Hear Fall Out Boy’s Updated Take on ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’ That Covers 1989 to 2023

Andy Greene
·2 min read
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Fall-Out-Boys-New-We-Didnt-Start-The-Fire - Credit: Pamela Littky*
Fall-Out-Boys-New-We-Didnt-Start-The-Fire - Credit: Pamela Littky*

One week after kicking off their So Much (for) Stardust tour at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, Fall Out Boy have shared an updated version of “We Didn’t Start The Fire.” The Billy Joel original covers world history from 1949 to 1989, and Fall Out Boy’s new take continues the story from 1989 to the present, tackling everything from Balloon Boy and Harry Potter to Trump’s two impeachments, Brexit, George Floyd, and Sandy Hook. Check out a lyric video right here.

Unlike the Billy Joel original, Fall Out Boy don’t run through the events in chronological order. It begins with the Captain Planet cartoon series in 1990, jumps to the Arab Spring in 2010, the L.A. Riots in 1992, and the police assault on Rodney King in 1991. As the song continues, it touches on seismic global events (Brexit, the death of Queen Elizabeth, the nuclear accident in Fukushima, Japan), pop culture artifacts (Michael Keaton’s Batman, Twilight, Iron Man, SpongeBob Square Pants), and music moments (My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade, Woodstock 99).

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In a mirror of Joel’s “Rock and roller, cola wars/I can’t take it anymore,” Patrick Stump sings, “Bush v Gore/I can’t take it anymore.” Joel pinpoints the assassination of President Kennedy as a pivotal moment (“JFK – blown away, what else do I have to say?), and Fall Out Boy understandably focus on September 11 (“World Trade – Second plane/What else do I have to say?”).

Fall Out Boy will spend much of the summer on the road in support of So Much (for) Stardust. Opening acts Alkaline Trio, New Found Glory, Four Years Strong, The Academy Is…, Royal & The Serpent, Games We Play, Daisy Grenade, and Carr will join them at various points along the way. Guitarist Joe Trohman sat out the promotional tour for the album earlier this year to focus on his mental health, but he rejoined the group last month.

Billy Joel has yet to welcome Fall Out Boy onto his Madison Square Garden residency stage, but this new cover of “We Didn’t Start The Fire” is a perfect opportunity to make that happen. He can play his original, they can follow it up with their own rendition, and 74 years of history will fly by in about ten minutes.

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