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Prince and George Floyd in "We Didn't Start the Fire" remake

Fall Out Boy
Fall Out BoyPamela Littky

by Reed Fischer

June 28, 2023

“We Didn’t Start the Fire” was ubiquitous in 1989. The song became one of Billy Joel’s biggest hits, and something that school kids would try to memorize and unwittingly belt out things like “JFK blown away, what else do I have to say!”

With its barrage of pop culture references, Joel’s increasingly exasperated phrasing, and a hook that seemed to go “on and on and on and on” the song earned its own — many would say infamous — place in music history. Need a refresher?

But now, the Chicago pop-punk group Fall Out Boy has added a new chapter to this listicle-turned-song. In a series of Tweets, the band has announced “A Fall Out Boy Cover of the Billy Joel Song ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ Covering Newsworthy Items From 1989 - 2023.”

For the Minnesota angle, both “George Floyd” and “Prince and the Queen die” are lines in this rapid-fire series of no-context topics. The Genius lyrics page for the song lit up with activity today.

Did the events you believe to be most significant from the past 34 years make it into this version? Only one way to find out.