Originally published at: Fall Out Boy re-wrote "We Didn't Start the Fire" for 1989-2023 | Boing Boing
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the Long Islander’s lengthy list of no-longer-current-events for which the Boomers claim no culpability.
As a Gen Xer I truly loathe the Billy Joel original. This is great.
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As a Gen-Xer I truly loath the Billy Joel original. And this. And any future update of this horrible horrible song.
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I don’t think it’s an update so much as it is a parody.
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Well, it’s a boomer song for sure, and they’ve just made it a millennial song… I think a gen x song would focus on the second CW era (basically Carter to the end of the CW)…
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My college World History class used this song as the final exam. You had to explain the relevance and context of each line, scoring better the more you got right.
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Billy Joel listed off the stuff his (our) generation inherited, absolving himself of blame. Fall Out Boy listed all the matches Billy Joel’s (our) generation did light. And in 40 years someone else will blame Fall Out Boy’s generation for their yet-uncommitted crimes.
I can’t tell if it’s a parody trying to mock Billy Joel, a biting commentary on the futility of blaming a generation for failing to keep individuals from committing global crimes, or genuinely self-unaware hubris.
But it sounds like the third.
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I take it as the first. I can’t see them being unaware of what they were doing or how widely hated this song is in form and content by anyone under age 60. But I certainly acknowledge that it’s unclear.
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Odd to think that in 49 years, the Trump Kerfuffle* will be as relevant to the Class of 2072, as Watergate is to the current generation.
*FFS, I Hope that this true.
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I had a similar assignment for my Western Civ I students, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Identify and analyze the historical parts they got right. Fun stuff. I also did a “What’s the historical accuracy in Civilization III” for a couple semesters.
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Well, I guess I am in the minority as a Gen Xer who liked the original. More so as a pop song, less so when analyzing the substance.
I guess I am neutral to this? As a pop song, it’s an OK cover. If intended as a parody, it sorta is? Some off the parts seem really shoved in their just to get them to rhyme.
Like instead of Metroid with George Floyd, I’d have gone with something like “Armstrong’s 'roids”.
But hey, if the purpose of it was parody, then too much thought would ruin it. Though I am not convinced this is intended as parody, but more of an irreverent cover. Trying to be both deep and “eh, I don’t really care” at the same time.
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I think it’s a fourth thing: I think the members of Fall Out Boy have accepted their status as a pop band designed for mass entertainment, and just said “Fuck it, this would be a funny hit” and did it. Pop driving trollies.
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Probably! It certainly pays the bills more than being an underground punk band ever did…
I’m sure they were aware it would get people talking, so…
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“My generation will put it right,” sang Phil Collins.
They didn’t, and now here’s another band “raising awareness.” Yay.
We know things are shit, lads. We’re Gen X.
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I didn’t start it, and frankly we don’t need it to keep warm any more, but it does keep the animals escaping to new habitats away from us.
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Yikes. Musically it’s fine cover. But the lyrics are a mess.
FOB’s version is not chronological, which was a big deal with the original. And the lengths they went to in order to rhyme…
“Bobbit, John”. Really? What a chop job.
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