Eve of Destruction: Music and The Bomb

[version]

I was watching a netflix doc about the cold war recently and it made me wonder about the influence of nuclear Armageddon on post-war/pre-Berlin wall fall music. Not just the obvious stuff, either. How did that feeling of potential imminent catastrophe bleed into pop music, for example? If it did.

 

[william_kent]

Sun Ra - Nuclear War ( 1982 )

"it's a motherfucker"



Sun Ra - Nuclear War ( Live, Paris 1983 )

 

[william_kent]

Chrome - Armageddon( 1982 )

 

[william_kent]

Papa San - Nuclear Slaughter ( 1991 )

 

[william_kent]

Prince Far I - Nuclear Weapon ( 1983 )

 

[version]

 

[william_kent]

Number One in the UK 1984



Frankie Goes to Hollywood - Two Tribes ( Top of the Pops 1984 )

 

[catalog]

WW3 thread everyone wants it

 

[william_kent]

OMD - Enola Gay ( Top of the Pops 1980 )

 

[william_kent]

CRASS - Nagasaki Nightmare ( 1980 )

Number one in the UK Independent charts for two weeks running...

every other anarcho punk tune was about nuclear war....

 

[dilbert1]

Atomic electricity is just a filthy mess and waste
It makes you wonder why they bother with such risks entailed
Is it just a coincidence this atomic power makes
An energy source of uranium from which atom bombs are being made
Behind our backs they scheme and dig mine and your graves
Behind our backs they laugh as their shelters are being made
Out of sight, on the quiet, the plans are being neatly laid
While we sit wasting time in the safe ignored shade

What if soon we were all out in the sun
Dodging the fallout, trying to hide or run
We need to stop it now before they've begun
Don't wait to be asked, no questionnaire will come

They lie we die

We've left it in their bloody hands for far too long
Atomic energy is gonna finance their bomb
They think they fight wars on mine and your behalf
So let's bloody tell 'em, you've got it fucking wrong

What about the people in far off remote places
They never even knew bombs exist
They'll never have the chance to say or protest
That they didn't want their lives blown to bits

They lie we die

When they crawl from their shelters they'll start it all again
It makes you wonder who are these powermad women and men?

So that in a hundred years they'll be as strong as before
But as usual, at no expense to them

It's no use saying "oh it's too late"
It's no use saying "that it will never happen"
It's no use saying "that's the way it goes"
Is it really the way you wanna go ?

They lie we die

They sigh we cry
We burn they learn
They lie we fry
They dream we scream

They lie we die

Is it really the way you wanna go?

 

[dilbert1]

Lyrics onscreen and an interesting story/conspiracy theory. Its more about nuclear power but then it seems the punx were keen to draw the connection to the arms industry as in the Flux tune above

 

[dilbert1]

Nations saw it coming the signs were there
Nobody listened nobody cared
People demonstrated again and again
Every warning was all in vain

Sirens rang out the outcome was clear
Death and destruction was drawing near
Mankind destroyed with nuclear know how
Wasted lives no tears to flow
Try to get home, run for your life
A few may live but millions will die
Pushing and jostling all wasting time
As the bombs drop slowly from the sky

Blinding light makes the eyes go blank
Split second later shock wave attack
Flеsh in the street laying burned and charred
Millions massacrеd no time to laugh
Show of strength that went too far
Superpowers overstepped the mark
Declared in a minute and finished in five
Ordinary people suffered with their lives

Nations saw it coming the signs were there
Nobody listened nobody cared
People demonstrated again and again
Every warning was all in vain
Show of strength that went too far
Superpowers overstepped the mark
Declared in a minute and finished in five
Ordinary people suffered with their lives

 

[dilbert1]

Not to get carried away, I know it was supposed to be pop music...

 

[dilbert1]

Mother, do you think they'll drop the bomb?

 

[version]

I've often wondered whether the extremes of Japanese culture being so mental is partly a trauma response to The Bomb. All that insane noise gear, the tentacle porn, the bizarre horror films. It really sticks out, even in comparison to similar stuff from other countries.




@Corpsey Have you read that Jeff Nuttall guy people have mentioned here in the past? He wrote a book specifically about this.

Nuttall argued that a tangible psychic dread of nuclear holocaust pervaded both high and low cultures, determining their attitude and content, much as the horrors of World War I had nourished the tactics and aesthetics of Dadaism.

Bomb Culture

Jeff Nuttall's exploration of radical 1960s art, music,…

www.goodreads.com

 

[kid charlemagne]

 

[germaphobian]

 

[Murphy]

 

[dilbert1]

@william_kent are/were you ever an anarcho fan? Am I the only one on the forum?