Billy Joel Says 1989 Hit 'We Didn't Start the Fire' Is One of His Least Favorite Songs

Billy Joel has called his 1989 hit "We Didn't Start the Fire" one of his least favorite songs, telling Howard Stern in 2010 that "I don’t think it’s much of a melody... To be honest, it’s really not much of a song." The nearly five-minute pop-rock single, written when Joel was 40 and inspired after a conversation with John Lennon’s son, was released as the lead single from his eleventh studio album, Storm Front.

The track recited cultural and political events from Joel’s lifetime, earned a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year and reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Explaining his disdain, Joel told Stern the tune originally began as a different, country-leaning idea and that "when you take the melody by itself, terrible, it’s like a dentist's drill." He described the song’s melody and structure as a central reason for his low opinion.

When Stern asked if he would consider a sequel to the song, Joel replied: "No, I wrote one song already, and I don’t think it was really that good to begin with, melodically." By contrast, Joel said he regards "And So It Goes," the last track on Storm Front, as one of his favorite songs, written when he was heartbroken and still emotionally resonant to him.

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