Billy Joel (1989)
118 events · 1949–1989 · ρ = +0.972
Fall Out Boy (2023)
81 events · 1990–2022 · ρ = +0.079
Spearman ρ interpretation
+1.00 = chronological, 0 = random
Billy Joel (1989)
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Harry Truman
Doris Day
Red China
Johnnie Ray
South Pacific
Walter Winchell
Joe DiMaggio
Joe McCarthy
Richard Nixon
Studebaker
Television
North Korea, South Korea
Marilyn Monroe
Rosenbergs
H-Bomb
Sugar Ray
Panmunjom
Brando
The King and I
The Catcher in the Rye
Eisenhower
Vaccine
England's got a new queen
Marciano
Liberace
Santayana goodbye
Joseph Stalin
Malenkov
Nasser
Prokofiev
Rockefeller
Campanella
Communist Bloc
Roy Cohn
Juan Peron
Toscanini
Dacron
Dien Bien Phu falls
Rock Around the Clock
Einstein
James Dean
Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett
Peter Pan
Elvis Presley
Disneyland
Bardot
Budapest
Alabama
Khrushchev
Princess Grace
Peyton Place
Trouble in the Suez
Little Rock
Pasternak
Mickey Mantle
Kerouac
Sputnik
Zhou Enlai
Bridge On The River Kwai
Lebanon
Charles de Gaulle
California baseball
Starkweather homicide
Children of Thalidomide
Buddy Holly
Ben Hur
Space Monkey
Mafia
Hula Hoops
Castro
Edsel is a no-go
U-2
Syngman Rhee
Payola
Kennedy
Chubby Checker
Psycho
Belgians in the Congo
Hemingway
Eichmann
Stranger in a Strange Land
Dylan
Berlin
Bay of Pigs Invasion
Lawrence of Arabia
British Beatlemania
Ole Miss
John Glenn
Liston beats Patterson
Pope Paul
Malcolm X
British Politician sex
JFK blown away
Birth control
Ho Chi Minh
Richard Nixon back again
Moonshot
Woodstock
Watergate
Punk Rock
Begin
Reagan
Palestine
Terror on the airline
Ayatollah's in Iran
Russians in Afghanistan
Wheel of Fortune
Sally Ride
Heavy metal suicide
Foreign debts
Homeless vets
AIDS
Crack
Bernie Goetz
Hypodermics on the shore
China's under martial law
Rock and Roller cola wars
Fall Out Boy (2023)
paused · 0:00
Captain Planet
Arab Spring
L.A. riots
Rodney King
Deepfakes
earthquakes
Iceland volcano
Oklahoma City bomb
Kurt Cobain
Pokemon
Tiger Woods
MySpace
Monsanto, GMOs
Harry Potter
Twilight
Michael Jackson dies
Nuclear accident, Fukushima, Japan
Crimean peninsula
Cambridge Analytica
Kim Jong Un
Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man
More war in Afghanistan
Cubs go all the way again
Obama
Spielberg
Explosion, Lebanon
Unabomber
Bobbitt, John
Bombing, Boston Marathon
Balloon Boy
War On Terror
QAnon
Trump gets impeached twice
Polar bears got no ice
Fyre Fest
Black Parade
Michael Phelps
Y2K
Boris Johnson
Brexit
Kanye West
Taylor Swift
Stranger Things
Tiger King
Ever Given, Suez
Sandy Hook
Columbine
Sandra Bland
Tamir Rice
ISIS
LeBron James
Shinzo Abe blown away
Meghan Markle
George Floyd
Burj Khalifa
Metroid
Fermi paradox
Venus and Serena
Michael Jordan, 23
YouTube killed MTV
SpongeBob
Golden State Killer got caught
Michael Jordan, 45
Woodstock '99
Keaton Batman
Bush v. Gore
Elon Musk
Kaepernick
Texas failed electric grid
Jeff Bezos
climate change
White rhino goes extinct
Great Pacific garbage patch
Tom DeLonge and aliens
Mars rover
Avatar
Self-driving electric cars
