"We Didn't Start the Fire" is a song written 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 a series of brief references to 119 significant political, cultural, scientific, and sporting events between 1949 and 1989, in mainly chronological order.
Glass Houses is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Billy Joel, released on March 12, 1980. The record was a commercial success, topping the Billboard 200 chart for six consecutive weeks. It features Joel's first single to peak at No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart, "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me". It was ranked No. 4 on Billboard's 1980 year-end chart. The album is the 41st best-selling album of the 1980s, with sales of 7.1 million copies in the US alone. In 1981, Joel won a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for his work on Glass Houses. According to music critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine, the album featured "a harder-edged sound" compared to Joel's other work, in response to the punk and new wave movements. This was also the final studio album to feature the original incarnation of the Billy Joel Band, augmented by new lead guitarist David Brown. Multi-instrumentalist Cannata left the band just before the sessions began for Joel's next studio album, 1982's The Nylon Curtain.
"These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" is a hit song written by Lee Hazlewood and recorded by American singer Nancy Sinatra. It charted on January 22, 1966, and reached No. 1 in the United States Billboard Hot 100 and in the UK Singles Chart.
"The End Is the Beginning Is the End" is a song by the American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. Originally released as a single from the soundtrack to the film Batman & Robin (1997), it was their first release with drummer Matt Walker, who would go on to contribute percussion to several tracks of Adore and all of James Iha's Let It Come Down. The song reached the top 10 in eight countries and won the Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance.
"War" is a counterculture-era soul song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for the Motown label in 1969. Whitfield first produced the song – a self-evident anti-Vietnam War statement – with The Temptations as the original vocalists. After Motown began receiving repeated requests to release "War" as a single, Whitfield re-recorded the song with Edwin Starr as the vocalist, with the label deciding to withhold the Temptations' version from single release so as not to alienate that group's more conservative fans. Starr's version of "War" was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1970, and is not only the most successful and well-known record of his career, but it is also one of the most popular protest songs ever recorded. It was one of 161 songs on the no-play list issued by Clear Channel following the events of September 11, 2001.
"Uptown Girl" is a song written and performed by American musician Billy Joel from his ninth studio album An Innocent Man (1983), released in September 1983 as the album's second single. The lyrics describe a working-class "downtown man" attempting to woo a wealthy "uptown girl". The 12" EP has the tracks "My Life", "Just the Way You Are" and "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me", whereas some 7" single versions featured "Careless Talk" as a B-side.
"Heart of Glass" is a song by the American new wave band Blondie, written by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. It was featured on the band's third studio album, Parallel Lines (1978), and was released as the album's third single in January 1979 and reached number one on the charts in several countries, including the United States Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Singles Chart.
"Everlasting Love" is a song written by Buzz Cason and Mac Gayden, originally a 1967 hit for Robert Knight and since covered numerous times. The most successful version in the UK was performed by Love Affair and the highest-charting version in the U.S. was performed by Carl Carlton. Other cover versions were done by Town Criers, Rex Smith & Rachel Sweet, Sandra Cretu, U2 and Gloria Estefan.
"Because the Night" is a rock song from 1977 written by Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith which appears on the 1978 Patti Smith Group album Easter. On March 2, 1978, the song was released as a single, and was commercially successful, reaching No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and No. 5 in the United Kingdom, which helped propel Easter to mainstream success.
"A Question of Time" is a song by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 11 August 1986 in the UK as the third and final single from their fifth studio album, Black Celebration, following the similarly titled "A Question of Lust".
"Strangelove" is a song by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 27 April 1987 as the lead single from their sixth studio album, Music for the Masses (1987).
"It's Only Make Believe" is a song written by drummer Jack Nance and Mississippi-born singer Conway Twitty, while they were touring across Ontario, Canada in 1958. Twitty was a relatively unknown rock n' roll singer at the time, and this song was his first hit, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard chart in November 1958 for two weeks.
"I Know There's Something Going On" is a song recorded in 1982 by ABBA singer Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Frida). It was the lead single from her solo album Something's Going On.
"Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)" is the lead single to American singer Donna Summer's eponymous tenth studio album (1982). The track was nominated at the 25th Annual Grammy Awards in 1983 for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.
"Good Times" is a song by the Australian rock band the Easybeats, written by George Young and Harry Vanda. It was released in June 1968 on their album Vigil, and as a single in July 1968 through Parlophone. It features guest vocals by Steve Marriott of Small Faces, and piano by Nicky Hopkins. The original Easybeats recording reached #22 in Australia. When broadcast by BBC radio, it was reportedly heard by Paul McCartney on his car radio; McCartney apparently rang the station immediately to request a repeat playing.
"Der Kommissar" is a song recorded by Austrian artist Falco in 1981. The song was written by Robert Ponger and Falco. It reached the top of the charts in many European countries. An English translated cover version by the group After the Fire in 1982 had greater success in other countries.
"It's Still Rock and Roll to Me" is a song written and performed by Billy Joel, from the hit album Glass Houses. Released in 1980, the song peaked at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, from July 19 through August 1, 1980, making it Joel's first number 1 hit single in the United States. The song spent 11 weeks in the top 10 and was the 7th biggest hit of 1980 according to American Top 40.
"Tell Her About It" is a song written and performed by Billy Joel from his album An Innocent Man (1983), released as the album's first single in 1983. In the song, the singer exhorts a young man to tell the woman he loves how he feels about her before he misses his chance. It hit the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for one week on September 24, 1983, replacing "Maniac" by Michael Sembello. The single was certified Gold by the RIAA for US sales of over 500,000 copies.
"You May Be Right" is a song written and performed by rock singer Billy Joel, released as a single and the opening track from his 1980 album Glass Houses. The single reached No. 7 on the US charts and No. 6 in Canada. It failed to chart, however, in the UK, unlike his preceding and succeeding singles "All for Leyna" and "It's Still Rock and Roll to Me". The Japanese single features "Close to the Borderline" as a B-side.
"Sometimes a Fantasy" is a song by Billy Joel, released in 1980 as the last single from his seventh studio album Glass Houses. The single peaked at No. 36 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The song is a "melodic, fast paced rocker" and starts with Joel dialing a number on a telephone.
