We Didn't Start The Fire

edsel is a no-go

AIDS/Crack is pretty great

Actually, I think that's a Front Line Assembly B-side. xpost to myself.

Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz
may have the best rhyme, but i think i'm voting Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dancron

Moonshot, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock

I mean, this line alone is like 1969-77 (sure, you could argue that punk started earlier, but the next line begins with Begin, who became prime minister in 1977 and is probably in there for his role at the Camp David Accords of 1978, anyway).

Chubby Checker/Psycho is great because in the real song, you hear the Hitchcock strings for a second or two and it makes the song even scarier.

It's kind of astonishing when you look at the lyrics and remember the awful awful music to which they are set.

I can't believe I've never done this at karaoke yet. I did "Modern Woman" a month ago, though!

I think we've all done modern woman.

Buddy Holly, Ben Hur, Space Monkey, Mafia

^^^^^

yeah where's the shred solo? after JFK, right?

I went for "J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say". It's cheap and lazy, like the rest of the song.

Who will be the asshole who creates the "American Pie" poll?

isn't it a keyboard solo/breakdown?

keyboards can shred dogg!

TRUE^^^^^^^

Now I wish I could vote for the guitar fill that follows "thalidomide"

x-post!

U2, Syngman Rhee, payola and Kennedy

i wish i had speakers at work, i would do nothing for the rest of the day except listen to this song/watch the video

Who will be the asshole who creates the "American Pie" poll?

This sounds like a dare!

British Beatlemania

The first time I heard this song was at the barber shop. I was 10 years old and thought that it was like the best thing ever. "He's just saying random stuff!"

the doubling of the "ands" in line 6 is rather awkward

I totally owned Storm Front back in elementary school

shit was deep

I wish I could change my screen name to "Space Monkey Mafia".

da croupier, it's cool. i too, once sailed the cheesy seas on the Downeaster Alexa.

"Santayana goodbye" always gave me a lol/fantasy of killing Joel.

LOVE the "Get a Life" episode where Chris Elliott is stuck upside down on rollercoaster for hours, making up new verses to this.

If I had the know-how I'd do a dub remix of the song, slowing the vocal waaaaaaaay down. The vocal is pretty monotonous so I bet it would scare small kids etc.

I wish I could change my screen name to "Space Monkey Mafia".

Sweet sugar cane, on my brain
I don't wanna, I don't wanna Go insane

Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland

Is this one of those "one of these things is not like the other" tests?

marilyn MONROE

doo doo doo doo doo doo doo

I really wanna do a "second verse of Kid Rock's American Bad Ass" poll now

This is one of the most insidious songs ever written, isn't it.

correct. the question is: is it worse than Piano Man? I say yes.

I'm sure this got Billy a history chair at Nassau Community College

I'm amazed he hasn't written a sequel yet.

after this and But Seriously, boomers lost the script on some MTV Unplugged shit. They stopped trying to stop the fire, and I'll never forgive them.

Who will be the asshole who creates the "American Pie" poll?

-- John Justen, Wednesday, 31 October 2007 19:37

My Sociology of Pop Music professor spent 1.5 hours going over EVERY SINGLE REFERENCE in the song today.

more like Suckiology of Pop Music

The time between The End Of The Innocence and that fucking Eagles Hell Freezes Over? THAT was the death of music that mattered.

Ever since posting this, I have been humming "doo doo-doo-doo doo-doo DOO" to myself.

If I had the know-how I'd do a dub remix of the song, slowing the vocal waaaaaaaay down. The vocal is pretty monotonous so I bet it would scare small kids etc.

-- Euler, Wednesday, October 31, 2007 7:43 PM (12 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

screw and chop this shit and it would be probably something amazing

Anthony, how are you not voting for Rock and Roller cola wars? You bring that up at least once a month.

ha i never realized "Richard Nixon back again" was a callback to a Nixon mention in the first verse

Why did the lyrics stop before the mid 80s?

this is one of at least four or five songs that has my name in it

where is "I hate this song and I want to die" option

DEEEEEEEY lin
BUUUUUUUHR lin

would nixon have appreciated being mentioned twice?

next up, a version of this that lists all of the influencers that got cancelled between 2018-2023

I don’t even recognize some of the shit in the Fall Out Boy version. Like why is some guy from Blink 182 name checked?

AI has done the impossible. It made me respect this song.

AI didn't start the fire, Eric H

AI CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE

Confirmed recently that I still know every single word to this song. You can take the girl outta Long Island etc etc.

this was shopped around to multiple bands, right?

Barenaked Ladies passed

The pitch email was redirected to Smash Mouth's spam folder.

Post Malone was approached but he hit the guy before he could finish talking

20. It’s also very funny that My Chemical Romance’s album The Black Parade is deemed worthy of inclusion on this list.

21. Not gonna lie, at least one person at Slate very nervously asked if “Black Parade” was a ham-handed reference to Black Lives Matter.

Cf. Amy Winehouse, back 2 black lives matter

Like why is some guy from Blink 182 name checked?

― Alito Bit of Soap (President Keyes), Thursday, June 29, 2023 6:33 AM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

because area 51

Area 51 is Billy Joel territory

Did Blink 182 play a show there?

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/26/science/tom-delonge-ufo-research.html

Oh. How did I miss this significant event from the past 30 years

Dr Disrespect is banned, "jet fuel can't melt steal beams, mannn"
Rockapella, Miles Teller
Morrow has no head

No one warned Duke Ferdinand
Humankind just learned to stand
Jesus died, people cried
Guy from Matlock's dead

Mose makes the sea divide
Cleopatra suicide
A dinosaur took a bath
somebody invented math

Moses

Is there a version of this song with only "JFK blown away" as lyrics

Perhaps not, Neanderthal, but we will always have "suckin on chili dogs."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QX57aIDbDU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GP6jDp5oN8

Okay I see that and raise you with

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K4oym9Pw48

Update? It's been done.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTOBvGzurxA

Seems like they missed a shot by not using something like "DeSantis Hey, Don't Say 'Gay', What Else Do I Have To Say?"

(I'm sure I just ruined my YouTube recommendation algorithm by searching for that video.)

Hideous Lump, thank you for posting this important corrective

I am sure we will all reflect on its messaging and totally change our minds now

I take it back, the revised chorus is actually quite a feat

(Chorus)
We didn't start the fire, but it's burning brighter,
From crisis to crisis, in this world we're living,
Through the chaos and the pain, we'll rise again,
Together we'll ignite, a future shining bright.

Needs a Soviet Childrens' Choir

The video to The 1975’s Love It If We Made It was already a modern-day update of this song, kinda.