"we didn't start the fire"

[rae121452]

i just read an article about that billy joel song. it called it one of the worst songs ever, said it consistently makes worst song ever lists and even billy joel has said that it's crap.

i like it. i liked it when it came out, i used to wait for the video on vh1 because i liked that, too. i think calling it one of the worst songs ever is a bit extreme. i mean, how about that version of 'hooked on a feeling' that has the background going 'ooga-chaka, ooga-chaka'? that shit comes on my radio, it makes me want to run my car into a tree just to shut it up.

is 'we didn't start the fire' THAT bad?

 

[RoryN]

All of the "best/worst" articles about music are meant to generate controversy and grab readers. If they appear on social media, they're going for likes and clicks. None of it means anything.

 

[Biggs_Darklighter]

I always liked it.

 

[TJX]

Anybody who thinks we didn’t start the fire is bad has never listened to Devo.

 

[InternationalFunboy]

I don't think it's that bad, and if I had been able to write a sorta rhyme-y historical recollection I'd feel proud of myself. But also I think it's a gimmick song and a nostalgia trip, like Forrest Gump The Musical. I'd rank it better than Ray Steven's entire career, but under Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, or My Dingaling. Monster Mash too.

 

[adrina]

Hated it by the time it was all said and done. My boss at the time loved the song and played it over and over and over. And over.

 

[Biggs_Darklighter]

I saw Joel in concert once way long ago. Like I think it might been Glass Houses long ago. Anyway I remember him being sorta fun but I was young so might have just been a contact high from the very smokey arena. I also remember thinking everyone was old so I was probably around 12 or 13.
Just my Billy Joel story. Sadly it does not involve me fucking Christie Brinkley.

 

[FataMorgana]

Apart from Kate Bush, Billy Joel was the best concert I'd ever been too.

 

[Delawareguy]

Billy Joel was great when he was younger, doing stuff like "Italian Restaurant" and up to "Just The Way You Are". Then he lost it for me and yes, We Didn't Start The Fire might be one of the worst songs ever but better than most anything the Beatles, CCR, Bob Dylan, or Bruce Springsteen ever did.

 

[FataMorgana]

It is a bloody shit song.

 

[Wrong Element]

Billy Joel was great when he was younger, doing stuff like "Italian Restaurant" and up to "Just The Way You Are". Then he lost it for me and yes, We Didn't Start The Fire might be one of the worst songs ever but better than most anything the Beatles, CCR, Bob Dylan, or Bruce Springsteen ever did.

Is this some kind of experiment to determine how wrong it's possible for a statement to be?


BTW: five people mentioned in the lyrics of this song are still living — seven if you credit Paul and Ringo under "British Beatlemania." (I am also assuming the "space monkey" is no longer with us.)

 

[Adre]

Give him a break. Anyone who can write lyrics like Piano Man is entitled to a few misses along the way.

 

[FataMorgana]

Give him a break. Anyone who can write lyrics like Piano Man is entitled to a few misses along the way.

Man, what are you doing here!

 

[Paul_Chance]

i just read an article about that billy joel song. it called it one of the worst songs ever, said it consistently makes worst song ever lists and even billy joel has said that it's crap.

i like it. i liked it when it came out, i used to wait for the video on vh1 because i liked that, too. i think calling it one of the worst songs ever is a bit extreme. i mean, how about that version of 'hooked on a feeling' that has the background going 'ooga-chaka, ooga-chaka'? that shit comes on my radio, it makes me want to run my car into a tree just to shut it up.

is 'we didn't start the fire' THAT bad?

Yes, it is. It's a cute novelty song and I like it...but...the melody is really juvenile and simplistic and the lyrics....aren't. Billy Joel himself describes the melody as "a dentists drill". The lyrics are a simplistic rhyme (and not a good rhyme at that). According to Billy Joel he wrote the song backwards to his normal style - he started with the lyrics and wrote the melody to accompany the lyrics.

It isn't a song in any really sense. It's spoken word poetry (without the cadence of rap), and bad poetry at that. The dentist drill is an accompaniment, not a melody. Technically, it's simply bad.

 

[adrina]

Give him a break. Anyone who can write lyrics like Piano Man is entitled to a few misses along the way.

From what I understand he's not huge on playing that anymore.

There's really only been two songs of his that made me want to commit acts of violence. This one and that River of Dreams nightmare. I have heard them so often that I never need to hear them again. Bear in mind the last time I heard them was in my mid 20s. Yes I heard them both that fucking often.

Hint: Don't abuse your employees with your OCD habits in music so that you subject them to listening to the same song about 40 times a day. He played each of those two songs about 4 times an hour. Yes, that often. It's the same reason I came to hate Elvis Christmas music.

 

[FataMorgana]

From what I understand he's not huge on playing that anymore.

There's really only been two songs of his that made me want to commit acts of violence. This one and that River of Dreams nightmare. I have heard them so often that I never need to hear them again. Bear in mind the last time I heard them was in my mid 20s. Yes I heard them both that fucking often.

Hint: Don't abuse your employees with your OCD habits in music so that you subject them to listening to the same song about 40 times a day. He played each of those two songs about 4 times an hour. Yes, that often. It's the same reason I came to hate Elvis Christmas music.

Aww I love River of Dreams.

 

[FataMorgana]

Me fave Billy track.

https://youtu.be/ATKBaPdVT80

 

[RoryN]

A thread about "We Didn't Start The Fire"...and no mention of "Life Is A Rock"?

https://youtu.be/16kh-AP4OCU

 

[adrina]

Aww I love River of Dreams.

You wouldn't after listening to it four times an hour all day all week all month.... I think it went on for about 3 months before he finally shifted away from it. That's an itch one should scratch in private.

 

[FataMorgana]

You wouldn't after listening to it four times an hour all day all week all month.... I think it went on for about 3 months before he finally shifted away from it. That's an itch one should scratch in private.

I know what you mean. We have a radio in the office now and on this particular station they play Little Mix all the bastard time. Don't like them anyway but now when I hear them I feel violent.

 

[adrina]

I know what you mean. We have a radio in the office now and on this particular station they play Little Mix all the bastard time. Don't like them anyway but now when I hear them I feel violent.

I grew to hate remote control CD players.

 

[Saint Peter]

I don't think it's that bad, and if I had been able to write a sorta rhyme-y historical recollection I'd feel proud of myself. But also I think it's a gimmick song and a nostalgia trip, like Forrest Gump The Musical. I'd rank it better than Ray Steven's entire career, but under Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, or My Dingaling. Monster Mash too.

if you see kay

tell her i love her

 

[Saint Peter]

A thread about "We Didn't Start The Fire"...and no mention of "Life Is A Rock"?

https://youtu.be/16kh-AP4OCU

nice tune!

 

[hobbit.]

Apart from Kate Bush, Billy Joel was the best concert I'd ever been too.

Not a very high bar then.

uptown girl was also a bit, er, well a bit.

 

[Biggs_Darklighter]

Not a very high bar then.

uptown girl was also a bit, er, well a bit.

Yeah but the video was hotness. I really hate that fucking song but to this day I feeling a stirring in the Force when the video comes to mind. Not the sexiest ever but it caught me at the right age and level of horniness to leave an impression.