We Didn't Start the Fire
Billy Joel
1990
Annual listening-list association retained: 1990. The source-checked recording release year is 1989; these are separate date fields. No new regional or single-release date is inferred from this list year.
Release: 1989
Release: 1989Source checked | Recent carryover
The original Storm Front album catalog documents this recording in 1989. Only the year is established here; any later single, video, regional issue or compilation is a separate event.
The large badge identifies this listening list, not a newly issued recording. Later reissues and renewed chart popularity do not replace an original release date. How years are assigned.
Billy Joel: Storm Front (official album catalog)
Original album year and matching track, not a later compilation or re-recording. Year precision only; this source does not by itself establish a day-specific first single date.
Inspiration and background
Documented songwriting inspiration
The idea followed a conversation with a young friend of Sean Lennon who considered the 1950s uneventful compared with his own times. Joel answered by assembling historical references across the four decades since his 1949 birth. Unlike his usual process, the words came before the music.
Evidence scope: Reviewed secondary account; scope is limited to this paragraph
Sources for this information
We Didn't Start the Fire - reviewed songwriting/background source
Background/composition section; paraphrased, not a quotation | Retrieved 2026-10-11
Other appearances and versions
catalog version unspecified
Textual identity reconciliation, not audio-fingerprint or exact-pressing verification. Version labels are catalog safeguards.
An annual chart year and an original release date are different. Similar titles may be covers or different masters; no audio fingerprint has been performed.
Sources and scope
Source-backed annual association (secondary source; not a complete discographic review)
Song-specific genre labels located in the cited catalog or secondary source; genre is not a universally fixed classification.
Billboard year-end 1990 table (Wikipedia transcription)
Secondary chart transcription reviewed for title, artist and annual association. Not proof of release date, genre or inspiration.
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