SSRIs
Prince and The Queen die
World Trade
second plane
Song position (X) × historical year (Y)
Axes flipped — historical year (X) × song position (Y)
Beat-aligned progression — both songs on the same musical clock
Billy Joel
| # | Lyric | Historical event | Date | src |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harry Truman ⓘ | Harry S. Truman, 33rd U.S. President | 1945-04-12 → 1953-01-20 | ↗ |
| 2 | Doris Day ⓘ | Doris Day, American actress and singer at peak popularity | 1949 | ↗ |
| 3 | Red China | Founding of the People's Republic of China | 1949-10-01 | ↗ |
| 4 | Johnnie Ray ⓘ | Johnnie Ray, American singer whose career took off | 1951 | ↗ |
| 5 | South Pacific ⓘ | South Pacific, Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical | 1949-04-07 | ↗ |
| 6 | Walter Winchell ⓘ | Walter Winchell, newspaper and radio gossip commentator | 1949 | ↗ |
| 7 | Joe DiMaggio ⓘ | Joe DiMaggio, Yankees outfielder; first $100,000 baseball contract in 1949 | 1949 | ↗ |
| 8 | Joe McCarthy ⓘ | Joseph McCarthy and the Second Red Scare | 1950-02-09 → 1954-12-02 | ↗ |
| 9 | Richard Nixon ⓘ | Richard Nixon elected to U.S. Senate | 1950-11-07 | ↗ |
| 10 | Studebaker ⓘ | Studebaker automobile company financial troubles | 1950 | ↗ |
| 11 | Television ⓘ | Television becomes a mass medium in the United States | 1950 | ↗ |
| 12 | North Korea, South Korea | Korean War begins | 1950-06-25 → 1953-07-27 | ↗ |
| 13 | Marilyn Monroe ⓘ | Marilyn Monroe rises to fame | 1950 | ↗ |
| 14 | Rosenbergs ⓘ | Julius and Ethel Rosenberg convicted of espionage | 1951-03-29 → 1953-06-19 | ↗ |
| 15 | H-Bomb ⓘ | Hydrogen bomb development | 1952-11-01 | ↗ |
| 16 | Sugar Ray ⓘ | Sugar Ray Robinson, middleweight boxing champion | 1951-02-14 | ↗ |
| 17 | Panmunjom | Korean War armistice negotiations at Panmunjom | 1951-10-25 → 1953-07-27 | ↗ |
| 18 | Brando ⓘ | Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire | 1951-09-18 | ↗ |
| 19 | The King and I | The King and I, Rodgers and Hammerstein musical opens on Broadway | 1951-03-29 | ↗ |
| 20 | The Catcher in the Rye | J.D. Salinger novel published | 1951-07-16 | ↗ |
| 21 | Eisenhower | Dwight D. Eisenhower elected U.S. President | 1952-11-04 | ↗ |
| 22 | Vaccine ⓘ | Polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk | 1952 | ↗ |
| 23 | England's got a new queen ⓘ | Queen Elizabeth II accedes to the British throne | 1952-02-06 | ↗ |
| 24 | Marciano ⓘ | Rocky Marciano wins heavyweight boxing championship | 1952-09-23 | ↗ |
| 25 | Liberace ⓘ | Liberace, pianist and entertainer; television debut | 1952 | ↗ |
| 26 | Santayana goodbye | Death of philosopher George Santayana | 1952-09-26 | ↗ |
| 27 | Joseph Stalin | Death of Joseph Stalin | 1953-03-05 | ↗ |
| 28 | Malenkov | Georgy Malenkov succeeds Stalin as Soviet Premier | 1953-03-05 → 1955-02-08 | ↗ |
| 29 | Nasser ⓘ | Gamal Abdel Nasser rises to power in Egypt | 1954-11-14 → 1970-09-28 | ↗ |
| 30 | Prokofiev ⓘ | Death of Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev | 1953-03-05 | ↗ |
