First Time Reaction - Billy Joel - We Didn't Start the Fire (Official HD Video) 

He starts the song in 1949, the year he was born, through the time he wrote the song. It's a history lesson.

In the 1970's there was a spate of plane hijackings and Russia was in Afghanistan long before America and their allies.

Everything he talks about in this song is history. The fact that so much sounds prophetic and still relevant just shows how we as humans repeat history and further strengthens his premise: we didn't start the fire... It was Always burning since the world was turning. We never learn and we repeat. Our technology progresses, but we still start wars and each generation still blames the generation before it, and belittles and criticizes the generations that come after it... ❤

These are HEADLINES from his life time.

My ex wife had an elective class on pop culture about the time this song blew up. She spoke of an instructor of the class played each bit of history mentioned in the song and assigned each topic to a student so each wrote a paper on each event mentionned by Billy Joel, and the next class each student shared in order what they had written on their assigned segment of "the fire" Billy Joel spoke of In song. Doing so caused all the students to learn about things theyd never studied before where wveryone walked away a bit smarter than before the class started. I just t hought it was so cool to use this song as a teaching tool, and honestly it should still be used as one for younger genertions who should know and learn about the worlds issues and how what they are seeing and a part of now is nothing new and has been ongoing for as long as mankind has been walking the earth and will probably conttinue burning long after each and every one of us are long gone and forgotten. Thanks for reacting to this Cliff, I'm going on 60 years old and this brings back a lot of old memories, from as far back as i can remember all the way up to 1989 when the song dropped. Peace Man. Stay safe.

Billy Joel is one of the best lyricists of all time. He once worked as a piano player in a lounge. He met his wife there while she waitressing and a whole slew of regulars. He wrote 'Piano Man' about those people. You will not be sorry.

The song came about when John Lennon’s son,Sean, and his buddy were complaining to Billy about how tough their generation had it. Billy had just turned 40 and decided on a song that listed all the things that occurred in his 40 years that were not his own generation’s fault. Billy Joel has since then said he doesn’t really like this song, that it was poorly constructed. He’d rather not perform it but audiences demand it. Can you imagine? I have always loved this song. There are schools that teach US modern history based on his lyrics. Have you ever heard Children of Thalidomide? I’m 57 and didn’t know about it until this song.

Basically, every generation had and will have its challenges. No generation "had it easy".

He's not making predictions. History repeates itself when we don't learn the first time.

History for each decade since he was born

9/11/2001 was not the first time a plane was highjacked. The one mentioned here was a plane taken to Entebbe, in Uganda. A holdout ended in a Military Strike. But there were many more even before this. Plus, Afghanistan was invaded by Russia, well the USSR at that time, also in the 80s. The point was, us Baby Boomers didn't start this fire either. As said, "the world's been burning since the world's been turning".

It’s not prophecy, it was history. I was born a year later than Billy Joel. Nothing has really changed all that much, the technology has just gotten more advanced.

This and Land of Confusion by Genesis, history lessons in song. Enjoying your reactions to an eclectic mix of music

I always appreciated that he mentions the thalidomide babies 'children of thalidomide'. Everyone wiped them from memory. I used to babysit one who looked like a fish. He only had flippers for arms and legs and no ears. The birth defects were caused by a prescription drug given to pregnant women to reduce stress during their pregnancy. They pulled the drug but no one was really accountable and the message of drugs on expecting mothers not given its seriousness until much later.

He wrote this song in reply to young people complaining about how hard things are in the 80s. So he started with events from the 40s to the 80s. The fire was burning since the start of time and going to continue to burn until the end of times. All the events happening now are nothing new. It’s important to learn where we’ve been to see where we are going.

Dude, he didn't make predictions he's just spouting history. Just shows how history repeats itself when we don't learn the lessons.

Every single song that Billy Joel sings tells a great story and awesome singing and music!

"Longest Time" by Billy Joel was on repeat in my childhood. I was obsessed 😍

Born in 62. Was there when this song came out...I'm still here. You're right, I could not have imagined what has happened since then.

My son recently found out someone made a sequel to this for MY generation. (Born in 70) & played it for me. It's not bad. But it's NOT this. Joel was a WIZARD with this creation. It's a LONG TIME favorite of mine. It's about the World & important events/subjects that happened in his lifetime.

Fall Out Boy did a 1989-2023 version of this song 🎵

The teachers use this song in my kids history class. Billy Joel wrote this in response to Sean Lennon saying that nothing was happening in history now and that the 80’s were tough. So Billy Joel started with just headline news from when he was born in 1943 highlighting big events in history up through the 80’s. Fall Out Boy updated it a few years ago.

I love this song. I taught myself this song word for word.

