This week’s challenge is to sort historical events by which version of ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ they appeared in. It helps to remember that Billy Joel recorded his version in 1989, while Fall Out Boy’s is from 2023.
https://www.sporcle.com/games/nilking23/it-was-always-burning-since-the-worlds-been-turning
I listened to a lot of Billy Joel in my early teens, so I nailed it with 20/20.
The song gets a bit of crap, but I am impressed by Joel’s ability to arrange events chronologically and make them rhyme.
1953
Joseph Stalin, Malenkov,
Nasser and Prokofiev,
Rockefeller, Campanella, Communist Bloc
1954
Roy Cohn,
Juan Peron,
Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock
On the other hand, I agree with Joel that it’s not exciting musically:
I started doing that as a mental exercise. I had turned forty. It was 1989, and I said, “Okay, what’s happened in my life? I wrote down the year 1949… It was kind of a mind game. [It’s] one of the few times I’ve written the lyrics first, which should be obvious to why I usually prefer to write the music first, because the melody is horrendous. It’s like a mosquito droning. It’s one of the worst melodies I’ve ever written. I kind of like the lyric though.
Billy Joel
Congratulations to Max, who scored the only 25/25 in last week’s Who sang it first quiz.
I think my favourite song this year is one I haven’t covered in my new album releases column. It’s Chappell Roan’s ‘The Giver’, where she embraces mainstream country, and it somehow works beautifully.
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Even tough I’m not a millennial, I much prefer the fall out boy version. In fact I listen to it quite a lot. In the same way I prefer manfred Mans bilided over the Boss’. Or Hendrix Watchtower. Sometimes a second opinion is the tonic.
I think I’m team Joel – I like how he fastidiously chronologised his lyrics. Fall Out Boy’s arrangement is less dated though.
Also I need to point out that the first FOB version had footage of Venus and Serena. But then Someone made them blur it out. I don’t see the point in this, but whatever.
You’d think you’d generally get away with a quick clip – but I have no idea how copyright law works.
Score
20/20
Timer
00:59 I guessed on two..most were the time periods…
Perfect score!
19/20
Great job.
16/20
Good job – thanks for playing.
🙂
20/20 with 2:07 on the timer and the song now firmly rooted in my head for the rest of the day
Great job. And you’re welcome!
I listened to that Streets of Philadelphia record today – seems quite a bit better than his two early 1990s records.
It certainly feels less over-produced and a little more confident in its voice than that pair.
Also enjoying the Chappell Roan song – I don’t think she’s an act that would normally sit within my wheelhouse but I’ve not heard something from her that I haven’t enjoyed so far
Roan has Dan Nigro in her corner – he’s behind a lot of great pop/rock in the last decade.
10/20 lol…
Maybe it’s a badge of honour not knowing those cheesy songs.
hahaha… I will take that!
19/20… so close. I didn’t even know there was a Fall Out Boy version!
I don’t think I’ve actually heard it – it got a bit of mocking press coverage when it came out.