BILLY JOEL - WE DIDN’T START THE FIRE

Released: September 18, 1989

Charts:  US: #1 (2 weeks) UK: #7 

“We Didn’t Start the Fire” is a historical pop-rock anthem written and performed by Billy Joel, released as a single on September 1989, and featured on his album “Storm Front” (October 17, 1989). The song quickly rose to popularity, hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, making it Joel’s third chart-topping single in the US, and earning a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year. “Storm Front” also became his third No. 1 album in the US.

The song is a list-style, stream-of-consciousness composition, referencing 119 notable events, people, and cultural milestones between 1949—the year of Joel’s birth—and 1989, in roughly chronological order. Events include political upheavals, Cold War tensions, cultural shifts, and scientific breakthroughs. Many references touch on the Cold War, which Joel saw as a generational burden his peers inherited. The song carries a tone of weary reflection. Joel emphasized that it wasn’t an apology or justification for the baby boomer generation, but rather a commentary on the constant state of global unrest.

Joel was inspired to write the song during a conversation with Sean Lennon and a friend who had just turned 21. The friend claimed the 1950s were uneventful, prompting Joel—then nearing 40—to rattle off a list of dramatic events from his lifetime, which became the basis for the song. Joel said, “It’s just a song that says the world’s a mess. It’s always been a mess, it’s always going to be a mess.”

The music video, directed by Chris Blum, mirrors this message through the evolution of a single family in their kitchen from the 1940s to the 1980s. It depicts changing fashion, family dynamics, and generational conflict as a symbolic microcosm of societal transformation, with Joel remaining unchanged in the background, observing the decades pass. The scenes are intercut with powerful imagery from global events, such as assassinations and war footage.

The song had a cultural resurgence on March 11, 2020, amid the chaos of the emerging COVID-19 pandemic. TV writer Matt Warburton tweeted, “Today was like if ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ was a day,” prompting users on Twitter to parody the lyrics with updated events. One viral version, written by therapist Brittany Barkholtz, captured the confusion and intensity of that day with lines referencing Tom Hanks’ COVID diagnosis, travel bans, stock market crashes, and toilet paper shortages.

“We Didn’t Start the Fire” endures as a rapid-fire history lesson, generational commentary, and cultural time capsule, balancing its upbeat rhythm with a poignant reflection on humanity’s ongoing struggles and transitions.