I still have this song as a single on cassette. Side Two has Billy Joel talking about it: people saying [to him] "I didn't know U2 was around back then." -- it wasn't. He had to tell them that he's talking about the plane, not the band. ❤🧡💛💚💙💜

Cliff you got to one of my fave songs I had as a young one! Because when I was in Jr High, our teacher had us break this song down and we were in groups of 3. Had to use the library to research what the lyrics was talking about and do a huge paper on it. We used newspapers, encyclopedias, old books, microfilm......it literally was my favorite thing we ever did in school. Kids today would have zero idea what I'm talking about 😂

The message of the song is that “historical events” don’t happen in a vacuum. Everything emerges from what came before. “We didn’t start the fire; it was always burning since the world’s been turning”.

Epic history lesson! Times repeat themselves.

I'm a 60's child. We grew up constantly thinking things were bad. The difference is, now we know they really are!

Well, I think we all feel the way you feel at one time or another in our life! Needless to say, none of us started the fire, but we are expected to put it out one day! There's always hope and where there's hope there is life!

Bravo! You're one of the only reviewers who understands what is happening in the song.

Fun reaction! I hope you see this and check out another Billy, Billy Strings. Specifically the song "Dust in a Baggie" where he is sitting on a couch. It's the video that blew him up like ten years back and a great intro to his music.

My father saw Billy Joel perform in Germany back when the wall was still there

I KNEW you'd love this!!!!

Babe. This song is from his album “Stormfront”. I had this album on cassette. And in that cassette, the lyrics to every song were printed out onto the backing. I took the lyrics to that song, sat down with my Mother and had her explain to me every situation I was not familiar with. (The one I remember confusing me the most was “ children of thalidomide”. Trust me, I should have stayed confused on that one. 😭😭😭) She was able to educate on every. Single. Thing. My Momma ❤️❤️❤️

@4:52 the NVA guy who was executed was an NVA Captain was captured wearing civilian clothes and was a member of an NVA assassination squad. He was not some innocent civilian.

Love it when people who really don't have a clue try to interpret a song 😊

It’s no crazier now than it was then, we just weren’t inundated on a daily basis with it…

Appreciate your perspective ❤

Read the lyrics and you'll see that each item is a person, item, or event from that year. As others have said, it's a history lesson (and an amazingly written one at that).

Billy Joel could make a 60 minute long song just covering the last 4 years

He had just turned 40yrs old, talking with Sean Lennon 20yrs old, who said things are worse than the 50's so he wrote this song about the first 40yrs of his life from 1949-1989. These happened in those 40yrs.

He's not talking about the U.S. specifically. This is how the world has always been on fire and we constantly just trying to keep it under control. It's not any different today as it was then.

It's a history lesson in a song

Heard that song couple hundred times but never realized how specific he was on major events. 2001 11 september... The warnings been there since the 70's mostly.

My history teacher when I was a teenager used this song to teach during two weeks. Seeing what we already knew and then studying what we didn’t. I do not live in the USA or UK so some things were a bit difficult to understand. But I loved those two weeks. So different from normal lessons.

MY FAV song

Can’t beat Billy Joel! Pick almost any song and you won’t be disappointed. Somebody from the UK rewrote this song and called it “We Didn’t Own an iPad”. It’s really good, especially if you grew up in the 70s/80s as it brings back some great memories. Some of the references will only be got if you are from the U.K., though.

You need to watch the song on video. The year 2525. will blow your Mind away. released back in the 1960s.

I was in collage when this song came out. One of my professors used it in a class, and then sent us to the library to find newspaper headlines from the day/week we were born. It was such an interesting assignment.

The moral to the story is that basically the world has always been a mess. We keep repeating the same mistakes over and over. He mentions homeless vets. That has been an issue for 40 plus years and we've yet to fix it. We keep on letting the world burn instead of really addressing the issues.we tried to fight it he says.

History, man!

Always follow the music.

Just read the comments below. This is is a great piece of commentary in song form. Keep Reacting!

Fall Out Boy did a Part 2, We Didn't Start The Fire 2 using Billy's track. It's nowhere near as good but it goes from 1989-2023. I was 19 when this song came out and it was a HUGE hit. I learned every word and still know it to this day (35 years later). I know every historical event he is talking about in this song and most of us GenXer's do. Now 35 years later, nothing has gotten better and I would have to say it has only gotten worse. Each generation loves to blame the one before it but forget to put the blame on those who are actually to blame, the governments of the world. He starts the song in 1949, the year he was born and brings it right up to 1989. The terrorists on the planes talks about things that happened back in the 70's and 80's when planes where being hijacked it seemed like all the time. It was like in todays news where they are always talking about a school shooting, then it was the planes. Russia was in Afghanistan and we should have taken notes from that time and realized it is almost impossible to war with Afghanistan in their own territory. And at the end when he talks about Berny Getz and Rock N Roller Cola wars, well, Berny Getz was a Vigilante on the NYC subway (where is was born and raised and living at that time), look it up back in the 80's and the Cola wars were between Coke and Pepsi and they drove us crazy with the damn commercials until Michael Jackson did a Pepsi commercial and his hair caught on fire. Those Cola wars stopped after that. LOL. This song is a history lesson with a lot to look up if you are not familiar. Like when he talks about the Children of Thalidomide. That's one of the worst reminders of something horrific. Look it up. And if you're game, listen to this song then immediately after, listen to How Far We've Come by Matchbox 20. LOL

