Fall Out Boy really will be remembered for centuries with their most recent content release. But for all the wrong reasons. Two-time Grammy Nominee American rock band Fall Out Boy consists of four members— lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Patrick Stump, bassist Pete Wentz, drummer Andy Hurley, and lead guitarist Joe Trohman. Their second studio album, ‘From Under The Cork Tree’ was a huge success and had their popularity skyrocketing with its hit tracks “Sugar, We’re Goin Down” and “Dance, Dance”.
Fall Out Boy has since had a beyond-successful music career, clinching award after award. As of July this year, the band has put out eight studio albums, with their most recent one being ‘So Much (for) Stardust’, an album with thirteen tracks that was released on March 24th this year.
Fall Out Boy recently went viral with their release of a cover of Billy Joel’s hit track “We Didn’t Start The Fire” with updated lyrics. They altered the song to fit in with music listeners today. Seems harmless, right? Well, the boys did not receive the most positive reactions from their audiences and were criticized by many for their execution of the cover version. Nevertheless, there were still listeners that expressed how amazing it was to see a renewed version of a legendary track and that the cover was iconic.
The boys knew the cover would be a hit or miss, and it was, unfortunately, a miss for the most part. Keep scrolling to watch their version of Billy Joel’s hit song and how the masses responded!
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Fall Out Boy’s ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ Cover With Updated Lyrics Sparked Mixed Reactions
Fall Out Boy, earlier this week, put out announcements regarding the release of their cover of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start The Fire.”
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2. So much has happened in the span of the last 34 years- we felt like a little system update might be fun. Hope you like our take on it…https://t.co/tR26yYzC1y pic.twitter.com/APbwcdg0Ip
— Fall Out Boy (@falloutboy) June 28, 2023
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There’s not a single millennial who has not heard the original. A majority of Gen-Z kids have heard it too at least once or twice in passing. The song was and still is legendary due to its content, concept, and structure. Although it was criticized due to it not being up to the mark musically, many loved the concept of a one-of-a-kind list song like Joel’s. It listed more than a hundred groundbreaking events from 1948 to 1989. It was nominated for a Grammy for Record of the Year and even reached number one on the United States Billboard Hot 100 in late 1989.
Now, after the passing of three decades, Fall Out Boy updated the lyrics to include events from 1989 to 2023. Pete Wentz from the band revealed that he had been trying to get the band to do the cover for a long time and that they did it after it was finally approved by the lead vocalist Patrick Stump.
“I remember listening to the original when I was little, and I was like, ‘I don’t know what half this stuff is,’” said Pete, saying that he looked up all the references in the song and had thought about what could be included if it was a song from this era. He lightheartedly told everyone that it was just a “fun, goofy thing” that they put together.
The song contained references to many significant events and moments like Arab Spring, Harry Potter, Twilight, Michael Jackson’s death, Brexit, Kanye West, Meghan Markle, Shinzo Abe’s Death, Taylor Swift, Queen Elizabeth’s death, Tiger King, George Floyd and loads more, although less than the number Billy Joel had in his song. Another difference is that Fall Out Boy’s events are not in chronological order, unlike Billy’s.
Take a look at the entire music video below!
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A limited edition 7″ vinyl of “We Didn’t Start The Fire” is available for fans to pre-order on Fall Out Boy’s website.
Now, the reactions to the song were like the two poles of the Earth. No lukewarm reactions whatsoever! One faction of listeners absolutely loathed the song while the other worshipped it.
One listener commented that the song was an abomination, while others slammed the cover for not being in chronological order. “Are you telling me Fall Out Boy made an updated We Didn’t Start The Fire, except they missed the point about the events needing to be chronological and instead they just plugged in whatever rhymed,” is what a commenter pointed out while criticizing the newly released cover.
Many made comments similar to this, and some even said that it was disrespectful to rhyme George Floyd with Metroid. Many agreed with Owen S. Good’s comment that described it as “tasteless.” A majority of listeners were unhappy primarily due to the lack of Covid-19 references in the song. Having been one of the most groundbreaking periods from the last few decades, it was surprising to many that the band had chosen to ignore it in their songwriting.
Evidently, the cover did not impress many. However, some seem to love it, saying that the fact that everything is out of order and that it bothers so many people is the perfect touch. They said that it is the perfect cover since it correlates to the chaos that everyone has felt during all the various events. One commenter called the cover a fantastic one saying that although they had always appreciated the song, Fall Out Boy’s update finally made them feel the hype that previous generations must have felt listening to the original.
Billy Joel himself has not commented on the cover yet but he has spoken about his version of the song quite a bit before. He said that the one time he didn’t write the music first was for ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ and that he thinks it shows because according to him, it’s terrible musically and is like a mosquito buzzing around one’s head.
In reaction to the negative response, Wentz from Fall Out Boy has spoken about how the band did it for the fun of it and even spoke about omitting the pandemic from the lyrics. “I think our biggest omission was a Covid reference,” Wentz said, “and we debated it, but we leave that to the next generation’s update!” The band had spoken about the possible response they would receive about the song before they were slammed for it. Wentz had said that even if it didn’t appeal to the people, he would still be happy with what they had created.
All this really goes to show that art is subjective. And that people on Twitter are mean and in no way possess a filter. This cover will go down as a terrible remake in the minds of many but may remain in others’ hearts as an amazingly fresh take on a legendary old song!
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