Fall Out Boy Leaves Many Jaws Agape With Updated Version Of 'We Didn't Start The Fire'

Since Billy Joel released his unique hit song "We Didn't Start the Fire" in 1989, many have jokingly attempted to update the song to fit current events. Most of the time, people cheekily fit about a week's worth of headlines into Joel's verses, which famously consist almost entirely of references to major news events from the '50s to the late '80s.

However, no one had done a sincere "update" of the song covering the events of 1989 through the current era until today when Fall Out Boy surprise-dropped an attempt at a true sequel to "We Didn't Start the Fire."

The emo rock group's cover is remarkably faithful to the original, though naturally, the verses cover more recent current events than Billy Joel's version. However, the construction of the verses has caught much of social media's attention, as some of the rhymes and rhythmic structures have gobsmacked listeners.

Notable rhymes include "Oklahoma City bomb" and "Pokémon," "George Floyd" with "Metroid" and "LeBron James" with "Shinzo Abe blown away."

The cover's penchant for rhyming a gravely serious news story with something more light-hearted and pop-culture-based led to many jokes and memes from listeners, some who thought it was hilariously tasteless.

To be fair, the original version also had a habit of juxtaposing two events of vastly different import together for a rhyme ("Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle / California baseball / Starkweather Homicide /Children of Thalidomide"), but others pointed out that unlike the original, Fall Out Boy's cover isn't in chronological order, which some argued failed to capture the "dragged-through-history" feel of Joel's version.

While the cover does have its fans, it seems safe to assume that it will not be as beloved – or at least, as widely referenced and parodied – as Billy Joel's original version.