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SUNDAY MUSIC VIDS: Billy Joel
04-01-2018 by Katie Marzullo

We all love
some good ol’ nostalgia, and no one seemed to be feeling
quite so nostalgic than Billy Joel in 1989 when he
released his infectious and politically-charged Baby Boomer anthem,
“We Didn’t Start the Fire.”
That year,
Billy turned 40, so it was perhaps this milestone that prompted him
to reflect back on all the wild and crazy things that went on in
the world (and, specifically, in the United States) just in his own
lifetime.
The song and
music video became an instant smash, opening with a carefree,
post-War newlywed couple in the early-50s. Billy clearly had some
fond memories of this era, as he spends the first three whole
verses listing off everything noteworthy in the 1950s, from Doris
Day and Sputnik to Disneyland and the Edsel. The forth verse finds
him musing about the contentious 1960s, and then, in the final
verse (before he “can’t take it anymore!”), he
jumps rapidly from the late-60s up to the late-80s.
In the final
moments of the video, he attempts to ponder what the future might
hold. To this end, he shows a woman sitting fixated in front of a
personal computer, not terribly concerned with anything else around
her. Quite an uncanny prediction there, eh?
It’s
still an amazing song and music video, but it begs the question
– WHEN WILL THERE BE AN UPDATE?? Think about it – a
lot has happened in the nearly 30 years since this song was
first released. Billy would have plenty of material to not only add
onto the original but perhaps even start a whole new one!
What do you
say, Billy? Can we have a little “We STILL Didn’t Start
the Fire” for the Millennial generation?
Anyone reading
this who was born in or after 1989 will find this a good little
history lesson in how there’s really no such thing as
“simpler times” – the world has indeed always
been turning and turmoil ever-present. Welcome to the fire!
Enjoy “We
Didn’t Start the Fire” below:
(Image via
billyjoelVEVO)
- Katie
Marzullo, YH Staff Editor