Music for millions to die by
October 19, 2013 6:49 AM Subscribe
"I note here that the first Australia would have known about all this would have been Soviet nuclear strikes on US facilities at Pine Gap (near Alice Springs), Nurrungar (Woomera) and North West Cape (near Exmouth). We know that this was likely because Western spies for the Soviet Union in the late 1970s had given Moscow some insights into the significance of these intelligence and communications facilities for what it saw as US nuclear war-fighting strategy." -- former Australian deputy secretary of defence Paul Dibb talks about Able Archer, the 1983 NATO nuclear warfare exercise that the Soviet Union almost mistook for the real thing.
In honour of which, a short soundtrack for WWIII:
Forever Young -- Alphaville
I Won't Let the Sun go Down on Me -- Nik Kershaw
Man at C&A -- Specials
Russians -- Sting
Let's Go all the Way -- Sly Fox
Two Tribes -- Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Let's All Make a Bomb -- Heaven 17
Dancing with tears in my Eyes -- Ultravox
De Bom -- Doe Maar
Vamos a la Playa -- Righeira
99 Luftballons -- Nena
Your attention Please -- Scars (text: Peter Porter)
For more on Able Archer, Robert Farley and Nate Jones (of the National Security Archive) discuss it for Bloggingheads tv.
In honour of which, a short soundtrack for WWIII:
Forever Young -- Alphaville
I Won't Let the Sun go Down on Me -- Nik Kershaw
Man at C&A -- Specials
Russians -- Sting
Let's Go all the Way -- Sly Fox
Two Tribes -- Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Let's All Make a Bomb -- Heaven 17
Dancing with tears in my Eyes -- Ultravox
De Bom -- Doe Maar
Vamos a la Playa -- Righeira
99 Luftballons -- Nena
Your attention Please -- Scars (text: Peter Porter)
For more on Able Archer, Robert Farley and Nate Jones (of the National Security Archive) discuss it for Bloggingheads tv.
No Final Countdown?
Reading the book from this thread it's kind of shocking that we made it out of the Cold War alive.
posted by Artw at 6:56 AM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Reading the book from this thread it's kind of shocking that we made it out of the Cold War alive.
posted by Artw at 6:56 AM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Great post. Bang in the middle of one of my periodic phases of torturing myself with Cold War nostalgia.
I've been waking up with Ultravox stuck in my head for a week!
Tangentially related - a great episode of BBC2's The People's Songs about the Falklands Conflict. Including reminiscences from Admiral Roger Lane-Nott, who commanded a Swiftsure Class nuclear-powered sub, which I found just fascinating.
posted by Catch at 7:30 AM on October 19, 2013
I've been waking up with Ultravox stuck in my head for a week!
Tangentially related - a great episode of BBC2's The People's Songs about the Falklands Conflict. Including reminiscences from Admiral Roger Lane-Nott, who commanded a Swiftsure Class nuclear-powered sub, which I found just fascinating.
posted by Catch at 7:30 AM on October 19, 2013
No Einstein A Go Go?
Reading the book from this thread it's kind of shocking that we made it out of the Cold War alive.
Found out recently that not far from where I lived as a kid an army lorry carrying a nuclear bomb went off the road after it's breaks failed. Apparently this was not uncommon. Oh and dropping one of the damn things when they were trying to load the damn thing on the bomber... that happened no too far away as well.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:55 AM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Reading the book from this thread it's kind of shocking that we made it out of the Cold War alive.
Found out recently that not far from where I lived as a kid an army lorry carrying a nuclear bomb went off the road after it's breaks failed. Apparently this was not uncommon. Oh and dropping one of the damn things when they were trying to load the damn thing on the bomber... that happened no too far away as well.
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 7:55 AM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Trouble Funk belongs in this list.
Also, Einstein on the Beach, but that's a bit long to link.
