The Mighty Musical Observations Thread

[Kory]

https://thehardtimes.net/blog/how-echo- ... 80s-bands/

My entry point was PiL. Before it was anyone else's!

PiL would be mine, too, but in a roundabout way. Album to Sex Pistols to Second Edition and This Is What You Want.

You're weird.

[Dr. Medulla]

https://thehardtimes.net/blog/how-echo- ... 80s-bands/

My entry point was PiL. Before it was anyone else's!

PiL would be mine, too, but in a roundabout way. Album to Sex Pistols to Second Edition and This Is What You Want.

You're weird.

It was the 80s, man. We did everything roundabout back then. Because of Reagan and leg warmers and feeding Africa as long as Phil Collins would fly on the Concorde. The Challenger is in there somewhere, too.

[Wolter]

Hey Inder, you see this?

[Marky Dread]

https://thehardtimes.net/blog/how-echo- ... 80s-bands/

My entry point was PiL. Before it was anyone else's!

I never listened to a word you said.

[Dr. Medulla]

Researching for a lecture on nuclear imagery in rock music, so of course this Frankee Goes to Holywüd (that's what it said on Heston's shirt, anyway) song has to be discussed. Serious respect to the UK consumer that this fucker was #1 for nine straight weeks. One of the last gasps of pop songs being both successful and politically dissenting.

[Marky Dread]

Researching for a lecture on nuclear imagery in rock music, so of course this Frankee Goes to Holywüd (that's what it said on Heston's shirt, anyway) song has to be discussed. Serious respect to the UK consumer that this fucker was #1 for nine straight weeks. One of the last gasps of pop songs being both successful and politically dissenting.

Helped by the fact that each week a new 12" mix was released.

Regards your later comment don't forget the Manic Street Preachers "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" and "The Masses Against the Classes".

[Low Down Low]

My favourite nuclear related song has to be Sh-Boom, first heard it as a kid without ever knowing the fascinating history behind it and the significance it had in the development of rock 'n roll. Then again, it was the Darts version i first heard, so you're not exactly thinking of nuclear holocaust when you listen to Den and the boys!

[Dr. Medulla]

My favourite nuclear related song has to be Sh-Boom, first heard it as a kid without ever knowing the fascinating history behind it and the significance it had in the development of rock 'n roll. Then again, it was the Darts version i first heard, so you're not exactly thinking of nuclear holocaust when you listen to Den and the boys!

Wow! I didn't realize there was a connection there, but just found a paper online about it. Thanks muchly for the tip!

[Low Down Low]

My favourite nuclear related song has to be Sh-Boom, first heard it as a kid without ever knowing the fascinating history behind it and the significance it had in the development of rock 'n roll. Then again, it was the Darts version i first heard, so you're not exactly thinking of nuclear holocaust when you listen to Den and the boys!

Wow! I didn't realize there was a connection there, but just found a paper online about it. Thanks muchly for the tip!

I'd heard the song probably a 1000 times and never realised the connection either, was reading some book about the whole Bikini Atoll business a few years back and it seems that half of the US pretty much figured on being wiped out of existence imminently around the early-mid 1950s and hence a glut of songs on the subject with an eerily upbeat tone, as in might as well just enjoy time we've got left kind of thing.

[Dr. Medulla]

My favourite nuclear related song has to be Sh-Boom, first heard it as a kid without ever knowing the fascinating history behind it and the significance it had in the development of rock 'n roll. Then again, it was the Darts version i first heard, so you're not exactly thinking of nuclear holocaust when you listen to Den and the boys!

Wow! I didn't realize there was a connection there, but just found a paper online about it. Thanks muchly for the tip!

I'd heard the song probably a 1000 times and never realised the connection either, was reading some book about the whole Bikini Atoll business a few years back and it seems that half of the US pretty much figured on being wiped out of existence imminently around the early-mid 1950s and hence a glut of songs on the subject with an eerily upbeat tone, as in might as well just enjoy time we've got left kind of thing.

There's an amazing number of atomic songs from the 1950s, mostly in the country music genre. It's not until the 80s that rock really catches up. I've been quite surprised that there isn't much literature exclusively focused on music and nuclear anxiety. My lecture's going to end up having a lot more historical context than discussion of music that I expected.

[Flex]

There's an amazing number of atomic songs from the 1950s, mostly in the country music genre. It's not until the 80s that rock really catches up. I've been quite surprised that there isn't much literature exclusively focused on music and nuclear anxiety. My lecture's going to end up having a lot more historical context than discussion of music that I expected.

I assume you're familiar with the Bear Family box set on the subject: http://www.atomicplatters.com/box_set.php

[Low Down Low]

There's an amazing number of atomic songs from the 1950s, mostly in the country music genre. It's not until the 80s that rock really catches up. I've been quite surprised that there isn't much literature exclusively focused on music and nuclear anxiety. My lecture's going to end up having a lot more historical context than discussion of music that I expected.

I assume you're familiar with the Bear Family box set on the subject: http://www.atomicplatters.com/box_set.php

Great list of songs there. Off topic a little but cant help noticing one of my old favourites, the Golden Gate Quartet, in there who are said to have recorded the first rap song way back in the 1950s.

[Dr. Medulla]

There's an amazing number of atomic songs from the 1950s, mostly in the country music genre. It's not until the 80s that rock really catches up. I've been quite surprised that there isn't much literature exclusively focused on music and nuclear anxiety. My lecture's going to end up having a lot more historical context than discussion of music that I expected.

I assume you're familiar with the Bear Family box set on the subject: http://www.atomicplatters.com/box_set.php

I don't have it, but I know of it. If you've never seen the documentary The Atomic Cafe, it's also got a few choice tunes.

edit: Fun fact: "Thirteen Men," by Ann-Margret, was originally the a-side of a single by Bill Haley and the Comets. The single flopped, but the b-side, "Rock Around the Clock," did okay several months later when it was re-released

[Dr. Medulla]

More nuclear (or at least apocalyptic) songs I'm revisiting: R.E.M.'s "It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)." Damn but this is good. As much of a (stereotypical) Gen X anthem as any other, with its ironic amused stance towards apocalypse and joyfully manic namechecking of popular cultural texts and people. There's a lovely defiance to the "and I feel fine" addition. I'm powerless to stop the insane games of insane presidents and premiers, but you can't hurt me because I'm numb to it all. But I'm especially drawn to the backing vocal line, "Time I had some time alone." Is it a desire to escape the cultural sensory overload that the lyrics express, or is it ironic satisfaction with the idea of massive depopulation? Both? It's not my favourite R.E.M. song ("Harbourcoat"), but it is the more significant one.

[Heston]

Researching for a lecture on nuclear imagery in rock music, so of course this Frankee Goes to Holywüd (that's what it said on Heston's shirt, anyway) song has to be discussed. Serious respect to the UK consumer that this fucker was #1 for nine straight weeks. One of the last gasps of pop songs being both successful and politically dissenting.

Helped by the fact that each week a new 12" mix was released.

Regards your later comment don't forget the Manic Street Preachers "If You Tolerate This Your Children Will Be Next" and "The Masses Against the Classes".

To be fair, neither of those Manics songs entered the British consciousness like Two Tribes, especially the latter. The Manics were always high entries, then dropped like a stone. Frankie may have hammered the 12" mixes but that was a memorable song with a great message, and they would have sold shitloads regardless of different mixes.