133 episodes

This brand new pop culture history podcast is nothing like anything you've heard before, and it's everything you need to understand the modern world. Katie Puckrik and Tom Fordyce, an American pop culture buff and a British music lover, have taken the smash-hit song by Billy Joel and turned it into a podcast. Billy lists 120 people, places, and things in 'We Didn't Start The Fire', and Katie and Tom will do an episode on every single one to create the most fascinating, random and original history of the post-war world. Over the next two and a half years, we're going to learn about politics, rock 'n' roll, sport, space, television, the Cold War, guided along the way by historians, eyewitnesses, and mega-fans. Billy started it. We're going to finish it. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @spreadthatfire, email us at fire@crowdnetwork.co.uk, and go to spreadthatfire.com to buy merch.

We Didn't Start the Fire: The History Podcast Crowd Stories+

    • History
    • 3.8 • 106 Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

This brand new pop culture history podcast is nothing like anything you've heard before, and it's everything you need to understand the modern world. Katie Puckrik and Tom Fordyce, an American pop culture buff and a British music lover, have taken the smash-hit song by Billy Joel and turned it into a podcast. Billy lists 120 people, places, and things in 'We Didn't Start The Fire', and Katie and Tom will do an episode on every single one to create the most fascinating, random and original history of the post-war world. Over the next two and a half years, we're going to learn about politics, rock 'n' roll, sport, space, television, the Cold War, guided along the way by historians, eyewitnesses, and mega-fans. Billy started it. We're going to finish it. Follow us on Twitter and Instagram @spreadthatfire, email us at fire@crowdnetwork.co.uk, and go to spreadthatfire.com to buy merch.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Introducing: Oceans: Life Under Water

    Introducing: Oceans: Life Under Water

    What do you hear at the bottom of the ocean? How does it feel to swim with whales? Or make friends with an octopus? Come and find out. This is Life Under Water.

    Wildlife filmmaker and TV personality Hannah Stitfall wants to take you the world below the waves. She’ll be chatting to freedivers, marine biologists, submarine pilots and more, hearing mind-boggling stories about the oceans-deep and its inhabitants. We explore The Lost City. We hang out with your favourite animals. The hypnotic sound design and storytelling will drop you right there.

    Oceans: Life Under Water is brought to you by Crowd Network and Greenpeace UK, which is how these stories can be told so beautifully but also responsibly.
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    • 7 min
    Introducing: Countdown To Dallas

    Introducing: Countdown To Dallas

    In the series premier, we recap the basic events surrounding President Kennedy's assassination. We’ll discuss the formation of the famous Warren Commission, its findings — and highlight the one thing about its report that's often overlooked.
    Buy the book Countdown to Dallas: The Incredible Coincidences, Routines, and Blind "Luck" that Brought John F. Kennedy and Lee Harvey Oswald Together on November 22, 1963 here.
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    • 20 min
    The Finale: Rock 'n' Roller Cola Wars

    The Finale: Rock 'n' Roller Cola Wars

    The time has finally come... we’ve made it to the end of the song. This episode description is being written on a tearstained laptop as we speak. But we PROMISE we’re going out with a very fizzy bang. The cola wars was a tense battle between soda giants Coca Cola and Pepsi, as they tried to be crowned the hippest, Americanest, tastiest cola. But it’s also the epitoment of American capitalism and the power of brands. So who won the war? What the hell was New Coke? And who wins in the battle of Madonna v George Michael? Plus there’s a cola taste test and a whole lotta reminiscing. Thanks for joining us listeners, we hope you enjoy ❤️‍🔥
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    • 55 min
    China's Under Martial Law

    China's Under Martial Law

    It’s the penultimate episode, and Billy’s taken us back to China to talk about the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, and the massacre that followed. In classic To this day, discussion of the events are strictly censored in China but in this episode we’ll explore it all. What happened to the protestors? Do we know who Tank Man was? What role did rock n roll play? And what’s the state of resistance and counter-culture in today’s China? We’re talking all that and more with modern China expert, Jeff Wasserstrom.
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    • 1 hr 1 min
    Hypodermics on the Shore

    Hypodermics on the Shore

    When you head to the beach, you expect to find some leftover sandcastles and nasty sunburns - not a tide of used syringes. But that’s what was found on the coast of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut in 1987-88. It destroyed tourism and caused drastic changes in local waste disposal. It’s a horrifying thing to think about, but what we didn’t realise is how often this still happens. Medical waste disposal is a huge issue for anti-pollution campaigners, so to learn more about it all, we’re talking to Ruth Stringer, International Society and Policy Coordinator of Health Care Without Harm.
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    • 34 min
    Bernie Goetz

    Bernie Goetz

    Ordinary guy turned vigilante icon, Bernie Goetz shook a crime-riddled New York City in 1984, after he shot 4 black teenagers on the subway. It created a rift within public opinion, and forced difficult conversations about race, self-defence, and gun rights. But when does self-defence go too far? How do we know Goetz truly felt threatened by teenagers he suspected would mug him? And was he properly punished? This week, we also explore the current case of Jordan Neely, a homeless black man who was recently killed on the subway after being placed in a deadly chokehold. It draws eery similarities to the Goetz case, so what does this say about the current state of America? Has anything changed since Goetz?


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    • 41 min

Customer Reviews

3.8 out of 5
106 Ratings

106 Ratings

Abcdefghijking ,

So fascinating!

The history of this podcast and the song have drawn me in since we studied it for history in 8th grade. I was so excited to find this podcast and really enjoy it! I’m on episode 35 and while the history and the guests are amazing, the female host is annoying and says a lot of things we don’t need to hear, and her constant trump bashing is annoying. We get you don’t like him, that’s fine, you don’t need to talk about it every. Single. Episode! All in all, I’m trying to ignore her commentary so I can enjoy the show!

ooh.boo ,

Stop saying “you know”

I really wanted to like this podcast. I think it’s a great premise. I started with the Peyton Place episode, and the guest is ridiculous. She says, “You know” every 3 words. It is impossible to listen to.

BillBlaster1 ,

Very Creative and Clever!

I know of Billy Joel and of this song, “We didn’t start the fire”, but it was very clever of the hosts to seize upon the lyrics to describe in detail the history lesson Mr.Joel was giving us. I really enjoy the podcasts, and will try to go through all of them. Keep up the great work. Highly recommended if interested in Cold War history. I would add that one of the co-hosts should keep her progressive, socialist political viewpoints to herself, as I could care less what her political opinions are and all of them are completely irrelevant to this podcast.

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