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 7:58 AM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Also, Einstein on the Beach, but that's a bit long to link.
posted by JimInLoganSquare at 7:58 AM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Also:
1) Minutemen - Dream Told by Moto
2) D.O.A. - World War 3
posted by symbioid at 8:08 AM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
1) Minutemen - Dream Told by Moto
2) D.O.A. - World War 3
posted by symbioid at 8:08 AM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
Tom Lehrer contributed two key songs to the WWIII songbook:
So Long, Mom
We Will All Go Together
posted by Sing Fool Sing at 8:41 AM on October 19, 2013 [3 favorites]
So Long, Mom
We Will All Go Together
posted by Sing Fool Sing at 8:41 AM on October 19, 2013 [3 favorites]
Needs some Weird Al: Christmas at Ground Zero.
posted by dilettante at 8:54 AM on October 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by dilettante at 8:54 AM on October 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
Yeah, the nuclear accidents in the UK were pretty sobering. I imagine the stuff in Turkey and so on seem less like jolly japes if you happen to live there as well.
posted by Artw at 8:56 AM on October 19, 2013
posted by Artw at 8:56 AM on October 19, 2013
"De Bom"!! Thanks for including that. Classic Ronbo-era antinuke tune.
posted by the sobsister at 9:11 AM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by the sobsister at 9:11 AM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
It sounds like they were on a highway to the danger zone.
posted by zippy at 9:12 AM on October 19, 2013
posted by zippy at 9:12 AM on October 19, 2013
Not forgetting Bowie's contributions to the WW3 list, Fantastic Voyage and When the Wind Blows.
posted by merocet at 9:15 AM on October 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by merocet at 9:15 AM on October 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
When I was a child I used to go exploring in my parents' bookshelves, and one afternoon I very soberly read, most of the way through, Talking to Children about Nuclear War, published in 1984 when I was two years old.
The Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union broke up before I ever had any real consciousness of the Cold War and the possibility of nuclear annihilation (I also grew up in Canada, which may have blunted it somewhat), but it was a very strange experience reading about how you might use "Dust in the Wind" or "Blowing in the Wind" as a starting point for discussing how likely it is that all of us will end up reduced to dust in the wind in the very near future.
posted by Jeanne at 9:24 AM on October 19, 2013
The Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union broke up before I ever had any real consciousness of the Cold War and the possibility of nuclear annihilation (I also grew up in Canada, which may have blunted it somewhat), but it was a very strange experience reading about how you might use "Dust in the Wind" or "Blowing in the Wind" as a starting point for discussing how likely it is that all of us will end up reduced to dust in the wind in the very near future.
posted by Jeanne at 9:24 AM on October 19, 2013
Simon and Garfunkel also had the chilling The Sun Is Burning, which I think was one of the few songs that didn't make it into the anti-nuke movie I made with some friends in high school. I know we discussed using it, though.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:55 AM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 9:55 AM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
And Two suns in the sunset.
Tangentially: Was 99 Luftballons the first popular song to mention (at least in English translation) software bugs in its lyrics?
posted by enf at 10:39 AM on October 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
Tangentially: Was 99 Luftballons the first popular song to mention (at least in English translation) software bugs in its lyrics?
posted by enf at 10:39 AM on October 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
What, no Louvin Brothers' "Great Atomic Power?" (1952)
Naah, wanted to stick with eighties tunes for this.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:48 AM on October 19, 2013
Naah, wanted to stick with eighties tunes for this.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:48 AM on October 19, 2013
For the WWIII playlist, the Clash's Ivan Meets G.I. Joe, which recasts the nuclear exchange as a dance-off.
posted by COBRA! at 12:02 PM on October 19, 2013
posted by COBRA! at 12:02 PM on October 19, 2013
Might be a bit too regional to be well known: Art Interface - Wardance.
posted by a person of few words at 12:26 PM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by a person of few words at 12:26 PM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
No Final Countdown?
Here you go - Laibach Style!
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 12:45 PM on October 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
Here you go - Laibach Style!
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 12:45 PM on October 19, 2013 [2 favorites]
Also, this here's an oldie but goodie - Jackie Doll & His Pickled Peppers - When They Drop The Atomic Bomb -it's just so darn cheerful!
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 1:27 PM on October 19, 2013
posted by Trinity-Gehenna at 1:27 PM on October 19, 2013
More recently, We Will Become Silhouettes by the Postal Service, complete with smiling midcentury family.
posted by sandswipe at 5:52 PM on October 19, 2013
posted by sandswipe at 5:52 PM on October 19, 2013
The Three Johns - Atom Drum Bop
Somewhere around the time that the "Face On Mars" was spotted and popularised (so, 1986?) one of the local Australian papers published a few splash pages on how a nuclear war would go down. It might have been based on this.
