29 votes

Fall Out Boy - We Didn't Start the Fire (2023)

24 comments

  1. [3]
    Ruin
    Link
    Absolute banger. In 8th grade my history teacher had everyone from the class pick a topic from the original to do a presentation on, that was a load of fun as a kid. I wonder if some current...

    Absolute banger. In 8th grade my history teacher had everyone from the class pick a topic from the original to do a presentation on, that was a load of fun as a kid. I wonder if some current teacher will do the same with their class.

    12 votes
    1. Jdtunn
      Link Parent
      I don't remember what grade it was, but in one of my high school history classes, we spent a couple days breaking the original song down and going over all the events mentioned. This is kind of a...

      I don't remember what grade it was, but in one of my high school history classes, we spent a couple days breaking the original song down and going over all the events mentioned.

      This is kind of a perfect song that can easily be updated every couple decades, so I imagine it might carry on far longer than most songs.

      5 votes
    2. elight
      Link Parent
      Ha! Must be the same age.

      Ha! Must be the same age.

  2. Jdtunn
    Link
    Fallout boy updated the lyrics to the classic Billy Joel song with updated, more current, lyrics.

    Fallout boy updated the lyrics to the classic Billy Joel song with updated, more current, lyrics.

    8 votes
  3. [11]
    MsPiggleWiggle
    Link
    That was great... and depressing...! Good job on the video, too, but I'm sometimes partial to the ones that prominently/mainly feature the written words, for example also like Dylan's Subterranean...

    That was great... and depressing...! Good job on the video, too, but I'm sometimes partial to the ones that prominently/mainly feature the written words, for example also like Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues video.

    What's another best song from Fall Out Boy?

    4 votes
    1. [2]
      smiles134
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      Fall Out Boy's Take This to Your Grave album from 2003 is imo the quintessential Pop Punk album, which influenced so many bands. From Under the Cork Tree (2005) I think was more widely celebrated,...

      Fall Out Boy's Take This to Your Grave album from 2003 is imo the quintessential Pop Punk album, which influenced so many bands. From Under the Cork Tree (2005) I think was more widely celebrated, but Take This to Your Grave was their first full length and hits that sweet spot of Pop Punk lyrics/themes and more punk-leaning instrumentals.

      I sort of fell off of them after Infinity on High (2007), though a lot of people think that's their best album.

      Songs to check out from each of those three:

      TTTYG

      • Dead on Arrival
      • Saturday
      • Grand Theft Autumn
      • Chicago is So Two Years Ago

      From Under the Cork Tree:

      • Nobody Puts Baby in the Corner
      • I Slept With Someone in Fall Out Boy and All I Got Was This Stupid Song Written About Me
      • Sugar, We're Going Down
      • A Little Less Sixteen Candles, A Little More "Touch Me"

      Infinity on High:

      • thnks fr th mmrs
      • Hum Hallelujah
      • Golden (very different from the others here)
      • Bang the Doldrums

      I think you'll probably be able to tell how the band's sound changed pretty dramatically by this stretch already, as they were beginning to lean into big arrangements and radio friendly pop-slanted songs. For someone who was getting way more into heavier music at this point, it was easy for me to move on from the band which had been my favorite for years.

      Edit: I'll add that I still listen to TTTYG and From Under the Cork Tree front to back to this day, but I haven't listened to all of Infinity on High in probably 10 years

      8 votes
      1. TheBeardedSingleMalt
        Link Parent
        I could put FUTCT into my car stereo and listen to it for a month at a time. It even inspired a movie I tried to write called "The Cure to Growing Older"

        I could put FUTCT into my car stereo and listen to it for a month at a time. It even inspired a movie I tried to write called "The Cure to Growing Older"

        3 votes
    2. [8]
      Jdtunn
      Link Parent
      I mean, the original song is also depressing in much the same way. Is this your introduction to Fallout Boy? If so, I'd recommend checking out Thnks fr th Mmrs and Dance, Dance. They're by far my...

      I mean, the original song is also depressing in much the same way.

      What's another best song from Fall Out Boy?

      Is this your introduction to Fallout Boy? If so, I'd recommend checking out Thnks fr th Mmrs and Dance, Dance. They're by far my favorite songs of theirs, but I've not hears a Fallout Boy song I haven't liked, if not loved.

      3 votes
      1. [3]
        MsPiggleWiggle
        Link Parent
        Yup, you're introducing me to a new band! I was familiar with the original version of this song because it played nonstop on the radio when it came out. It had positive mixed in -- vaccine,...

        Yup, you're introducing me to a new band!

        I was familiar with the original version of this song because it played nonstop on the radio when it came out. It had positive mixed in -- vaccine, Marilyn Monroe, the South Pacific musical, TVs and Studebakers, Einstein, Elvis, Disneyland.... and the negative things largely Cold War era leaders/things (the Rosenbergs, Communist Bloc, Khruschchev, Bay of Pigs, JFK assassination, Ho Chi Minh, Nixon and Reagan) at the very end of that era. This new version seems to have fewer positives, but what do you think?

        I'm off to listen to those two other songs...

        4 votes
        1. Tmbreen
          Link Parent
          I think this one does have fewer positives, but a lot more entertainment and memes, ie SpongeBob, Metroid, Evergiven Suez. I prefer the original just cause I feel it is a bit more focused and...

          I think this one does have fewer positives, but a lot more entertainment and memes, ie SpongeBob, Metroid, Evergiven Suez. I prefer the original just cause I feel it is a bit more focused and feels like it has more emotion and meaning behind it.

          2 votes
        2. ColorUserPro
          Link Parent
          If I could also recommend their album Folie a Deux, it came out after the other songs you've been recommended and hallmarked a hiatus that they broke with their new sound in 2013. Coffee's For...

