Famous People in "We Didn't Start The Fire" (4) Quiz

Answer:

"We Didn't Start The Fire" has a series of verses listing cultural and historic landmark events and personalities of the latter 20th century. And the chorus reminds us of the concept that many the conflicts around the world may seem like they were ignited by the current generation, but instead has actually been an ongoing pattern generation after generation. The song reached Number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and continues to get a lot of radio play as well as some parodies.

To start, these are the seven names that are NOT mentioned in the song, "We Didn't Start The Fire": Little Richard, Neil Armstrong, Chairman Mao, Son of Sam, Howard Cosell, Gold Meir, and Arafat.

Chubby Checker appears in the lyric stanza referencing events from 1960, such as "Belgians in the Congo" and the movie "Psycho." Chubby Checker's mention is due to his significant cultural impact in 1960 when he popularized the dance craze "The Twist" named after his hit song of the same title. He's the only music-related person in this particular fourth quiz in the series. The rest here include famous people not in the arts, such as two U.S. Presidents who....hmmm, well now that we think about it, one of those Presidents was an actor for a while, and was in fact president of the Motion Pictures Screen Actors Guild, a union of actors; he served (1947-1952 and 1959-1960). He appeared in more than 50 films between 1937 and 1957, with notable roles in movies like "Knute Rockne, All American" (1940) and "Kings Row" (1942).

Another one, the 35th President of the United States, J.F.K. is mentioned in the lyrics. He was elected in 1960, and his mentioned in the lyric, "J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say?"

Another American political leader assassinated in the 60s is Malcolm X who is also in the song. Malcolm X's mention in the song reflects his significant role in the civil rights movement and his impact on American society during the 1960s when Billy Joel was coming into his own.

Another world leader, Hồ Chí Minh, who died September 2, 1969, is mentioned, highlighting his revolutionary role as leader of North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. The Vietnam conflict shaped the times the Billy Joel concentrates on in this song. Begin is also mentioned and is also a world leader who faced internal conflict as well as external opposing forces. Menachem Begin served as the sixth Prime Minister of Israel from 1977 to 1983, and is mentioned in the verse covering events from the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Another world leader of a different sort, "Pope Paul"'s mention alludes to Pope Paul VI, the head of the Catholic Church from 1963 to 1978. His papacy featured the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II) bringing about significant reforms in the Church, the publication of the Humanae Vitae stating the Church's stance on birth control, and the promotion of interfaith dialogue.

The mention of "Lawrence of Arabia" refers to the 1962 David Lean epic historical film starring Peter O'Toole in the title role as T.E. Lawrence, nevertheless it is still a person mentioned in the song.

Not one but two astronaut heroes are mentioned in the song, capitalizing on the height of space exploration that infused the era the song focuses on: John Glenn, and Sally Ride. Glenn's historic spaceflight aboard Friendship 7 on February 20, 1962, signified the first American to orbit the Earth. Sally Ride was the first American woman in space, when she flew aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger on June 18, 1983.

From the world of sports, these two boxers are mentioned: Liston and Patterson. Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson fought each other on September 25, 1962, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois; Liston knocked out Patterson in the first round, winning to become the undisputed heavyweight champion.

The lyric "Foreign debts, homeless Vets, AIDS, Crack, Bernie Goetz" features Bernie Goetz, who was dubbed the "Subway Vigilante," by the media for the December 22, 1984, incident in New York City, when Goetz shot four young Black men on a subway train after one of them, Troy Canty, approached Goetz, and stated "give me five dollars".

Well, this fourth and final quiz in my series wraps up all the famous people mentioned in the song. I didn't include Peter Pan or Ben-Hur in the quizzes despite the song mentioning them, because they are both fictional people. Nor was "Ayatollah" used in the four quizzes because Ayatollah by itself is a title not a name of anyone specific.