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The Musical History of Videogames, as Performed by Billy Joel

This article is over 13 years old and may contain outdated information

If Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire” were about videogames, it would sound like this.

There are few songs more parodied than “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” Billy Joel’s historical epic that covers events from his birth in 1949 to the hit single’s release in 1989. In fact, I’m fairly certain there have been more than a few videogame-centric parodies of the song up until now.

Not that this makes this video you see here any less entertaining, mind you. The music video for “The Wii Didn’t Start the Fire” covers decades and decades of videogame history, from legend Ralph Baer to Nintendo’s upcoming 3DS – with a cameo from a particularly sharp-tongued Brit who most of you all should find quite familiar.

The lyrics are quite cleverly penned, but what really makes the video is how well it integrates sound effects and even music from the games in question – as well as popular internet videos. I think I started nodding my head in approval around the time they mixed the chorus with the Donkey Kong hammer-time theme – but even the very beginning is fantastic, mixing the boot-up sounds from at least six or seven gaming platforms (that I can pick out) into one nostalgic symphony.

It’s about a month old, so there are probably some of you that have seen this before – but I certainly hadn’t, which means that it’s a safe bet that quite a few of you haven’t, either. And if you have already seen it, there’s nothing wrong with watching it again – because it’s great.

Except I can’t agree with them on one thing: Perfect Dark was way better than GoldenEye, guys. Like, WTF?

(Via Destructoid)

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