was 40 years" that he had lived through. He was asked if he could do a follow-up about the next couple of years after the events that transpired in the original song, he commented "No, I wrote one song already and I don't think it was really that good to begin with, melodically."[5]

Music video[]

External video
video icon Billy Joel – We Didn't Start the Fire (Official Video), 4:05
video icon Billy Joel – We Didn't Start The Fire (Official Video, Extended) 04:26

A music video for the single was directed by Chris Blum.[6] The video begins with a newly married couple entering their 1940s-style kitchen, and shows events in their domestic life over the next four decades, including the addition of children, their growth, and later, grandchildren, and the eventual death of the family's father. The passage of time is also depicted by periodic redecoration and upgrades of the kitchen, while an unchanging Billy Joel looks on in the background.

Historical events referenced[]

Though the lyrics are rapid-fire with several people and events mentioned in each stanza, there is widespread agreement on the meaning of the lyrics. Steven Ettinger wrote,

Billy Joel captured the major images, events, and personalities of this half-century in a three-minute song.... It was pure information overload, a song that assumed we knew exactly what he was singing about...What was truly alarming was the realization that we, the listeners, for the most part understood the references.[7]

The following events (with Joel's lyric for each appearing in bold) are listed in the order that they appear in the song, which is almost entirely chronological.[8] The lyric for each individual event is brief and the events are punctuated by the chorus and other lyrical elements. The following list includes longer, more descriptive names for clarity. Events from a variety of contexts – such as popular entertainment, foreign affairs, and sports – are intermingled, giving an impression of the culture of the time as a whole. There are 118 events listed in the song.

1940s[]

1948[]

  • Harry Truman wins the 1948 United States presidential election following a partial term after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
  • Doris Day debuts in film in Romance on the High Seas, featuring the popular song "It's Magic".

1949[]

  • Red China: The Communist Party of China wins the Chinese Civil War, establishing the People's Republic of China.
  • Johnnie Ray: The rock and roll progenitor signs his first recording contract with Okeh Records.
  • South Pacific, the award-winning musical, opens on Broadway.
  • Walter Winchell, an influential radio and newspaper journalist, begins to denounce Communism as the main threat facing America.
  • Joe DiMaggio signs a record-breaking $100,000 contract with the New York Yankees.

1950s[]

1950[]

  • Joe McCarthy, a U.S. Senator, gains national attention and begins his anti-Communism crusade with his Lincoln Day speech.
  • Richard Nixon is first elected to the United States Senate.
  • Studebaker, a popular automobile company, begins its financial downfall.
  • Television becomes widespread throughout Europe and North America.
  • North Korea invades South Korea, beginning the Korean War.
  • Marilyn Monroe appears in five films, including The Asphalt Jungle and All About Eve.

1951[]

  • The Rosenbergs, married couple Ethel and Julius, are convicted of espionage.
  • H-Bomb: The United States is developing the hydrogen bomb as a nuclear weapon.
  • Sugar Ray Robinson, a champion boxer, defeats Jake LaMotta in the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre".
  • Panmunjom, a border village in Korea, is the location of truce talks between the parties of the Korean War.
  • Marlon Brando is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in A Streetcar Named Desire.
  • The King and I, the musical by Rodgers and Hammerstein, opens on Broadway.
  • The Catcher in the Rye, a controversial novel by J. D. Salinger, is published.

1952[]

1953[]

1954[]

1955[]

1956[]

1957[]

  • Little Rock, Arkansas is the site of a standoff between Governor Orval Faubus and President Eisenhower over the Little Rock Nine attending a previously whites-only high school.
  • Boris Pasternak, the Russian author, publishes his novel Doctor Zhivago.
  • Mickey Mantle is in the middle of his career as a famous New York Yankees outfielder and American League All-Star for the sixth year in a row.
  • Jack Kerouac publishes his novel On the Road, a defining work of the Beat Generation.
  • Sputnik becomes the first artificial satellite, launched by the Soviet Union, marking the start of the space race.
  • Chou En-Lai, Premier of the People's Republic of China, survives an assassination attempt.
  • The Bridge on the River Kwai is released, and receives seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.[9]

1958[]

1959[]

  • Buddy Holly dies in a plane crash with Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. Joel prefaces the lyric with a Holly signature vocal hiccup: "Uh-huh, uh-huh."
  • Ben-Hur starring Charlton Heston, wins eleven Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
  • Space Monkey: A rhesus macaque and a squirrel monkey become the first two animals to be launched by NASA into space and survive.
  • Mafia leaders are convicted in the Apalachin meeting trial, confirming it as a nationwide conspiracy.
  • Hula hoops sales reach 100 million as the latest toy fad.
  • Fidel Castro comes to power after a revolution in Cuba.
  • Edsel is a no-go: Production of this much-advertised car marque ends after only three years due to poor sales.

