Welcome to Episode 5 of Season 2.

In this episode we delve into the world of the cover version.   There are a million covers out there – and in this episode we discuss 80s (except one) covers of well known nuclear/war/protest songs.

Last year we discussed Talking Heads’ classic “Life During Wartime”. This time we explore the Staple Singers 80s version, which takes the funk in another direction. We then move on to “I Come and Stand at Every Door” by This Mortal Coil. Originally, a Turkish poem that has been covered many times, this version is haunting and beautiful (oh, and it’s 1991).

Our next song is “Eve Ov Destruction”, a B-side released by Psychic TV. Whilst we still don’t get the “Ov”, we certainly love this reworked extended version of Barry Maguire’s 60s protest classic that went to number 1 in the UK and USA.   

“Morning Dew” is a folk melody covered by many, from the Byrds to Robert Plant (via Lulu). We really enjoy this version by DEVO – as it abandons the slow folk guitars in favour of solild 80s synth action.

“Mushroom” as covered by The Jesus and Mary Chain (Dave’s favourite band) comes next. Originally by German pioneers Can, this version is sparse and cold, and we love it. There are hardly any lyrics, but they do pack a punch.

Finally, we explore a very curious cover of Wanda Jackson’s 1958 song “Fujiyama Mama”.  This version is by Japanese New Wave act The Frank Chickens, and appears only on a John Peel radio session. Again, something new for our listeners to sample. 

But before any of this, following the success of our reggae episode, we have a fabulous voice note from Dr Vicky McMahon and a listener-inspired top 20 reggae nuclear tunes from the 80s that didn’t make our original list.

We love your contributions and voice notes. Keep them coming.

As ever, our playlists are updated to accompany our episodes.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4aHCNYfoQ2gtko5z6pwS9O?si=81bce0c59ff2470d

https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-more-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-vxy6L76uzVzd8Zl

Keep in touch – and let us know of even more 80s Cold War tunes, contact us via:

Blue Sky:                      @bangpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook:                     Bang Nuclear Podcast

Reddit:                           r/bangnuclearpodcast

Email:                            [email protected]

Opening and closing music:              (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John Lovering

Artwork:                         Rachel Malbon

Assistant Producer:   Shivam Pathak

Opening words:           Richie Wheeler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Season 2 Episode 4.

It’s been one year and 10,000 downloads since we started. So what better time to move our focus to the Wonderful World and Beautiful People of Reggae.  We discuss the Rastafarian themes of Armagideon and how reggae musicians brought nuclear war under the same umbrella of other social injustices.

We start with one of the greatest of them all – “Redemption Song” by Bob Marley and the Wailers resonates with people around the world.  “Have no fear for atomic energy” he sings – it will not be nuclear conflict that brings about the end of days. Peter Tosh’s “No Nuclear War” comes from the Grammy-winning album of the same name. We discuss the lyrics and his awful demise.

Our third song is “Nuclear Soldier” from London perennial favourites, Aswad. Massive hits followed their journey through the Saxon sound-systems.  We then move on to another British favourite – Smiley Culture, whose “Nuclear Weapon” came from his appropriately named “Tongue in Cheek” album. His fast paced, humorous style of rap over reggae beats belied the seriousness of his messages.

We end with one of our favourite songs: “The Lunatics have Taken Over the Asylum” by Fun Boy Three. It’s our second song from Terry Hall and we make no apology for it. This is bleak but beautiful.

As ever – the playlists are updated so you can hear all the songs from the season in one place:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4aHCNYfoQ2gtko5z6pwS9O?si=81bce0c59ff2470d

https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-more-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-vxy6L76uzVzd8Zl

Keep in touch with us always…

Blue Sky:                         @bangpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook:                      Bang Nuclear Podcast

Reddit:                              r/bangnuclearpodcast

Email:                               [email protected]

Opening and closing music:  (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John Lovering

Artwork:                           Rachel Malbon

Assistant Producer:   Shivam Pathak

Opening words:           Richie Wheeler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s Episode 3 of Season 2 and our absolute pleasure to welcome Andy Oppenheimer as our special guest. Together with his late, great friend and colleague Martin Lloyd, the synth-wave duo Oppenheimer Analysis released the wonderful album “New Mexico” in 1982 which includes the songs “Cold War”, “The Devil’s Dancers” and the title track.  That’s only a part of the story, though, as he then embarked on a hugely successful career as a consultant and writer on all things explosive.  He is our ideal guest. And the music carries on. Andy talks to us about all aspects of his career, songwriting, live performances and his latest album.

The minimal synth-wave theme continues as we discuss 6 more tracks. If you didn’t know them before, then explore our playlists. They are great tunes.

Check out “Fireside Favourite” by Fad Gadget – Frank Tovey was a remarkable performer.  “Protect and Survive” by German outfit Final Program; “Dancing on the Berlin Wall” by Rational Youth; “Atomic War” by New Scientists;  “Nagasaki’s Children” by They Must Be Russians and “Power Plant” by Art Fact.

