As part of a new single, Fall Out Boy has released a new cover of a classic song that mentionsPokemonandMetroidby name. The two franchises are specifically brought up to highlight their influence on pop culture in the last 34 years. The song in question is meant to reference current events that have helped shape the world as it is today, and it seems that these twoprominent Nintendo franchiseswere important enough to make the cut alongside other important cultural icons such asStranger ThingsandSpongeBob SquarePants.
Though, not all the things mentioned in the new release are video games and TV shows. The song Fall Out Boy covered in question is “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” an iconic song by Billy Joel that went out of its way to reference prominent news that happened between the years of 1949 and 1989. The band thought about the lyrics of the original and decided to update it to describe more recent events, picking up specifically where Billy Joel left off. In the 34 years that the new song covers,PokemonandMetroidwere important enough to be included.
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It doesn’t take much to understand whyPokemonmade the cut. The franchise has kept growing in popularity to span nine generations of games, several seasons of anime, movies, and an AR mobile game that also took the world by storm. Fall Out Boy seems to understand just what kind of grip the franchise has had, as the music video for the new “We Didn’t Start the Fire” specifically showscards from thePokemon Trading Card Gamewhen it’s mentioned, almost reminiscent of when the TCG famously took over schools back when it first came out.
However,Metroidbeing mentioned is rather interesting, and some gamers may not understand why. While it’s true that Samus Aran hasn’t made as big of an impact on broader pop culture as Pikachu has, the NES game has gone on to help inspire theentire Metroidvania genreof video games, named after itself andCastlevania. Even more interesting, the originalMetroidcame out in 1986, which is in the time span covered in the original version of “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”
While the fact thatMetroidandPokemonare part of a new version of such a historical song is neat, it may feel a bit surreal to hear the two gaming franchises mentioned alongside the capture of the Golden State Killer, the Chicago Cubs winning the 2016 World Series, and other prominent real-world events while listening. At the very least, they certainly aren’t the only media franchises included. Others such asJames Cameron’sAvatar,Harry Potter, andTwilightare mentioned as well. Fall Out Boy did its best to mention as many world-changing events as it could, both good and bad.
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