1960s[]

1960[]

  • A U-2 spy plane flown by American CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union, causing the U-2 Crisis of 1960. It does not refer to the band U2.[10]
  • Syngman Rhee is rescued by the CIA after being forced to resign as leader of South Korea.
  • Payola, illegal payments for radio broadcasting of songs, are publicized by Dick Clark's testimony before Congress and Alan Freed's public disgrace.
  • John F. Kennedy, a senator from Massachusetts, beats Vice President Richard Nixon in the 1960 US presidential election.
  • Chubby Checker popularizes the dance The Twist with his cover of the song of the same name.
  • Psycho, an Alfred Hitchcock thriller, becomes a landmark in graphic violence and cinema sensationalism. The screeching violins heard at this point in the song are a trademark of the film's soundtrack.
  • Belgians in the Congo: The Republic of the Congo (Léopoldville) was declared independent of Belgium.

1961[]

1962[]

  • Lawrence of Arabia, Academy Award-winning film starring Peter O'Toole, premiered.
  • British Beatlemania: The Beatles become the world's most famous rock band.
  • Ole Miss: Southern segregationists rioted over the enrollment of black student James Meredith at the University of Mississippi.
  • John Glenn flew the first American manned orbital mission termed "Friendship 7".
  • Liston beats Patterson: Sonny Liston knocks out rarely defeated Floyd Patterson in the first round of the world heavyweight boxing championship.

1963[]

  • Pope Paul VI becomes pope when Cardinal Giovanni Montini is elected to the title.
  • Malcolm X incites controversy, including his statement that "the chickens have come home to roost" about John F. Kennedy's assassination.
  • British politician sex: British Secretary of State for War John Profumo has a scandalous sexual relationship with showgirl Christine Keeler.
  • JFK blown away: President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.

1965[]

1968[]

1969[]

  • Moonshot: Apollo 11 becomes the first successful human landing on the Moon.
  • Woodstock music festival attracts 400,000, as a touchstone of the counterculture movement.

1970s[]

1972–1975[]

  • Watergate: The Republican burglary of the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate office complex leads to the resignation of President Nixon.
  • Punk rock: Raucous bands such as The Ramones and the Sex Pistols are founded.

1976–1977[]

(Note: an item from 1976 is put between items from 1977 to make the song scan better.)

  • Menachem Begin becomes Prime Minister of Israel and negotiates the Camp David Accords with Egypt's president.
  • Ronald Reagan, former governor of California, begins his US presidential campaign in 1976, and is elected in 1980.
  • Palestine: The ongoing Israeli–Palestinian conflict escalates as Israelis establish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
  • Terror on the airline: Numerous aircraft hijackings take place, including an Air France flight diverted to Uganda, where the plane was stormed in Operation Entebbe.

1979[]

1980s[]

1981–1982[]

  • Wheel of Fortune, an American television game show, hires Pat Sajak and Vanna White before becoming widely popular in syndication.

1983[]

  • Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space by flying aboard Challenger on the STS-7 shuttle mission.
  • Heavy metal suicide: Heavy metal songs such as "Suicide Solution" and "Better By You, Better Than Me" are blamed by the families of fans who committed suicide.
  • Foreign debts: Persistent trade and budget deficits lead to numerous countries defaulting on their debts.
  • Homeless vets: Veterans of the Vietnam War, including many disabled in the service, are becoming homeless and impoverished.
  • AIDS: The immunodeficiency disease caused by HIV emerges as a pandemic.

1984[]

  • Crack cocaine became a widely used form of the drug in impoverished inner cities.
  • Bernie Goetz shoots four young black men he claimed were trying to mug him on a New York City subway, but is cleared of attempted murder charges.