| 31 | Rockefeller ⓘ | Nelson Rockefeller, prominent political figure | 1953 | ↗ |
| 32 | Campanella ⓘ | Roy Campanella wins NL MVP | 1953 | ↗ |
| 33 | Communist Bloc ⓘ | Eastern Bloc / Soviet sphere; East German uprising of 1953 | 1953-06-17 | ↗ |
| 34 | Roy Cohn | Roy Cohn, McCarthy's chief counsel; Army-McCarthy hearings | 1954-04-22 → 1954-06-17 | ↗ |
| 35 | Juan Peron ⓘ | Juan Perón, President of Argentina | 1946-06-04 → 1955-09-21 | ↗ |
| 36 | Toscanini ⓘ | Arturo Toscanini, conductor; final NBC Symphony broadcast | 1954-04-04 | ↗ |
| 37 | Dacron ⓘ | Dacron polyester fiber commercialized | 1951 | ↗ |
| 38 | Dien Bien Phu falls | Battle of Dien Bien Phu, end of French Indochina | 1954-05-07 | ↗ |
| 39 | Rock Around the Clock ⓘ | Bill Haley's 'Rock Around the Clock' becomes a hit | 1954-05-12 | ↗ |
| 40 | Einstein | Death of Albert Einstein | 1955-04-18 | ↗ |
| 41 | James Dean | James Dean, actor; death in car accident | 1955-09-30 | ↗ |
| 42 | Brooklyn's got a winning team ⓘ | Brooklyn Dodgers win the World Series | 1955-10-04 | ↗ |
| 43 | Davy Crockett ⓘ | Davy Crockett craze sparked by Disney TV series | 1954-12-15 → 1955-12-14 | ↗ |
| 44 | Peter Pan ⓘ | Peter Pan musical, televised live with Mary Martin | 1955-03-07 | ↗ |
| 45 | Elvis Presley | Elvis Presley signs with RCA Victor | 1955-11-21 | ↗ |
| 46 | Disneyland | Disneyland theme park opens | 1955-07-17 | ↗ |
| 47 | Bardot ⓘ | Brigitte Bardot rises to fame in 'And God Created Woman' | 1956-11-28 | ↗ |
| 48 | Budapest | Hungarian Revolution of 1956 | 1956-10-23 → 1956-11-10 | ↗ |
| 49 | Alabama | Montgomery bus boycott in Alabama | 1955-12-05 → 1956-12-20 | ↗ |
| 50 | Khrushchev | Khrushchev's 'Secret Speech' denouncing Stalin | 1956-02-25 | ↗ |
| 51 | Princess Grace | Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco | 1956-04-19 | ↗ |
| 52 | Peyton Place | Peyton Place novel by Grace Metalious published | 1956-09-24 | ↗ |
| 53 | Trouble in the Suez | Suez Crisis | 1956-10-29 → 1956-11-07 | ↗ |
| 54 | Little Rock | Little Rock Nine school integration crisis | 1957-09-04 → 1957-09-25 | ↗ |
| 55 | Pasternak ⓘ | Boris Pasternak publishes Doctor Zhivago | 1957-11-23 | ↗ |
| 56 | Mickey Mantle ⓘ | Mickey Mantle, Yankees star; back-to-back AL MVPs | 1956 → 1957 | ↗ |
| 57 | Kerouac | Jack Kerouac publishes On the Road | 1957-09-05 | ↗ |
| 58 | Sputnik | Soviet Union launches Sputnik 1, first artificial satellite | 1957-10-04 | ↗ |
| 59 | Zhou Enlai ⓘ | Zhou Enlai, Premier of the People's Republic of China | 1949-10-01 → 1976-01-08 | ↗ |
| 60 | Bridge On The River Kwai ⓘ | The Bridge on the River Kwai film released, wins Best Picture | 1957-10-02 | ↗ |
| 61 | Lebanon | 1958 Lebanon crisis; U.S. military intervention | 1958-07-15 → 1958-10-25 | ↗ |
| 62 | Charles de Gaulle ⓘ | Charles de Gaulle returns to power, French Fifth Republic | 1958-06-01 → 1969-04-28 | ↗ |
| 63 | California baseball ⓘ | Dodgers and Giants move to California | 1958 | ↗ |
| 64 | Starkweather homicide | Charles Starkweather murder spree | 1957-12-01 → 1958-01-29 | ↗ |