          If I could also recommend their album Folie a Deux, it came out after the other songs you've been recommended and hallmarked a hiatus that they broke with their new sound in 2013. Coffee's For Closers and I Don't Care are imo the two standouts that, if you want to hear more, could certainly be quality picks.

          1 vote
      2. [4]
        smiles134
        Link Parent
        It's Fall Out Boy, btw, not Fallout Boy. They may have based their name off the Simpsons character, but they've always stylized it as three words and not two

        It's Fall Out Boy, btw, not Fallout Boy. They may have based their name off the Simpsons character, but they've always stylized it as three words and not two

        4 votes
        1. [3]
          Jdtunn
          Link Parent
          You are absolutely correct. My brain is having an off day today.

          You are absolutely correct. My brain is having an off day today.

          2 votes
          1. [2]
            cfabbro
            Link Parent
            Fixed title and tags. cc: @smiles134

            Fixed title and tags. cc: @smiles134

            3 votes
            1. Jdtunn
              Link Parent
              Thanks. Couldn't figure out how to modify the title, and got pulled away from my desk before I could fix the tags

              Thanks. Couldn't figure out how to modify the title, and got pulled away from my desk before I could fix the tags

              1 vote
  4. SnakeJess
    Link
    This has never been one of my favorite songs but I never disliked it. It does hit a bit different when it's hitting such recent events though. As was the intent I'm sure.

    This has never been one of my favorite songs but I never disliked it. It does hit a bit different when it's hitting such recent events though. As was the intent I'm sure.

    4 votes
  5. streblo
    Link
    Offtopic, but speaking of needed covers and pop punk, it’s been 19 years since the release of Bowling For Soup - 1985 which itself was released 19 years after it’s namesake year. Someone please...

    Offtopic, but speaking of needed covers and pop punk, it’s been 19 years since the release of Bowling For Soup - 1985 which itself was released 19 years after it’s namesake year. Someone please mock my nostalgia to some pop punk riffs!

    4 votes
  6. Macha
    Link
    I don't think it hits the same way as the original. I like fall out boy, but: I don't think musically it's as good (I think the original's mixing is way punchier) The original is sequential and...

    I don't think it hits the same way as the original. I like fall out boy, but:

    • I don't think musically it's as good (I think the original's mixing is way punchier)
    • The original is sequential and that helps it drive its point of the escalating problems that this one entirely misses out on with its shuffled order
    • Some of the lyrics felt awkwardly fit into the pace of the music. I guess the original had more scope to adjust both to fit together but this one they're trying to imitate the pace of the original
    4 votes
  7. FastFishLooseFish
    (edited )
    Link
    Pat Finnerty (of What Makes This Song Stink fame) had to do an emergency livestream to handle this dross. Not sure if available outside Patreon yet, but no, the song is not good.

    Pat Finnerty (of What Makes This Song Stink fame) had to do an emergency livestream to handle this dross. Not sure if available outside Patreon yet, but no, the song is not good.

    2 votes
  8. [6]
    Comment removed by site admin
    Link
    1. [4]
      Tmbreen
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      While I do kinda like this, because I feel like we need a new one, I agree. It really should have been chronological too. I feel like this references a few too many memes and is a lot less serious...

      While I do kinda like this, because I feel like we need a new one, I agree. It really should have been chronological too. I feel like this references a few too many memes and is a lot less serious for it.

      Also, That Funny Feeling is fantastic.

      Edit: Just listened to That Funny Feeling again, I do agree that it is in the same vein, but definitely feels way more hopeless and nihilistic than We didn't Start the Fire (original). Still love both, and think that both have more of a message than this new Fall Out Boy one.

      11 votes
      1. [2]
        vivarium
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        Have you listened to The 1975's Love It if We Made It? (Photosensitivity warning for the video though!) It's a little dated by now (2018), but when it came out, it really struck a chord. It's very...

        because I feel like we need a new one

        Have you listened to The 1975's Love It if We Made It? (Photosensitivity warning for the video though!)

        It's a little dated by now (2018), but when it came out, it really struck a chord. It's very zeitgesity, in a mid-Trump-presidency sort of way, and felt v. powerful to listen to. Lots of comparisons to We Didn't Start the Fire at the time? Places like Pitchfork even named it the best song of that year!

        Gosh, even listening back... It's so much more... I don't know, artistic?... Than this Fall Out Boy song? It feels new and fresh and vital, instead of a forced rehash... God I love it.

        5 votes
        1. Tmbreen
          (edited )
          Link Parent
          Just checked out that song, while it's not 100% my style of music I enjoyed it a fair bit. Really wish I had heard it when it came out, that would have been powerful. I did have to pull it up on...

          Just checked out that song, while it's not 100% my style of music I enjoyed it a fair bit. Really wish I had heard it when it came out, that would have been powerful. I did have to pull it up on Spotify just cause the music video is a little hard to hear the lyrics 100% of the time.

          Agreed that it does have more purpose behind it, and artistic value.

          Edit: Its now stuck in my head.

          1 vote
      2. vord
        Link Parent
        As one youtube comment puts it, ending on 9/11 second plane is a solid choice. Everything that America has done since then is at least partially influenced by most of a generation watching a plane...

        As one youtube comment puts it, ending on 9/11 second plane is a solid choice. Everything that America has done since then is at least partially influenced by most of a generation watching a plane fly into a building on live TV.

        3 votes
    2. Jdtunn
      Link Parent
      This is a cover song of the original version by Billy Joel. Same format and everything, just updated events. The original's time frame it covers is 40 years (1949 - 1989). Fall Out Boy just picked...

      This is a cover song of the original version by Billy Joel. Same format and everything, just updated events. The original's time frame it covers is 40 years (1949 - 1989). Fall Out Boy just picked up where billy joel left off.

      4 votes