I seem to recall the thrust of it was that the strategy was that the US would allow the sacrifice of an ally like Australia and the USSR Cuba (although, as an adult with a better working knowledge of geography that makes less sense).
That article haunted me the rest of the Cold War.
(Also, obligatory Threads link).
posted by Mezentian at 7:34 PM on October 19, 2013
Somewhere around the time that the "Face On Mars" was spotted and popularised (so, 1986?) one of the local Australian papers published a few splash pages on how a nuclear war would go down. It might have been based on this.
I seem to recall the thrust of it was that the strategy was that the US would allow the sacrifice of an ally like Australia and the USSR Cuba (although, as an adult with a better working knowledge of geography that makes less sense).
That article haunted me the rest of the Cold War.
(Also, obligatory Threads link).
posted by Mezentian at 7:34 PM on October 19, 2013
Oh, basically once a shooting war is on all the allies are there to soak up bombs that might otherwise have fallen on the principles, there's no mystery there.
posted by Artw at 7:38 PM on October 19, 2013
posted by Artw at 7:38 PM on October 19, 2013
Fishbone - Party at Ground Zero
OMD - Enola Gay
Morrissey - Everyday is Like Sunday
(and 10,000 Maniacs - Everyday is Like Sunday)
((and The Pretenders - Everyday is Like Sunday))
posted by The Tensor at 11:37 PM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
OMD - Enola Gay
Morrissey - Everyday is Like Sunday
(and 10,000 Maniacs - Everyday is Like Sunday)
((and The Pretenders - Everyday is Like Sunday))
posted by The Tensor at 11:37 PM on October 19, 2013 [1 favorite]
I've been playing Fallout: New Vegas with a mod radio station that combines actual CONELRAD broadcasts with apocalyptic pop music from the era. The contrast between the saccharine music and its lyrical content is pretty surreal. It's a hell of a trip for me - having grown up far away and decades too late - and has put into perspective the kind of paranoia that Americans of the era lived with.
Someone has helpfully uploaded a large number of songs from that radio station to this youtube account. My current favourite is this one by Sir Lancelot.
posted by vanar sena at 1:19 AM on October 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
Someone has helpfully uploaded a large number of songs from that radio station to this youtube account. My current favourite is this one by Sir Lancelot.
posted by vanar sena at 1:19 AM on October 20, 2013 [1 favorite]
I suspect that in 20 to 50 years we'll find out that the Soviets were half right and Able Archer was partly designed to facilitate an opportunistic early strike if there was further escalation after KAL 007.
posted by mobunited at 5:09 AM on October 20, 2013
posted by mobunited at 5:09 AM on October 20, 2013
/embarrassed sigh
Grew up in the 70s and 80s, terrified of the Soviets and the aftermath of a nuclear war. "The Day After" gave me nightmares. And yet I was....fascinated, I guess...by all things post-apocalypse. Not sure if it was just trying to understand my fears or what, but even something as mundane as an episode of "Silver Spoons" (the one where Ricky is the president in a dream sequence, and tells off Yuri Andropov and inadvertently starts WW III) would send me into fear mode.
Had I know about the ABLE ARCHER, I'd probably have just wet myself.
Even today I marvel at how we got there and got out in sort-of-one-piece, but that CONELRAD link that Vanar Sena posted just made me vividly remember how many books, movies and essays I read about how we were all going to die in a fiery microsecond, or worse, survive the holocaust and misery that would ensue. Either way we were fucked, and that sense of foreboding defined a lot of my childhood in a very real way.
posted by Thistledown at 5:22 AM on October 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
Grew up in the 70s and 80s, terrified of the Soviets and the aftermath of a nuclear war. "The Day After" gave me nightmares. And yet I was....fascinated, I guess...by all things post-apocalypse. Not sure if it was just trying to understand my fears or what, but even something as mundane as an episode of "Silver Spoons" (the one where Ricky is the president in a dream sequence, and tells off Yuri Andropov and inadvertently starts WW III) would send me into fear mode.
Had I know about the ABLE ARCHER, I'd probably have just wet myself.
Even today I marvel at how we got there and got out in sort-of-one-piece, but that CONELRAD link that Vanar Sena posted just made me vividly remember how many books, movies and essays I read about how we were all going to die in a fiery microsecond, or worse, survive the holocaust and misery that would ensue. Either way we were fucked, and that sense of foreboding defined a lot of my childhood in a very real way.
posted by Thistledown at 5:22 AM on October 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
Okay, before we get totally freaked out here, I have a couple examples of "Cold War Inspired Songs" that are actually....hopeful.