| 65 | Children of Thalidomide ⓘ | Thalidomide birth defects scandal | 1957 → 1962 | ↗ |
| 66 | Buddy Holly ⓘ | Buddy Holly, rock pioneer; death in plane crash | 1959-02-03 | ↗ |
| 67 | Ben Hur | Ben-Hur film released, wins record 11 Oscars | 1959-11-18 | ↗ |
| 68 | Space Monkey | Monkeys Able and Baker first to survive a space flight | 1959-05-28 | ↗ |
| 69 | Mafia ⓘ | Apalachin Meeting reveals American Mafia; convictions in 1959 | 1957-11-14 → 1959-11-19 | ↗ |
| 70 | Hula Hoops ⓘ | Hula Hoop fad | 1958 → 1959 | ↗ |
| 71 | Castro ⓘ | Fidel Castro takes power in Cuba | 1959-01-01 | ↗ |
| 72 | Edsel is a no-go ⓘ | Ford Edsel discontinued after commercial failure | 1957-09-04 → 1959-11-19 | ↗ |
| 73 | U-2 | U-2 incident: Francis Gary Powers shot down over Soviet Union | 1960-05-01 | ↗ |
| 74 | Syngman Rhee ⓘ | Syngman Rhee, South Korean president; resignation | 1960-04-26 | ↗ |
| 75 | Payola ⓘ | Payola scandal in radio broadcasting | 1959 → 1960 | ↗ |
| 76 | Kennedy | John F. Kennedy elected U.S. President | 1960-11-08 | ↗ |
| 77 | Chubby Checker ⓘ | Chubby Checker popularizes 'The Twist' | 1960-09-19 | ↗ |
| 78 | Psycho | Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho released | 1960-06-16 | ↗ |
| 79 | Belgians in the Congo | Congo Crisis after independence from Belgium | 1960-06-30 → 1965-11-25 | ↗ |
| 80 | Hemingway | Ernest Hemingway's suicide | 1961-07-02 | ↗ |
| 81 | Eichmann ⓘ | Trial of Adolf Eichmann in Israel | 1961-04-11 → 1962-06-01 | ↗ |
| 82 | Stranger in a Strange Land | Robert A. Heinlein novel published | 1961-06-01 | ↗ |
| 83 | Dylan | Bob Dylan signs with Columbia Records | 1961-10-26 | ↗ |
| 84 | Berlin | Construction of the Berlin Wall | 1961-08-13 | ↗ |
| 85 | Bay of Pigs Invasion | Failed CIA-led invasion of Cuba | 1961-04-17 → 1961-04-20 | ↗ |
| 86 | Lawrence of Arabia | Lawrence of Arabia film released | 1962-12-10 | ↗ |
| 87 | British Beatlemania ⓘ | Rise of The Beatles and Beatlemania | 1963 | ↗ |
| 88 | Ole Miss | Ole Miss riot of 1962; James Meredith integrates University of Mississippi | 1962-09-30 → 1962-10-01 | ↗ |
| 89 | John Glenn | John Glenn becomes first American to orbit Earth | 1962-02-20 | ↗ |
| 90 | Liston beats Patterson | Sonny Liston defeats Floyd Patterson for heavyweight title | 1962-09-25 | ↗ |
| 91 | Pope Paul | Pope Paul VI elected | 1963-06-21 | ↗ |
| 92 | Malcolm X ⓘ | Malcolm X, civil rights leader; controversial 'chickens coming home to roost' remark and split from NOI | 1963-12 | ↗ |
| 93 | British Politician sex | Profumo affair | 1963 | ↗ |
| 94 | JFK blown away | Assassination of John F. Kennedy | 1963-11-22 | ↗ |
| 95 | Birth control | Griswold v. Connecticut establishes right to contraception | 1965-06-07 | ↗ |
| 96 | Ho Chi Minh ⓘ | Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnam War escalation | 1955-11-01 → 1975-04-30 | ↗ |
| 97 | Richard Nixon back again ⓘ | Richard Nixon elected U.S. President | 1968-11-05 | ↗ |
| 98 | Moonshot | Apollo 11 Moon landing | 1969-07-20 | ↗ |
| 99 | Woodstock | Woodstock music festival | 1969-08-15 → 1969-08-18 | ↗ |
