Fall Out Boys recently released a cover of Billy Joel’s ‘We Didn’t Start The Fire’, ‘covering newsworthy items from 1989 to 2023’. Later, Pete Wentz gave an interview about the rewriting process.
In the interview, Wentz made remarks about not writing in chronological order or specifically choosing equally impactful events compared to the original song:
“Listen, we did our best. It’s very, very, very difficult. His is not totally in chronological order, but it’s more in chronological order than ours. We just wanted the J.F.K. blown away line, and clearly, I think that the World Trade one was a little more… that was probably… People probably felt a similar way. You remember where you were or whatever.”
He continued:
“So it’s just a little bit out of order, but it is what it is. Listen, we wanted the Internet to still have something to complain about.”
About the impartiality of the song, Pete said:
“The thing I liked about the original is that it’s just kind of a time capsule, so it’s just got things in it, but there’s no judgment on it or whatever. It’s just of like, ‘Here are these things that happened’.”
The bassist also shared his thoughts about the creative process, and the process of displaying an artwork for the public eye:
“I think that the beauty of the way that music and artworks now is that you put something out there. If it misses, it kind of just doesn’t go anywhere. And if people like it, then it becomes a thing.
He continued by saying if the public opinion doesn’t favour their work, it loses its impact, rather than becoming a danger to their career:
“But you can put a lot more things kind of out into the ether and it just becomes white noise, if people don’t like it. You know what I mean? People don’t go, ‘The Fall Out Boy cover of ‘We Didn’t Start the Fire’ ruined their career. They were good until then.’ It just doesn’t exist in that way anymore, really.”
This wasn’t the only time Pete expressed his feelings about the impact of the original song and the ‘J.F.K. was blown away’ line. In a conversation he had with N.Y. Times, he said:
“I remember hearing the song when I was a kid, ‘The ‘J.F.K. blown away’ line always stuck out to me. This song was omnipresent in that era, but in a way where it crept through the cracks of pop culture. I remember talking about the lyrics in history class.”
You can listen to the cover below.
