A Complete Ranking of Every Reference in Billy Joel’s We Didn’t Start the Fire
Using Billy Joel’s “since the world’s been turning ” ranking system, here are all the things that started the fire ranked from worst to it was always burning:
120. Crack
119. Chou En-Lai
118. Ole Miss
117. Mickey Mantle
116. Dylan
115. Roy Cohn
114. James Dean
113. Syngman Rhee
112. Dien Bien Phu falls
111. Chubby Checker
110. Suicide
109. Brando
108. Liston beats Patterson
107. Johnnie Ray
106. Trouble in the Suez
105. Peter Pan
104. Krushchev
103. Reagan
102. JFK
101. Hula-hoops
100. South Pacific
99. Starkweather
98. Hypodermics on the shores
97. Nasser
96. Marilyn Monroe
95. Lebanon
94. Bridge on the River Kwai
93. Ben Hur
92. Pope Paul
91. Santayana goodbye
90. Alabama
89. H-bomb
88. Woodstock
87. Punk rock
86. Castro
85. Kennedy
84. Russians in Afghanistan
83. Stranger in a Strange Land
82. Buddy Holly
81. Psycho
80. Homicide
79. Moonshot
78. Panmunjom
77. Red China
76. North Korea
75. South Korea
74. Rosenbergs
73. Lawrence of Arabia
72. Watergate
71. Marciano
70. Juan Peron
69. China’s under martial law
68. Rock Around the Clock
67. Davy Crockett
66. The Catcher in the Rye
65. Birth control
64. Richard Nixon
63. Children of thalidomide
62. Sputnik
61. Malcolm X
60. England’s got a new queen
59. Payola
58. Prokofiev
57. Wheel of Fortune
56. Hemingway
55. Pasternak
54. Toscanini
53. Disneyland
52. Bernie Goetz
51. Vaccine
50. Doris Day
49. Bardot
48. Berlin
47. Elvis Presley
46. Mafia
45. Little Rock
44. Brooklyn’s got a winning team
43. Harry Truman
42. John Glenn
41. Charles de Gaulle
40. Heavy metal
39. Dacron
38. Eisenhower
37. Palestine
36. Ho Chi Minh
35. Terror on the airline
34. California baseball
33. Peyton Place
32. Foreign debts
31. Budapest
30. Bay of Pigs invasion
29. Princess Grace
28. Joseph Stalin
27. AIDS
26. Rockefeller
25. Kerouac
24. Edsel is a no-go
23. Malenkov
22. Liberace
21. Ayatollah’s in Iran
20. Campanella
19. Communist Bloc
18. Eichmann
17. The King and I
16. Joe McCarthy
15. Rock and roller cola wars
14. Walter Winchell
13. Studebaker
12. British Beatlemania
11. Sugar Ray
10. Belgians in the Congo
9. Sally Ride
8. Homeless vets
7. Richard Nixon, back again
6. British politician sex
5. U2
4. Joe DiMaggio
3. Einstein
2. Television
1. Space monkey
