fatalistic 1980s songs with the message “why care, they’ll drop the bomb anyway”

H/T Siegbran

That’s a whole category in itself, fatalistic 1980s songs with the message “why care, they’ll drop the bomb anyway”.
― Siegbran

and whether or not any of them are better than "1999"
― Kate (rushomancy), Wednesday, 5 July 2023 22:18 (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Does 'it's the end of the world as we know it (and I feel fine)' belong on the thread?
― the pinefox

Genuine question from someone who wasn't there: Does "Ask" by The Smiths exemplify this attitude or rebuff it?

The two suggested in the thread were

Righeira - Vamos a la Playa
Prince- 1999

and obvs we have to add

Lena - 99 Red Balloons

Pink Floyd, "Two Suns in the Sunset"

could be the human race is run

Really don't think Roger Waters was apathetic about nuclear war!

"Let's All Make a Bomb" by Heaven 17

"Party at Ground Zero" by Fishbone

Circle Jerks- Live Fast, Die Young

I think luftballons is supposed to be more of a cautionary tale, presumably they want us to care

this vibe has been *all over* pop music since at least the late 00s in various implicit and explicit ways but related to any number of current or potential apocalypses

XTC - This World Over, more 'weary resignation' than 'who cares' perhaps.

they can't wait to
use it
they can't wait to try it out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npfy3bUnklI

Yeah, most songs about nuclear war are of the "you fools!" or "this sucks" variety.

apparently future so bright gotta wear shades originally had flaming fascist reagan line
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Future%27s_So_Bright,_I_Gotta_Wear_Shades
i think they should have left it in, at least so that song wouldn't unironically become the theme song for every graduating class, or even if it still did, which would have been even more awesome.

I like this cover:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEGFF6pmiy8

The US bombs cruising overhead
But there goes my love rocket red

Donald Fagen's "New Frontier" sort of

probably a good chunk of Killing Jokes' output.

Town to Town by Microdisney

got a peaceful feeling, I've found a reason
for taking nothing seriously...

The "big silver trees" part sounds like missiles rather than a meteor:

A shadow from the sky, much too big to be a bird
A screaming, crashing noise louder than I've ever heard
It looked like two big silver trees that somehow learned to soar
Suddenly a summer breeze and a mighty lion's roar

I killed a dinosaur, I killed a dinosaur

Open the door, get on the floor
Everybody kill the dinosaur
Open the door, get on the floor
Everybody kill the dinosaur

wonder how many nihilist bands formed after The Day After aired on network tv

Man at C & A by the Specials

The Lunatics Have Taken Over the Asylum by Fun Boy Three

There's a subgenre of nuclear apocalypse songs that are fatalistic but also show a perverse longing for them to drop the bomb - Every Day is like Sunday by Morrissey, which is from a pov that's already fatalistic so hurry up and get it over with, or Fireside Favourite by Dad Gadget, which is a bit more gleeful

lol dad gadget! He was into power tools tbf

Two Tribes by Frankie is fatalistic in a 'we may as well party like there's no tomorrow because there won't be ' way, and has that sense of glee about annihilation as well

Ozzy's "Thank God for the Bomb" is actually a pro-M.A.D. song

the grandpa of this genre is Tom Lehrer's "We Will All Go Together"

For if the bomb that drops on you
Gets your friends and neighbors too
There'll be nobody left behind to grieve
And we will all go together when we go
Oh, what a comforting fact that is to know

Weird Al - Christmas at Ground Zero

The 12" mixes of "Two Tribes" are especially effective, both the Annihilation mix and the one below (Carnage) especially from 3:00 on. The back cover (slide two on this link) covered blast zones and other effects of nuclear missiles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlXOSpDq6q4

modern english - "melt with you"

word to "2 tribes" that's such a monolithic jam

Donald Fagen's "New Frontier" sort of

― Alito Bit of Soap (President Keyes), Thursday, 6 July 2023 17:41 (fifty-two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

New Frontier seems like it's about fantasizing about this kind of no tomorrow scenario so you're party can go off with a bang. There are a few Steely Dan songs about pre or post apocalyptic scenes - King of the World, The Last Mall (which has a kind of JG Ballard vibe, Ballard probably an influence on some of these 80s songs as well?)

Isn't It Interesting How Neutron Bombs Work? by Diagram Brothers is more sardonic than fatalistic, maybe

This whole field is basically my forte (that is, songs about nuclear war) but I'm having difficulty separating the fatalistic from the protesting.

How about Re Styles & The Final Rinse - The Nuclear Beauty Parlour?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnFHBxDzKvU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zf5iwGZNY_Q

Not specifically about the bomb, but Fear's "Let's Have a War" has the same what's-the-difference? resignation.