Billy Joel wasn' predicting the future. He was talking about the US arming Afganistan in the 70/80's. We armed Afghanastan since they were at war with the USSR. We armed Iraq (aka Saddam) because of the Iran/Iraq war and we were against the ayatollah himani (leader of Iran). Most of the countries didn't like the strings attached to the weapons we gave them and turned on us. Most of the arms in the Middle East was ORIGINALLLY given by the US due to these conflicts that we took sides on and armed. We also did the same thing w/ Central and South America. Iranian/Contra (Nicaragua's rebel group) Affair. Billy Joel was a history teacher before he become a singer. He started the song the year he was born and moved forward.

Glad to see Billy Joel getting some love! He has an unending list of hits.. Matter of Trust, the Longest Time, Only the Goid Die Young, Uptown Girl, And so It Goes...😂❤

Yes indeed!!! I'm 60 and can safely say I thought the world was getting weird in 1989!! I couldn't imagine then what's happening now!!! For goodness sakes, somethings got to give!!!

For anyone looking up the history mentioned, be cautious looking up "children of thalidomide" Let's just say it was a lesson I learned in a "why the FDA/DEA is important" lesson.

The inspiration for this song came when Billy was having a conversation with someone half his age. During this convo the man said that nothing really happened in the last 40 years. This rubbed Mr. Joel the wrong way. We didn't start the fire was his way of responding. ❤the channel. #HOG from the Hammer

Trust me, we who grew up with yhid, it hit hard

7:54 - he pulled the fire out of the friggin' fridge. The fire was always inside of them. It was never only outside of their house, around, while the families live their safe happy little lives. The fire directly affects them. it is in their house, their sould, their home, their body, their fkin' fridge.....

He was reciting, history. One thing about history it repeats

Terror on the airline was referring to I believe it was 1985 when a service member was killed on a tarmac. Terrorist hijacked the plane and killed him bc he was in uniform traveling.

There’s a web page somewhere where you can read about each event mentioned in the song…

I read that he wrote this song in response someone telling him the troubles of the world is his generations fault.

by the time of this song, we had terror strikes on planes. Security was tightened after bombs were smuggled on and blew up of some. So by 9/11, they turned the planes themselves into bombs by basically using kamikazi methods from WW2. They take something loaded with flammable/explosive fuel and just fly into the target. This song was at the time powerful and seems even more so these decades later. It is just scary how things have turned around to many of the same types of problems, but magnified in scale. Not prophecy, just repeats of themes and involving the same areas of trouble.

My 8th grade Social Studies teacher put us in groups and we each had to research the references in a verse and teach it to the class. I never forgot this song or that class. Ironically it was the same class I was in when 9/11 happened.

“Russians in Afghanistan” is because during the 80’s the Soviet Union was trying to take over Afghanistan. It’s when Bin Laden got his start as part of the Mujahadin. Which later became Al Queda.

I was in high school when this came out and my history teacher loved it! He made an assignment where we chose one reference and do a long paper on it or choose 3 and do short reports on each. I chose long reports on 3. I love history! I chose Marilyn Monroe, children of thalidomide, and moon shot.

Born 1973 I watched the MTV Music Video Premiere. It is not the same world at all now.

You need to do "we didn't start the fire" by fall out boy next. They've updated the lyrics and it's really good too

I think more to the point is that every generation inherits a certain number of issues. Every generation does their best to right the wrongs and fix the issues but it’s just a flame that starts up in a new area and you keep fighting it.

I remember TV movies about notable hijackings thru the 70s. The reason no one expected the planes to fly into buildings is because EVERY SINGLE HIJACK BEFORE 9/11 INVOLVED TERRORISTS WANTING ONE OF TWO THINGS: TO GO SOMEWHERE OR TO TO HAVE SOMEONE RELEASED! How did they accomplish this? Fly the plane to a secluded part of an airport & make demands, shoving an executed passenger out the door every hour. That's what the authorities expected on September 11. The planes land & issue a string of demands! One far thinker had even envisioned planes being used as missiles, only to be shut down by "wiser heads" asking: how are their demands going to be met if they kill all the hostages? 9/11 was THAT unthinkable...because of the 70s.