1988[]

1989[]

  • China's under martial law: China declares martial law, resulting in the use of military forces against protesting students to end the Tiananmen protests.
  • Rock-and-roller cola wars: Soft drink giants Coke and Pepsi each run marketing campaigns using rock & roll and popular music stars

Derivations[]

Many parodies and takeoffs have been based on the song (often expanding to events that have occurred since 1989) that pop culture commentary wiki TV Tropes deems such parodies a trope it calls "We Didn't Start the Billy Joel Parodies".[11] These parodies include The Simpsons' parody "They'll Never Stop the Simpsons" at the end of the 2002 "Gump Roast" episode,[12] and the San Francisco a cappella group The Richter Scales' 2007 Webby Award-winning parody "Here Comes Another Bubble."[13]

Another parody was released in 2010 titled "The Wii Didn't Start the Fire" about the history of video games.[14]

In 2006, Coca-Cola sampled the song to make an anthem for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Latin America, changing the lyrics according to the country.[15]

In 1993, Lenny Solomon and Shlock Rock created a parody entitled "We've Got a Strong Desire", which contains over 5000 years of Jewish history sung in 4 minutes.[16][17]

An edition of the BBC Three comedy programme Russell Howard's Good News featured a parody of the song detailing numerous items that the Daily Mail newspaper said caused cancer.[18]

YouTuber Dane Boedigheimer, known as creator of the popular comedic Web series Annoying Orange, produced a parody as part of YouTube's Comedy Week in 2013 titled "We Didn't Start the Viral."[19]

Pop band Milo Greene performed a version of the song in June 2013 for The A.V. Club's A.V. Undercover series.[20]

In 2019, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the cast of the film Avengers: Endgame made a parody of the song that depicted the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe as well as several characters appearing in the film and from the Marvel comic books.[21]

In popular culture[]

In 2021 a weekly podcast began, hosted by Katie Puckrik and Tom Fordyce, entitled We Didn't Start the Fire. Each week they examine a subject mentioned in the Billy Joel song, in lyric order, and discuss its importance and cultural significance with an expert guest.[22]

The song features prominently, along with a number of other Joel songs, in The Boys (2019 TV series) from Amazon Prime in which the character Hughie Campbell, played by Jack Quaid, has a preoccupation with the American singer.[23]

Charts[]

Certifications[]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[53] Platinum 70,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[54] Gold 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[55] Platinum 600,000double-dagger
United States (RIAA)[56] Platinum 1,000,000double-dagger

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
double-dagger Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Personnel[]

  • Billy Joel – vocals, clavinet, percussion
  • Liberty DeVitto – drums, percussion
  • David Brown – lead guitar
  • Joey Hunting – rhythm guitar
  • Crystal Taliefero – backing vocals, percussion
  • Schuyler Deale – bass guitar
  • John Mahoney – keyboards
  • Sammy Merendino – electronic percussion
  • Kevin Jones – keyboard programming
  • Doug Kleeger – sounds effects and arrangements

See also[]

  • "Do You Remember These", a song covering the 1950s
  • "Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)"
  • "Pencil Thin Mustache"
  • "19 Somethin'", a song covering the 1970s and 80s
  • Ronald Reagan in music

References[]

