Billy Joel – We Didn’t Start the Fire 😎 ‘We Didn't Start the Fire’ is a song written and published by American musician Billy Joel. The song was released as a single on September 18, 1989, and later released as part of Joel's album Storm Front on October 17, 1989. A list song, its fast-paced lyrics include brief references to 119 significant political, cultural, scientific, and sporting events between 1948 (the year before Joel's birth) and 1989, in mainly chronological order. Joel conceived th