Excellent CATCH Cliff! Bravo! You got it! That's the genius of (once in a lifetime) Billy ❤Joel!

We had to memorize this for school and explain all the historical aspects.

A great history lesson from a very prolific songwriter. He would be a very deep rabbit hole to explore with many differnt songs over the decades he was releasing music. He just released his first pop album in over ten years. He was mostly focused on writing classical music with the exception of his residency at MSG

All of the references are to real people or events. I taught alongside an 8th grade social studies teacher who used this video to teach US history pertaining to this era. They ended up identifying every allusion and photo in the song and video.

Humanity does not learn from it's past... I was a young teen when this came out..repeated then, and now...

The basic gist of this song is Billy Joel was tired of hearing both younger people saying "the world is a disaster, look what you (parents' generation) have left us!" as well older people saying "kids these days are destroying the world and they don't care!" His point was that good and bad stuff has been happening forever, no generation is to blame, and no generation is immune. The updated version that Fall Out Boy did isn't perfect, but it's a pretty fair and accurate continuation of that theme.

More American and world history then is taught on most US HS History classes.

Each verse is a decade of his life until he finished the song. Things he found notable. He's been asked to add more but says no. No crystal ball. These are things that happened in the past. Take off the first decade and it's part of my life history also. (he is 11 yrs older than I am) I like the video but this one helps you understand more of what he is saying: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cDPnsTRAvIM.html When my kid was old enough to understand I used this song as a sort of history lesson. Now that he is 23 he can still recite it and know the meaning of all this history.

My inner 7yr old loved this 💚

One of the parts about terror on the airline is probably reference to the first known bombing mid flight which was Continental Airlines Flight 11 a guy took out life insurance then blew up the flight of a Boeing 707, am gen x so the things he sung about I lived through some of them and seeing how bad it's become it's just snowballed beyond control very classic song great song you should listen to more of Billy Joel's songs he's made some classics dude ✌️

"In The Year 2525" predicts the future very well, but really all you have to do to predict the future is to know human nature which really never changes.

Was good to hear this again😃 I enjoy your comments and breakdown of these old songs. I think we were all born into some or other "fire"😉Thankyou, that was good.

There is an updated version of this by Fall Out Boy, which takes it from 1989 to present day, have a listen..

"he should have waited 40 years" - that is the point it never changes. it was triggered by a comment about how bad it was now days (when the song was made). he is listing many things that happened in his life time up to that point.

A history lesson from 1949 his birth year to 1989

You should do the new updated version with all the decades since this one

Each line is a historic event/person. Bhopal is Union Carbide chemical leak that killed nearly 4000 people in India. Russians in Afghanistan is referring to Russian invasion of Afghan in ‘79(?).

You could go down a rabbit hole of history googling the lyrics of this song

Fall out boy does a cover of this song that picks up where this left off and goes through 2023 . Personally I think they did a pretty good job of carrying the spirit of the song . You should definitely react to it

❤❤❤❤❤

5:41 that photograph shows JKF's assasln getting sh0t ....

'Terror on the airlines...' Prior to 9/11, there were many hijacking incidents, a forced flying to a hostile country with hostage stand offs that lasted weeks. Expensive but minimal loss of life. It's why the first 2 planes complied that day. 10:50, that was exactly the conversation that inspired the song. Today, they have just weaponized the messaging.

11:44 Of course! The guy was married to Christie Brinkley, one of the hottest supermodels of the 1980s. He was legendary.

I believe My Fallout Boy did an updated version

Berny Goetz was the New York Subway vigilante. Big controversial case in the 80s

This is a songwriting masterpiece. I learned more about 20th Century History from this song than I learned in years of school.

Good reaction, bro. Regarding the "Terror on the airlines" line around the 7:09 minute mark, that was actually a play-on-words (a double entendre) that was meant to convey, "Tehrani airlines" (as in the capital city of Iran...Tehran). So, the clever line sounds like both "Terror on the airlines", and "Tehrani airlines". Just a brief background ---- many Iranian terrorists came from the city of Tehran...and during the 1980s especially a great number of planes worldwide were hijacked by those terrorists. But it was usually the terrorists using the opportunity to demand certain policy changes and the release of certain prisoners etc. Also, regarding the line "Russians in Afghanistan" around the 7:18 minute mark....the Russians actually invaded that country around 1979, so it wasn't a 'prediction' from Billy Joel...lol. It was an actual world event that had taken place about 10 years before this song. Anyway, when the Russians invaded Afghanistan, the USA (via the CIA etc) covertly trained and armed the Afghan rebel forces...the TALIBAN. In fact, one of the people that the CIA trained and utilized as a key asset back then was a guy by the name of Osama Bin Laden. Btw, Billy Joel is one of the biggest recording artists in history, and he's still around. If anyone can cleverly update this song to the current era, it'll probably be him.