  1. ^ Curwen Best (2004). Culture @ the Cutting Edge: Tracking Caribbean Popular Music. University of the West Indies Press. p. 138. ISBN 978-976-640-124-5.
  2. ^ Nadboy, Arie (March 1996). "I am the Edu-Tainer". Island Ear. Cited by Bordowitz (2006), p. 169.
  3. ^ Horn, David (Director) (1993). Billy Joel: Shades of Grey (Motion picture). New York: Thirteen/WNET and Maritime Music.
  4. ^ The song describes events between 1949 (when the Soviet Union detonated their first atomic bomb and 1989 (when the Berlin Wall fell).
  5. ^ Billy Joel Q&A: Tell Us About 'We Didn't Start The Fire?' University of Oxford, May 5, 1994 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx3T8pbDcms
  6. ^ Garcia, Alex S. Billy Joel – We didn't start the fire. MVDBase – Music Video Database.
  7. ^ Ettinger, Steven (2003). Torah 24/7: A Timely Guide for the Modern Spirit. Devorah Publishing Company. p. 2. ISBN 1-930143-73-7. Retrieved April 2, 2010.
  8. ^ Joel, Billy. "Lyrics: We Didn't Start the Fire". www.billyjoel.com. Retrieved August 24, 2009.
  9. ^ "The 30th Academy Awards – 1958". oscars.org. Retrieved March 6, 2017.
  10. ^ "Hit Confuses Younger Fans: Joel". Los Angeles Times. January 8, 1990.
  11. ^ "We Didn't Start the Billy Joel Parodies". TV Tropes. Retrieved January 3, 2020.
  12. ^ Seisman, Matt (April 16, 2009). "We Didn't Start the Song Parody". Techland.com. Time.com. Retrieved May 28, 2010.
  13. ^ "12th Annual Webby Awards Nominees & Winners : Online Film & Video". WebbyAwards.com. 2008. Archived from the original on September 16, 2009.
  14. ^ Serrels, Mark (December 20, 2010). "The Wii Didn't Start The Fire". Kotaku.
  15. ^ "5 populares canciones que la publicidad transformó en jingles". November 20, 2014.
  16. ^ "Sgt. Shlokers Magical History Tour (1993 Album)".
  17. ^ Drucker, Adam (April 22, 2010). "We've got a strong desire". Retrieved March 6, 2017 – via YouTube.
  18. ^ "'Russell Howard's Good News' Cancer song".
  19. ^ Kurp, Josh (May 24, 2013). "'We Didn't Start The Viral' Is A Musical Recap Of YouTube's Greatest Hits". UPROXX Web Culture. UPROXX.com. Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  20. ^ "Milo Greene covers Billy Joel". Retrieved May 25, 2013.
  21. ^ Avengers: Endgame Cast Sings "We Didn't Start the Fire". YouTube. April 22, 2019.
  22. ^ https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/aug/01/indie-podcast-gems-you-might-have-missed
  23. ^ https://www.newsday.com/amp/entertainment/music/billy-joel/billy-joel-we-didnt-start-the-fire-podcast-1.50131901
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  28. ^ "Top RPM Adult Contemporary: Issue 9824." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  29. ^ "Top RPM Singles: Issue 5106." RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  30. ^ "Eurochart – Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music and Media. worldradiohistory.com: V. November 25, 1989. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  31. ^ "European Airplay Top 50" (PDF). Music and Media. worldradiohistory.com: III. November 11, 1989. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  32. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Billy Joel – We Didn't Start The Fire" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  33. ^ "Playlist Report" (PDF). Music and Media. worldradiohistory.com: II. January 20, 1990. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  34. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Billy Joel". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  35. ^ Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970–2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
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  37. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Billy Joel – We Didn't Start The Fire" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  38. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Playlist Report" (PDF). Music and Media. worldradiohistory.com: II. November 11, 1989. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  39. ^ "Charts.nz – Billy Joel – We Didn't Start The Fire". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  40. ^ "Billy Joel: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  41. ^ "Billy Joel Chart History (Adult Contemporary)". Billboard. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  42. ^ "Billy Joel Chart History (Hot 100)". Billboard. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  43. ^ "Billy Joel Chart History (Mainstream Rock)". Billboard. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  44. ^ "Billy Joel Chart History (Rock Digital Song Sales)". Billboard. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  45. ^ "Billy Joel Chart History (Rock Streaming Songs)". Billboard. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  46. ^ "1989 ARIA Singles Chart". ARIA. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  47. ^ "Jaaroverzichten 1989: Singles" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved August 4, 2020.
  48. ^ "Canada RPM Top Singles of 1989". Retrieved August 9, 2010.
  49. ^ "Top 100 Hit Tracks of 1990". RPM. Retrieved November 26, 2017.
  50. ^ "Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts". GfK Entertainment (in German). offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved March 18, 2021.
  51. ^ Nielsen Business Media, Inc (December 22, 1990). "1990 The Year in Music & Video: Top Pop Singles". Billboard. 102 (51): YE-14.
  52. ^ "Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart". Billboard. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
  53. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1990 Singles" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
  54. ^ "Canadian single certifications – Billy Joel – We Didn't Start the Fire". Music Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
  55. ^ "British single certifications – Billy Joel – We Didn't Start the Fire". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  56. ^ "American single certifications – Billy Joel – We Didn't Start the Fire". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved October 4, 2019.

External links[]

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