The legend behind Bruce Cockburn's "Wondering Where the Lions Are" is that the night before he wrote it, he was having dinner with a friend who worked in Canada's government and had some high-level security clearance or something. The friend was telling him the world was WAY closer to World War III than anyone knew - "we could wake up tomorrow in the middle of a world war, seriously." This was, of course, distressing news, and it took a while for Bruce to get to sleep.
At the time he was having a recurring nightmare of being trapped inside a house with a bunch of lions prowling around outside - and he had it that night. But for some reason, rather than feeling scared, in the dream that time he felt...fascinated. He watched the lions outside in his dream and was thinking "whoa, cool" rather than "eek". And he woke up the next morning in a great mood - wow, he'd had that nightmare and it wasn't scary, maybe he'd gotten over it. And it was a gorgeous morning and he was going about his business and thinking of the great change he'd had with this dream, and an hour later it hit him - he'd woken up, and the world wasn't at war.
And he's also said his song "Lovers In A Dangerous Time" was inspired by the Cold War too - watching his kids and knowing that they knew just how close to disaster the whole world was, but they were still getting crushes and "wanting to hold hands in the schoolyard" and he thought that whole hope in the face of "omigod the world could end" was incredibly hopeful. (Linking to him doing it with Stephen Page because I like the BNL cover best, and this is a compromise.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:06 AM on October 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
The legend behind Bruce Cockburn's "Wondering Where the Lions Are" is that the night before he wrote it, he was having dinner with a friend who worked in Canada's government and had some high-level security clearance or something. The friend was telling him the world was WAY closer to World War III than anyone knew - "we could wake up tomorrow in the middle of a world war, seriously." This was, of course, distressing news, and it took a while for Bruce to get to sleep.
At the time he was having a recurring nightmare of being trapped inside a house with a bunch of lions prowling around outside - and he had it that night. But for some reason, rather than feeling scared, in the dream that time he felt...fascinated. He watched the lions outside in his dream and was thinking "whoa, cool" rather than "eek". And he woke up the next morning in a great mood - wow, he'd had that nightmare and it wasn't scary, maybe he'd gotten over it. And it was a gorgeous morning and he was going about his business and thinking of the great change he'd had with this dream, and an hour later it hit him - he'd woken up, and the world wasn't at war.
And he's also said his song "Lovers In A Dangerous Time" was inspired by the Cold War too - watching his kids and knowing that they knew just how close to disaster the whole world was, but they were still getting crushes and "wanting to hold hands in the schoolyard" and he thought that whole hope in the face of "omigod the world could end" was incredibly hopeful. (Linking to him doing it with Stephen Page because I like the BNL cover best, and this is a compromise.)
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:06 AM on October 20, 2013 [3 favorites]
It's always darkest before the dawn.
Note: illusion of dawn may be caused by thermonuclear detonation.
posted by Artw at 6:58 AM on October 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
Note: illusion of dawn may be caused by thermonuclear detonation.
posted by Artw at 6:58 AM on October 20, 2013 [2 favorites]
Okay, before we get totally freaked out here, I have a couple examples of "Cold War Inspired Songs" that are actually....hopeful.
You forgot Sting! which I associate with 1985 and rollerskating rinks and the hope that we might NOT all die from thermonuclear war, melting or rad poisioning.
posted by Mezentian at 7:03 AM on October 20, 2013
You forgot Sting! which I associate with 1985 and rollerskating rinks and the hope that we might NOT all die from thermonuclear war, melting or rad poisioning.
posted by Mezentian at 7:03 AM on October 20, 2013
Either way we were fucked, and that sense of foreboding defined a lot of my childhood in a very real way.
No shit. And then they put shows on the TV wondering why the 60s happened.
And doing stuff to make sure that never happens again.
We humans are some crazy motherfuckers.
posted by Twang at 10:30 AM on October 20, 2013
No shit. And then they put shows on the TV wondering why the 60s happened.
And doing stuff to make sure that never happens again.
We humans are some crazy motherfuckers.
posted by Twang at 10:30 AM on October 20, 2013
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posted by banal evil at 6:55 AM on October 19, 2013