4 Legendary Songs From the Cold War Pop Era

Cold War pop is a very unique genre. It isn’t really defined by sound at all. Rather, Cold War pop songs are simply tunes that came out in the 1980s during the Cold War era, and many of those songs lyrically explore the anxiety-ridden times of potential nuclear warfare. In general, these songs all sound quite different from each other. They simply have the common theme involving fear of total nuclear annihilation. And many of those songs are surprisingly delightful bops. Let’s take a look, shall we?

1. “99 Luftballons” by Nena

Nena is one of the greatest one-hit wonders of the Cold War era, and “99 Luftballons” is a long-standing fan favorite among pop songs of that era. Honestly, this band deserved so much more than they got. 

The storyline behind this song is perfect: A group of red balloons is released into the sky, and the military mistakes them for UFOs and starts launching bombs. It’s a well-written song about how much power government entities had at the time (and still do) and the anxieties that many people had about that power in terms of nuclear warfare.

2. “Atomic” by Blondie

This is easily the most famous of all Cold War pop songs. “Atomic” by Blondie was recorded back in 1979 and is on a totally different level from their other works. It has the disco-futurist vibe of a lot of Blondie’s other hit songs, but “Atomic” sounds like a song you’d hear at a 1980s rave after having a cowboy shootout over radioactive provisions. 

The whole of this song is beautifully constructed, and it makes sense why it is often used in film scores for movies about the Cold War. 

3. “Games Without Frontiers” by Peter Gabriel

“Games Without Frontiers” was Peter Gabriel’s first solo hit, and it makes sense why. This gorgeous song really defined the anxiety and fear of its era. The vocals are unsettling, the instrumentals are jarring, and the sounds of military and war are subtle yet profound. He wasn’t playing games with this one.

4. “Breathing” by Kate Bush

The 1980s were Kate Bush’s finest years, and quite a bit of her music involved the Cold War in some capacity. The above-mentioned Peter Gabriel tune featured her vocals in the background, after all. “Breathing” is probably her most apocalyptic tune, sung from the perspective of an unborn fetus awaiting birth in a post-apocalyptic world. The imagery is beautiful yet unnerving.

Photo by Scherhaufer via Getty Images

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