On the other hand there's no better example of the kind of soul searching that was taking place in the '80s in the face of nuclear annihilation than "Stand Or Fall" by The FIXX:
Junior year in high school in Lawrence, Kansas: Wargames & The Day After (filmed in Lawrence). Senior year exchange student in Switzerland: 99 Luftballons & Forever Young (Alphaville).
I remember attending anti-nuke protests on the National Mall with my parents, circa 1980. Some of the imagery still sticks with me, e.g. a banner of a giant skull in a mushroom cloud. I sure thought we were all gonna die, for incomprehensible reasons.
Now I live with an unaccountable optimism. We're not dead yet! And since we failed to ignite the atmosphere on July 16 1945, every day is a gift.
As a "Generation Jones" (or "Boomer" or "X" depending on how you draw the lines) SSBN missile crewmember in the 80's... yeah. There were many of us out there, then, who weren't exactly bullish on the future. I hesitate to say fatalism, but that may be a lingering echo of the culture, of a strong belief in our mission.
Per the pension footnote, I have heard plenty of folks close to the recent AI boom talking about not investing in their 401k because we either won't survive AGI or because if we do survive, the economy as we know it will cease to exist. I cannot verify if they are acting on these claims or just posturing.
You, cannot just drop the phrase "atomic land mines" in a caption and roll on by. I want to know more!
I thought 'Deutschland 83', which aired in 2015, captured the mood well, but I was born in 1984, so I am not a qualified party to make that assessment. Music (including '99 Luftballons') was prominently featured. https://youtu.be/9L_PlDsa_BI?si=tFnnYF3557EqFJ33
I made several long trips to the FRG in the early 1980s, including through the collapse of the SPD/FDP coalition, the rise of the Greens, and the public protests over the stationing of the Pershing II and cruise missiles. 99 Luft Ballon was all over the radio at the time, but the band that seemed to capture the sense of the times was BAP, who made lots of references to the political and military situation in their songs. "Zehnter Juni" was a pretty explicit complaint about what was going on, as was of course one of their greatest hits, "Kristallnaach," albeit a more indirect statement. BAP never got much traction outside Germany, perhaps because they wrote, and sang, in the Cologne dialect, but they were HUGH in Germany.
By the by, one of my favorite stories of the time was about a tv ad put out by the Greens. It showed a truck driving down the street, dropping off aluminum foil missiles in front of each house. The Greens at the time were just getting started, so they didn't have the money for the sort of slick and sophisticated ads common from the mainstream parties, but man was that an effective ad. Also, lots of street-level anti-Americanism, and general ignorance in the population--I had more than one conversation where my German colleague did not know, and could not believe, that it was German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt who first asked for a NATO response to the upgrading of Soviet SS-20 IRBMs. He later claimed that he did not mean Pershing IIs.
Air Force brat whose family was stationed in West Germany from 1985 to 1988, looking back it’s remarkable how much of a daily part of German life and society the NATO armed services were.
The 2009 reboot of 99 Red Ballons has a wonderfully retro look to it with the 8 bit graphics and Putin standin:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHTMZX898mo
On the other hand there's no better example of the kind of soul searching that was taking place in the '80s in the face of nuclear annihilation than "Stand Or Fall" by The FIXX:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAofFHPRZTE
Meanwhile, The Fixx's "Red Skies" is nearly as direct as "99 Luftballons", describing the short-term aftermath: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cit17Si-Vts
Shoot, never thought about that one as I was too busy searching for my '80s skinny tie,...
Junior year in high school in Lawrence, Kansas: Wargames & The Day After (filmed in Lawrence). Senior year exchange student in Switzerland: 99 Luftballons & Forever Young (Alphaville).
Your post struck a chord.
I remember attending anti-nuke protests on the National Mall with my parents, circa 1980. Some of the imagery still sticks with me, e.g. a banner of a giant skull in a mushroom cloud. I sure thought we were all gonna die, for incomprehensible reasons.
Now I live with an unaccountable optimism. We're not dead yet! And since we failed to ignite the atmosphere on July 16 1945, every day is a gift.
As a "Generation Jones" (or "Boomer" or "X" depending on how you draw the lines) SSBN missile crewmember in the 80's... yeah. There were many of us out there, then, who weren't exactly bullish on the future. I hesitate to say fatalism, but that may be a lingering echo of the culture, of a strong belief in our mission.
Per the pension footnote, I have heard plenty of folks close to the recent AI boom talking about not investing in their 401k because we either won't survive AGI or because if we do survive, the economy as we know it will cease to exist. I cannot verify if they are acting on these claims or just posturing.
You, cannot just drop the phrase "atomic land mines" in a caption and roll on by. I want to know more!
I thought 'Deutschland 83', which aired in 2015, captured the mood well, but I was born in 1984, so I am not a qualified party to make that assessment. Music (including '99 Luftballons') was prominently featured. https://youtu.be/9L_PlDsa_BI?si=tFnnYF3557EqFJ33
I made several long trips to the FRG in the early 1980s, including through the collapse of the SPD/FDP coalition, the rise of the Greens, and the public protests over the stationing of the Pershing II and cruise missiles. 99 Luft Ballon was all over the radio at the time, but the band that seemed to capture the sense of the times was BAP, who made lots of references to the political and military situation in their songs. "Zehnter Juni" was a pretty explicit complaint about what was going on, as was of course one of their greatest hits, "Kristallnaach," albeit a more indirect statement. BAP never got much traction outside Germany, perhaps because they wrote, and sang, in the Cologne dialect, but they were HUGH in Germany.
By the by, one of my favorite stories of the time was about a tv ad put out by the Greens. It showed a truck driving down the street, dropping off aluminum foil missiles in front of each house. The Greens at the time were just getting started, so they didn't have the money for the sort of slick and sophisticated ads common from the mainstream parties, but man was that an effective ad. Also, lots of street-level anti-Americanism, and general ignorance in the population--I had more than one conversation where my German colleague did not know, and could not believe, that it was German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt who first asked for a NATO response to the upgrading of Soviet SS-20 IRBMs. He later claimed that he did not mean Pershing IIs.
Air Force brat whose family was stationed in West Germany from 1985 to 1988, looking back it’s remarkable how much of a daily part of German life and society the NATO armed services were.
You line about kids dancing and groping to Forever Young sent me (as the kids say). Hilarious but very poignant point.