| 100 | Watergate | Watergate scandal leading to Nixon's resignation | 1972-06-17 → 1974-08-09 | ↗ |
| 101 | Punk Rock ⓘ | Rise of punk rock (Ramones, Sex Pistols) | 1974 → 1977 | ↗ |
| 102 | Begin | Menachem Begin, Israeli Prime Minister | 1977-06-21 → 1983-10-10 | ↗ |
| 103 | Reagan ⓘ | Ronald Reagan elected U.S. President | 1980-11-04 | ↗ |
| 104 | Palestine ⓘ | Israeli-Palestinian conflict | 1976 | ↗ |
| 105 | Terror on the airline ⓘ | Wave of aircraft hijackings (e.g., Operation Entebbe) | 1976-06-27 → 1976-07-04 | ↗ |
| 106 | Ayatollah's in Iran | Iranian Revolution; Ayatollah Khomeini takes power | 1979-02-11 | ↗ |
| 107 | Russians in Afghanistan | Soviet-Afghan War begins | 1979-12-24 → 1989-02-15 | ↗ |
| 108 | Wheel of Fortune ⓘ | Wheel of Fortune game show with Pat Sajak and Vanna White; syndicated nightly version | 1983-09-19 | ↗ |
| 109 | Sally Ride | Sally Ride becomes first American woman in space | 1983-06-18 | ↗ |
| 110 | Heavy metal suicide ⓘ | Heavy metal music linked to suicides; Ozzy Osbourne 'Suicide Solution' lawsuit | 1984 | ↗ |
| 111 | Foreign debts ⓘ | Latin American debt crisis / U.S. budget and trade deficits | 1982 → 1989 | ↗ |
| 112 | Homeless vets ⓘ | Homeless Vietnam War veterans | 1980 → 1989 | ↗ |
| 113 | AIDS ⓘ | AIDS epidemic | 1981-06-05 | ↗ |
| 114 | Crack | Crack cocaine epidemic | 1984 → 1990 | ↗ |
| 115 | Bernie Goetz | Bernhard Goetz subway shooting in New York City | 1984-12-22 | ↗ |
| 116 | Hypodermics on the shore | Syringe Tide medical waste washed up on Atlantic beaches | 1987 → 1988 | ↗ |
| 117 | China's under martial law | Tiananmen Square massacre and martial law in Beijing | 1989-05-20 → 1990-01-10 | ↗ |
| 118 | Rock and Roller cola wars ⓘ | Cola wars: Pepsi and Coca-Cola marketing with rock musicians | 1983 → 1989 | ↗ |
Fall Out Boy
| # | Lyric | Historical event | Date | src |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Captain Planet ⓘ | Captain Planet and the Planeteers (animated environmental TV series) | 1990-09-15 → 1996-05-11 | ↗ |
| 2 | Arab Spring ⓘ | Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa | 2010-12-17 → 2012 | ↗ |
| 3 | L.A. riots | 1992 Los Angeles riots following the Rodney King verdict | 1992-04-29 → 1992-05-04 | ↗ |
| 4 | Rodney King ⓘ | Beating of Rodney King by LAPD officers | 1991-03-03 | ↗ |
| 5 | Deepfakes ⓘ | Deepfake AI-generated synthetic media | 2017-11 | ↗ |
| 6 | earthquakes ⓘ | Major earthquakes since 1989 (generic reference) | 1989 → 2023 | ↗ |
| 7 | Iceland volcano | Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruption that disrupted European air travel | 2010-03-20 → 2010-06-23 | ↗ |
| 8 | Oklahoma City bomb | Oklahoma City bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building | 1995-04-19 | ↗ |
| 9 | Kurt Cobain ⓘ | Death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain | 1994-04-05 | ↗ |
| 10 | Pokemon ⓘ | Pokemon media franchise | 1996-02-27 | ↗ |
| 11 | Tiger Woods ⓘ | Golfer Tiger Woods (career/cultural dominance) | 1996-08-28 | ↗ |
| 12 | MySpace ⓘ | Myspace social networking site | 2003-08-01 | ↗ |
