Drop Out Boy supplied a new and up to date get on Billy Joel‘s 1989 heritage-tracking strike “We Did not Start the Fire.” And sugar, it is not goin’ down properly with some enthusiasts.
The pop-punk band produced the deal with Wednesday, announcing on Twitter that the new song handles “newsworthy products from 1989-2023.” The band, fronted by Patrick Stump, mirrored on “all these critical people today and events — some that disappeared into the sands of time — others that changed the environment without end.”
“So much has happened in the span of the final 34 years — we felt like a minimal procedure update might be fun. Hope you like our choose on it…,” the band tweeted.
Drop Out Boy’s consider managed Joel’s catchy guitar melody, but the improvements become distinct once Stump sings the new opening lyrics.
“Captain Planet, Arab Spring / L.A. riots, Rodney King / Deep fakes, earthquakes / Iceland volcano,” he sings. In a different line Stump lists “Meghan Markle, George Floyd / Burj Khalifa, Metroid.”
In contrast to Joel’s original “We Did not Get started the Hearth,” which lists cultural and historical touchstones in chronological purchase, Tumble Out Boy’s variation lumps much more latest functions in the identical traces as people from the ’90s and before. Some listeners took issue with that.
“Big Drop Out Boy supporter below, but for the everyday living of me I really do not have an understanding of why their version of ‘We Did not Start off the Fire’ isn’t chronological,” tweeted reporter Richard Newby.“It’s just 30+ many years of randomly assorted s—.”
“I want to like the Fall Out Boy ‘We Did not Start off the Fire’ address, but it’s not even remotely in any sort of chronological order? Wasn’t that a important aspect of the unique music?” reported content strategist Taryn Fiol Williford.
The song’s composition was not the only bone lovers experienced to pick with Slide Out Boy’s hottest release. Lyrics rhyming the 2020 murder of George Floyd to the online video sport “Metroid,” and a line referring to the 2022 assassination of former Japanese Key Minister Shinzo Abe (“Shinzo Abe blown away”) also caught listeners’ notice.
“[Fall Out Boy] chooses to have some of the most unhinged lyrical juxtapositions I’ve ever heard in a pop song,” tweeted @TheOtherJeff.
Twitter person @Pithy_Remark defended the band’s “We Didn’t Start off the Fire” lyrics but took concern with how the situations were strung with each other. “This could, in fact, be the pretty worst mixture of text in the heritage of human language.”
Author Scott Holleran mentioned Fall Out Boy’s variation “lacks the cultural perception, sharpness and bite” of the unique, while a variety of listeners claimed the deal with was simply “cringe.”
Also receiving a shoutout in the divisive, nonchronological cover ended up Michael Jackson‘s dying, Kim Jong Un, the Kanye West-Taylor Swift feud, Netflix’s “Stranger Things,” the 9/11 tragedy, Elon Musk and antidepressants. Notably missing from the tune was any point out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
When requested about that exclusion, Slide Out Boy bassist and lyricist Pete Wentz reportedly said in an job interview that the pandemic was a person of “a few of items that felt like a minor on the nose.”
“Listen, we did our ideal,” Wentz also said about the deal with, according to Stereogum.
Joel’s unique track served as a time capsule, giving generations of listeners a chunk-sized lesson on present-day American history in just under five minutes. “We Did not Start off the Fire” earned Joel a Grammy nomination and topped the Billboard Very hot 100.
But Joel instructed Billboard in 2009 that “We Didn’t Get started the Fire” was an anomaly in his songwriting process, inspite of its effect on listeners.
“I assume the a single time I did not produce the new music initial was ‘We Did not Start off the Fire’ and I feel it reveals, mainly because it’s horrible musically,” he explained. “It’s like a mosquito buzzing all around your head.”
See much more reactions to Fall Out Boy’s address under.