Television Personalities "How I Learned To Love The Bomb"

Alphaville - Forever Young

Let's dance in style, let's dance for a while
Heaven can wait, we're only watching the skies
Hoping for the best but expecting the worst
Are you gonna drop the bomb or not?

I feel “protest song” doesn’t quite cover this vibe - I associate those mostly with an empowering call for action, while nuclear dooming is essentially the opposite - an overwhelming feeing of powerlessness and futility set to music, or, like “Vamos A La Playa”, taking refuge in black humour/absurdity.

Warren Zevon's The Envoy fits the black humour category

Minutemen - Dream Told By Moto has like the haiku version

'When those bombs start fallin' on the first day World War III
Gonna grab me a girl
And go and fuck her, yeah-yeah World War III'

where Paranoid Time is the other side, dude can't talk to girls or work because he keeps thinking about World War III

Paranoid, stuck on overdrive
Paranoid, scared shitless

where does this heat's _deceit_ fall into this? i remember reading that charles hayward (i think) said they wrote it like they did because they figured total thermonuclear war was going to happen extremely soon. "the day after" was a big thing but most of the "we're all gonna die" stuff seems to predate it?

btw the "two tribes" video is great because c'mon how much media is there to feature an obvious expy of _konstantin chernenko_?

i remember very little of the andropov-chernenko years but from what i can tell they seem to have been pretty pivotal

Mandatory five disc Bear Family set of Cold War classics:
https://www.discogs.com/release/11515820-Various-Atomic-Platters-Cold-War-Music-From-The-Golden-Age-Of-Homeland-Security

"Two Tribes" is one of the few songs that really feels like not just a pop song about a timely subject, but a more rooted belief that, hey, this could be one of the last pop songs ever.

Atomic Platters was an eye-opener, great contrast to the universally bleak early 80s doomer music I grew up with.

The Freshies "Wrap up the rockets"

".. there's no way out so we might as well have a good time"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdsay8roQJQ

Feel like "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" qualifies.

Red Skies
It's a Mistake
Minutes to Midnight
Party at Ground Zero

I always got a post-apocalyptic vibe from "Ocean Rain" (the song), but there is nothing in there explicitly about nuclear war or any other sort of armageddon.

It's a Mistake

I feel like there's a subgenre out there of videos with Russian and/or American generals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0AxrOUJ62E

Al Stewart, "Russians and Americans":

Russians and Americans, driven by the past
The third world moves in the shadows you cast
Russians and Americans could turn the world to dust
So much to live for, so much undiscussed

The Sound - "Missles
Prince - "Ronnie Talk To Russia"
Au Pairs - "America"
Kate Bush - "Breathing"
Depeche Mode - "Two Minute Warning"
Young Marble Giants - "The Final Day"

The Police - "When The World Is Running Down..." (technically a post-nukewar song though)

Scars - Your Attention Please

Surprised no one has mentioned “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” by R.E.M.

it's the third post!

Of course it is!

UB40 – The earth dies screaming

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWl69ZOINfE

"let's do it for our country," from grease 2

"Dancing with Tears in My Eyes" by Ultravox ...."it's time, and we're in each other's arms, it's time, but I don't think we really care..."

"modern english - "melt with you"

not sure if this was a joke entry but I never considered this lyric was actually about melting.

Blondie - "Atomic"!

The riff is foreboding, sweeping, suddenly the whole song turns major, "Uh huh make me tonight!" etc.. "Your hair is beautiful!" and then you know what happens next, the fuckin bomb drops is what happens

I never thought of it that way, but you're right.

And now that song is stuck in my head. It's welcome in there.

I keep being reminded of Atomic whenever I see Barbenheimer stuff

https://res.cloudinary.com/teepublic/image/private/s--FYU_NiZ5--/c_crop,x_10,y_10/c_fit,h_1235/c_crop,g_north_west,h_1260,w_945,x_-37,y_-13/co_rgb:ffffff,e_colorize,u_Misc:One%20Pixel%20Gray/c_scale,g_north_west,h_1260,w_945/fl_layer_apply,g_north_west,x_-37,y_-13/bo_0px_solid_white/t_Resized%20Artwork/c_fit,g_north_west,h_1054,w_1054/co_ffffff,e_outline:51/co_ffffff,e_outline:inner_fill:51/co_bbbbbb,e_outline:3:1000/c_mpad,g_center,h_1260,w_1260/b_rgb:eeeeee/c_limit,f_auto,h_313,q_auto:good:420,w_313/v1687470416/production/designs/46909504_0 https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/10/Atomic_by_Blondie_US_single.png

Atomic feels not exactly fatalistic to me exactly, more this vibe of being about one perfect fleeting moment that's there for a second and then gone forever and also simultaneously preserved in a deathly way, same with a lot of Blondie lyrics