| 13 | Monsanto, GMOs ⓘ | Monsanto agricultural biotech company and genetically modified organism controversy | 1996 | ↗ |
| 14 | Harry Potter ⓘ | Harry Potter book and film franchise by J.K. Rowling | 1997-06-26 | ↗ |
| 15 | Twilight ⓘ | Twilight vampire romance novel/film series by Stephenie Meyer | 2005-10-05 | ↗ |
| 16 | Michael Jackson dies | Death of pop star Michael Jackson | 2009-06-25 | ↗ |
| 17 | Nuclear accident, Fukushima, Japan | Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster following the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami | 2011-03-11 | ↗ |
| 18 | Crimean peninsula | Russian annexation of Crimea from Ukraine | 2014-02-20 → 2014-03-18 | ↗ |
| 19 | Cambridge Analytica ⓘ | Facebook-Cambridge Analytica data scandal | 2018-03-17 | ↗ |
| 20 | Kim Jong Un ⓘ | Kim Jong Un, Supreme Leader of North Korea | 2011-12-17 | ↗ |
| 21 | Robert Downey Jr., Iron Man ⓘ | Robert Downey Jr.'s portrayal of Iron Man / launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe | 2008-05-02 | ↗ |
| 22 | More war in Afghanistan | War in Afghanistan (U.S./NATO involvement and 2021 Taliban return) | 2001-10-07 → 2021-08-30 | ↗ |
| 23 | Cubs go all the way again ⓘ | Chicago Cubs win the World Series, ending a 108-year drought | 2016-11-02 | ↗ |
| 24 | Obama | Presidency of Barack Obama | 2009-01-20 → 2017-01-20 | ↗ |
| 25 | Spielberg ⓘ | Steven Spielberg (filmmaker, post-1989 career) | 1989 → 2023 | ↗ |
| 26 | Explosion, Lebanon | Beirut ammonium nitrate port explosion | 2020-08-04 | ↗ |
| 27 | Unabomber ⓘ | Ted Kaczynski's Unabomber mail-bombing campaign | 1978-05-25 → 1995-04-24 | ↗ |
| 28 | Bobbitt, John ⓘ | John and Lorena Bobbitt incident | 1993-06-23 | ↗ |
| 29 | Bombing, Boston Marathon | Boston Marathon bombing | 2013-04-15 | ↗ |
| 30 | Balloon Boy | Balloon Boy hoax (Falcon Heene incident) | 2009-10-15 | ↗ |
| 31 | War On Terror ⓘ | Global War on Terror launched by the U.S. after 9/11 | 2001-09-11 → 2021-08-30 | ↗ |
| 32 | QAnon ⓘ | QAnon far-right conspiracy theory movement | 2017-10-28 | ↗ |
| 33 | Trump gets impeached twice ⓘ | First and second impeachments of Donald Trump | 2019-12-18 → 2021-01-13 | ↗ |
| 34 | Polar bears got no ice ⓘ | Arctic sea ice loss and polar bear habitat decline due to climate change | 1989 → 2023 | ↗ |
| 35 | Fyre Fest | Fyre Festival fraudulent luxury music festival in the Bahamas | 2017-04-28 → 2017-04-29 | ↗ |
| 36 | Black Parade | The Black Parade album by My Chemical Romance | 2006-10-23 | ↗ |
| 37 | Michael Phelps ⓘ | Swimmer Michael Phelps' record-breaking Olympic career | 2008-08-17 | ↗ |
| 38 | Y2K ⓘ | Year 2000 computer date-rollover problem | 2000-01-01 | ↗ |
| 39 | Boris Johnson | Boris Johnson's premiership of the United Kingdom | 2019-07-24 → 2022-09-06 | ↗ |
| 40 | Brexit ⓘ | United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union | 2016-06-23 → 2020-01-31 | ↗ |
| 41 | Kanye West ⓘ | Kanye West interrupts Taylor Swift at the MTV Video Music Awards | 2009-09-13 | ↗ |
