The 1980s marked the height of the Second Cold War, and there are plenty of songs out there about it. Led by the United States and the Soviet Union, world superpowers built up stockpiles of nuclear weapons. People everywhere fretted about impending doom.
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It’s only natural that some of those worries worked their way into the pop songs of the day. Here are four hit songs from the 1980s that flashed concerns about the Big One falling.
“1999” by Prince
Leave it to Prince to create a song that hinted at the end of the world and still ended up sounding like the world’s biggest party. It’s interesting to note that “1999” didn’t hit the Top 40 when first released off the album of the same name in 1982. Once the ballad “Little Red Corvette” came out and cleared the way, the re-release of the single did much better. In this case, Prince ties in his worries about nuclear war (“Everybody’s got a bomb, we could all die any day”) with reflections on the end of the millennium. He battles the urge to fight fire with fire. “War is all around us, my mind says prepare to fight,” he sings. “So if I gotta die I’m gonna listen to my body tonight.”
“I Melt With You” by Modern English
Because of the adrenaline rush of the music, this song is the one on this list that might sneak its worries about nuclear war right past you. At least at first. Modern English had already released an album that was decidedly uncommercial. When they went back in for their second record (After The Fall), lead singer Robbie Grey came in with something that he wrote in a span of time that was about as long as the song lasts. Producer Hugh Jones played up the pop smarts of the melody. When you hear “I Melt With You”, it’s easy to get caught up with the unabashedly romantic touches in the lyrics. Upon closer inspection, you’ll realize that the couple at the heart of the lyrics are literally melting, as they’re making love as nuclear war ends the world.
“It’s A Mistake” by Men At Work
Because of their penchant for somewhat comical videos, the songs for Men At Work were often misconstrued as light-hearted. Yet even songs like “Down Under” had serious issues lurking in the margins. By the time the band got to “It’s A Mistake”, a Top 10 hit for them in 1983, the dire meaning was much easier to spot. Colin Hay wrote it from the perspective of one of the soldiers who might get caught up in the carnage if a nuclear strike were ordered. “Is it on then, are we on the brink?” he asks of the scenario before expressing his desire that cooler heads would prevail: “We wish you’d all throw in the towel.” Hay’s voice rising in pitch as he repeats the refrain signifies the urgency of his pleas.
“Russians” by Sting
For the most part, Sting’s first solo album (The Dream Of The Blue Turtles) displayed a lighter side that he didn’t show all that often when he was a member of The Police. “Russians” offers a stark exception to some of the more playful moments on the record. It’s a song that mentions former (Khrushchev) and current (President Reagan) world leaders who try to speak for their entire populace. Sting suggests that the powers that be sometimes overlook the citizens worried that it could end in a moment. “I don’t subscribe to this point of view,” Sting rejoinders every time one of the leaders offers bellicose words. “There’s no such thing as a winnable war,” he says in the song’s most memorable couplet. “It’s a lie we don’t believe anymore.”
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