Throwback Thursday: "We Didn't Start the Fire" Billy Joel

Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" is often regarded as one of rock and roll's worst songs, resembling "a term paper scribbled the night before it's due," as Blender once put it. But in the grand scheme of novelty hits, its gimmick has held up better than most. Two decades on, Joel's rapid-fire, rhyming recollection of 20th-century culture since his birth, from Harry Truman to 1980s soda wars, is still quite fun. Beneath the irreverence (and maybe the teensiest bit of egotism), there's a simple wit to such an undertaking. The famous chorus is, of course, total nonsense, but why deny its rousing appeal? B

23 years ago this week, "We Didn't Start the Fire" was the #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100.