| 42 | Taylor Swift ⓘ | Taylor Swift, central figure in the Kanye West feud / cultural phenomenon | 2009-09-13 → 2016 | ↗ |
| 43 | Stranger Things ⓘ | Stranger Things Netflix sci-fi/horror series | 2016-07-15 | ↗ |
| 44 | Tiger King ⓘ | Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness Netflix documentary | 2020-03-20 | ↗ |
| 45 | Ever Given, Suez | Ever Given container ship blocking the Suez Canal | 2021-03-23 → 2021-03-29 | ↗ |
| 46 | Sandy Hook | Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting | 2012-12-14 | ↗ |
| 47 | Columbine | Columbine High School massacre | 1999-04-20 | ↗ |
| 48 | Sandra Bland | Death of Sandra Bland in Texas police custody | 2015-07-13 | ↗ |
| 49 | Tamir Rice | Police shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland | 2014-11-22 | ↗ |
| 50 | ISIS ⓘ | Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and its self-declared caliphate | 2014-06-29 → 2019-03-23 | ↗ |
| 51 | LeBron James ⓘ | Basketball superstar LeBron James | 2003-10-29 | ↗ |
| 52 | Shinzo Abe blown away | Assassination of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe | 2022-07-08 | ↗ |
| 53 | Meghan Markle ⓘ | Meghan Markle marries Prince Harry / Sussex royal exit | 2018-05-19 | ↗ |
| 54 | George Floyd | Murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police | 2020-05-25 | ↗ |
| 55 | Burj Khalifa ⓘ | Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building, opens in Dubai | 2010-01-04 | ↗ |
| 56 | Metroid ⓘ | Metroid video game franchise by Nintendo | 1986-08-06 | ↗ |
| 57 | Fermi paradox ⓘ | Fermi paradox - the contradiction between the high probability of extraterrestrial civilizations and the lack of evidence for them | 1950 | ↗ |
| 58 | Venus and Serena ⓘ | Venus and Serena Williams' dominance of professional tennis | 1999-09-11 | ↗ |
| 59 | Michael Jordan, 23 ⓘ | Michael Jordan wearing #23 for the Chicago Bulls | 1984-10-26 | ↗ |
| 60 | YouTube killed MTV ⓘ | YouTube's rise displacing MTV as the primary music-video platform | 2005-02-14 | ↗ |
| 61 | SpongeBob ⓘ | SpongeBob SquarePants animated series | 1999-05-01 | ↗ |
| 62 | Golden State Killer got caught | Arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo, the Golden State Killer | 2018-04-24 | ↗ |
| 63 | Michael Jordan, 45 ⓘ | Michael Jordan's brief 1995 comeback wearing #45 | 1995-03-19 | ↗ |
| 64 | Woodstock '99 | Woodstock 1999 music festival, marred by riots and assaults | 1999-07-22 → 1999-07-25 | ↗ |
| 65 | Keaton Batman ⓘ | Michael Keaton's portrayal of Batman in Tim Burton's Batman (1989) | 1989-06-23 | ↗ |
| 66 | Bush v. Gore | Bush v. Gore Supreme Court decision resolving the 2000 U.S. presidential election | 2000-12-12 | ↗ |
| 67 | Elon Musk ⓘ | Elon Musk (Tesla/SpaceX/Twitter business mogul) | 2002-05-06 | ↗ |
| 68 | Kaepernick ⓘ | Colin Kaepernick's national anthem protest against police brutality | 2016-08-26 | ↗ |
| 69 | Texas failed electric grid | February 2021 Texas power crisis during Winter Storm Uri | 2021-02-10 → 2021-02-20 | ↗ |
| 70 | Jeff Bezos ⓘ | Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and Blue Origin spaceflight figure | 1994-07-05 | ↗ |
