"Oklahoma City bomb, Kurt Cobain, Pokémon, Tiger Woods, MySpace, Monsanto GMOs": Fall Out Boy update Billy Joel's We Didn't Start The Fire, revisit 34 years of history and pop culture

(Image credit: Barry Brecheisen/Getty Images)

Fall Out Boy have released a cover of Billy Joel's 1989 hit We Didn't Start The Fire, with their updated lyrics about numerous culturally significant moments from across the past 34 years.

Where the original song tackles world history from 1949 to 1989, the emo rockers' new version continues where Joel left off, exploring newsworthy events from 1989 all the way to the present day.

Within their newly updated lyrics, Fall Out Boy reference everything from today's concerns about AI technology such as deep fakes, to historical moments in politics such as Donald Trump's double impeachment, to popular television programmes, such as Stranger Things, Twilight, Harry Potter and SpongeBob SquareParents.

The Chicago quartet don't bother putting their references in chronological order, unlike the original, and kick off with a mention of the 1990 animated series Captain Planet, immediately jump to 2010's anti-government protests of Arab Spring, before moving on to the L.A. Riots in 1992 and beyond.

“I thought about this song a lot when I was younger,” FOB bassist Pete Wentz says of the cover. “All these important people and events- some that disappeared into the sands of time- others that changed the world forever. So much has happened in the span of the last 34 years- we felt like a little system update might be fun. Hope you like our take on it…”

Listen to the track and read the full lyrics below:

Captain Planet
Arab Spring
LA Riots Rodney King
Deep fakes
Earthquakes
Iceland volcano
Oklahoma City bomb
Kurt Cobain
Pokémon
Tiger Woods
MySpace
Monsanto GMOs

Harry Potter
Twilight
Michael Jackson dies
Nuclear accident Fukushima Japan
Crimean peninsula
Cambridge analytica
Kim Jong Un
Robert Downey Jr Iron Man

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it but we’re trying to fight it

More war in Afghanistan
Cubs go all the way again
Obama
Spielberg
Explosion Lebanon
Unabomber
Bobbit, John
Bombing Boston marathon
Balloon Boy
War on terror
Qanon

Trump gets impeached twice
Polar bears got no ice
Fyre fest
Black Parade
Michael Phelps
Y2K
Boris Johnson
Brexit
Kanye West
Taylor Swift
Stranger Things
Tiger King
Ever given suez

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it but we’re trying to fight it

Sandy Hook
Columbine
Sandra Bland and Tamir Rice
ISIS
Lebron James
Shinzo Abe blown away
Meghan Markle
George Floyd
Burj Khalifa
Metroid
Fermi paradox
Venus and Serena

Michael Jordan 23
YouTube killed MTV
Spongebob
Golden State Killer caught
Michael Jordan 45
Woodstock ‘99
Keaton Batman
Bush v Gore
I can’t take it anymore

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
No we didn’t light it but we’re trying to fight it

Elon Musk
Kaepernick
Texas failed electric grid
Jeff Bezos
Climate change
White rhino goes extinct
Great pacific garbage patch
Tom DeLonge and aliens
Mars rover
Avatar
Self-driving electric cars
S-S-S-R-Is
Prince and the Queen die
World Trade
Second plane
What else do I have to say?

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning
We didn’t start the fire
But when we are gone
It will still burn on, and on, and on
And on, and on, and on, and on, and on

We didn’t start the fire
It was always burning since the world’s been turning

Artists

Liz manages Louder's social media channels and works on keeping the sites up to date with the latest news from the world of rock and metal. Prior to joining Louder as a full time staff writer, she completed a Diploma with the National Council for the Training of Journalists and received a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music Journalism. She enjoys writing about anything from neo-glam rock to stoner, doom and progressive metal, and loves celebrating women in music.