| 71 | climate change ⓘ | Anthropogenic climate change and global warming | 1989 → 2023 | ↗ |
| 72 | White rhino goes extinct ⓘ | Functional extinction of the northern white rhinoceros (death of Sudan, the last male) | 2018-03-19 | ↗ |
| 73 | Great Pacific garbage patch ⓘ | Great Pacific Garbage Patch of marine debris | 1997 | ↗ |
| 74 | Tom DeLonge and aliens ⓘ | Tom DeLonge's UFO/UAP advocacy and To The Stars Academy | 2017-10-11 | ↗ |
| 75 | Mars rover ⓘ | NASA Mars rover missions (Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, Perseverance) | 1997-07-04 | ↗ |
| 76 | Avatar ⓘ | James Cameron's Avatar film franchise | 2009-12-18 | ↗ |
| 77 | Self-driving electric cars ⓘ | Self-driving electric vehicles (Tesla Autopilot and broader autonomous-vehicle development) | 2014-10-09 | ↗ |
| 78 | SSRIs ⓘ | Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants (Prozac and successors) | 1987-12-29 | ↗ |
| 79 | Prince and The Queen die ⓘ | Deaths of the musician Prince (2016) and Queen Elizabeth II (2022) | 2016-04-21 → 2022-09-08 | ↗ |
| 80 | World Trade ⓘ | World Trade Center, first plane impact (American Airlines Flight 11, North Tower) | 2001-09-11 | ↗ |
| 81 | second plane ⓘ | Second plane impact (United Airlines Flight 175, South Tower) — the moment the world realized it wasn't an accident | 2001-09-11 | ↗ |
Bonus track The Gang wrote a Fire song
In the season 17 opener of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Charlie and Dennis bang out their own 18-second version. Billy Joel runs 1949 to 1989 in order. The Gang ricochets through time at random. The video is FX's official clip, cued to the song. Press play and the list follows along.
Real-world year by position in the song
| # | At | Lyric | Event | Date | src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.1s | Captain Sully hits some geese | US Airways Flight 1549 lands on the Hudson after a goose strike Sully's miracle on the Hudson. | 2009-01-15 | ↗ |
| 2 | 5.5s | Marijuana legalized | Colorado and Washington vote to legalize recreational cannabis First U.S. states to legalize recreational use; Uruguay legalizes nationally in 2013. | 2012-11-06 | ↗ |
| 3 | 7.6s | Price of copper's on the rise | Copper price surge (2024 commodity rally) Our best match is the 2024 copper price spike. | 2024-05 | ↗ |
| 4 | 9.8s | Kaepernick takes a knee | Colin Kaepernick begins anthem protest First sat for the anthem; began kneeling Sept 1, 2016. | 2016-08-26 | ↗ |
| 5 | 11.7s | Ozempic cures obesity | Ozempic/semaglutide becomes cultural phenomenon for weight loss FDA approval 2017 for diabetes; viral 'Ozempic' weight-loss craze in 2023. | 2023 | ↗ |
| 6 | 14.1s | Y2K was overblown | Y2K millennium-bug fears prove unfounded | 2000-01-01 | ↗ |
| 7 | 16.1s | They shut down Guantanamo | Obama orders the Guantanamo Bay detention camp closed The order was signed in 2009. The camp is still open. | 2009-01-22 | ↗ |
Videos are the official uploads, embedded from YouTube. Timings are accurate to a second or two. How it was built.