Keep an eye on our playlists – they are regularly updated to accompany our episodes.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4aHCNYfoQ2gtko5z6pwS9O?si=81bce0c59ff2470d

https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-more-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-vxy6L76uzVzd8Zl

Keep in touch – and let us know of even more 80s Cold War tunes, contact us via:

Blue Sky:                        @bangpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook:                      Bang Nuclear Podcast

Reddit:                            r/bangnuclearpodcast

Email:                             [email protected]

Opening and closing music:              (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John Lovering

Artwork:                          Rachel Malbon

Assistant Producer:   Shivam Pathak

Opening words:           Richie Wheeler

“Cold War”, “The Devil’s Dancers” and “New Mexico” appear with the kind permission of Andy Oppenheimer.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to season 2 Episode 2 and it is our pleasure to join forces with Michael and Jack, the voices behind the wonderful, long-running Billy Joel podcast “Glass Houses”. They tell us everything they know (and they know a lot) about the classic post-WWII history lesson “We Didn’t Start the Fire”.  While Billy Joel may have not rated the song as one of his own favourites, we certainly love it. If you’re not already familiar with “Glass Houses”, it’s a podcast well worth subscribing to.

As ever, we have plenty of other songs to discuss. Canadian rock-band The Box released the upbeat and catchy “Ordinary People” with a fun accompanying video. Whatever the differences between the leaders of America and Russia, the people are just the same. A similar theme emerges in our next song, “American-Soviets” by German synth minimalists CCCP – which has a chess-game between Reagan and Gorbachev as the metaphoric backdrop.  One of our heroes of funk and soul, Curtis Mayfield, is next, with his plaintive call for peace in “What You Gawn Do?” We end the episode with 10,000 Maniacs – Natalie Merchant’s beautiful folk-tinged vocal tells the nuclear story in the excellent “Grey Victory” (it’s one of our listener recommendations, and we’re very glad to include it).

Keep an eye on our playlists – they are regularly updated to accompany our episodes.

Have you got an 80s nuclear war song that we haven’t thought of yet? If so, contact us via:

Blue Sky:                       @bangpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook:                     Bang Nuclear Podcast

Reddit:                           r/bangnuclearpodcast

Email:                            [email protected]

Opening and closing music:              (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John Lovering

Artwork:                         Rachel Malbon

Assistant Producer:   Shivam Pathak

Opening words:           Richie Wheeler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Happy New Year to all our listeners. Welcome back to Bang! 101 More Songs About Nuclear War from the 1980s.  Thanks to your brilliant suggestions, we have had plenty more to talk about. Enough for another season, in fact.

Season 2 starts with REM’s “It’s the End of the World as We Know it”. But we also went on a field trip to investigate a certain rumour that had been spread about the possibility of REM reforming….

We then pay tribute to Jeff Aaron Brown of the Pasadenas who died before Christmas and discuss their plea for peace “Justice for the World”.

Our next song is the gorgeously hummable “Russians and Americans” by Al Stewart, the prolific Scots-born folk singer with a nuclear birthright.

We then have our first song in the French language – duo’s Elli et Jacno’s brilliant “L’ âge atomique”. Another duo, this time from Boston, Jane and Jeff Hudson released the wonderfully dark post-punk “Los Alamos”.

We have a brand new playlist to accompany season 2. It can be found on Spotify at:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4aHCNYfoQ2gtko5z6pwS9O?si=e52c370433cc4dc0

and on Apple at

https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-more-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-vxy6L76uzVzd8Zl

Our podcast is made all the more special by your interactions with us. Stay in touch as follows:

Instagram:                     bangnuclearpodcast

Blue Sky:                       @bangpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook:                     Bang Nuclear Podcast

Reddit:                           r/bangnuclearpodcast

Email:                             [email protected]

Opening and closing music: (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John Lovering

Artwork:                          Rachel Malbon

Assistant Producer:   Shivam Pathak

Opening words:           Richie Wheeler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s Episode 21 – and we say a warm goodbye to 2025 and our first season of podcasts.

It has been an absolute delight to engage with listeners from around the world and we though that – at this festive time of year – they should have the last say on our 101 songs. Thank you to the listeners, artists, fellow podcasters and family who have contributed to this episode.

Don’t forget – our full playlist is available at:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vLjQBbJEhiDaFNOTz9snD?si=4da04b17ed3347ea

https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-6mo4j9KFByBgKXl

And all 21 episodes are available for you to enjoy. Thank you for being part of our nuclear family.

See you in January for Season 2 – Bang! 101 (more) Songs about Nuclear War from the 1980s-ish.

Compliments of the season to you all.

Instagram:                     bangnuclearpodcast

Blue Sky:                       @bangpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook:                     Bang Nuclear Podcast

Reddit:                           r/bangnuclearpodcast

Email:                              [email protected]

Opening and closing music:              (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John Lovering

Artwork:                         Rachel Malbon

Assistant Producer:   Shivam Pathak

Opening words:           Richie Wheeler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A warm winter’s welcome to Episode 20.   Our countdown is finally complete and in this episode we discuss tracks 98 to 101 ending with arguably the greatest nuclear song of the 80s or any other era.

We start with “Nuclear War” by Jimmy Cliff; we weren’t originally planning to include it in this episode but the sad passing of Jimmy Cliff last week made it’s inclusion a necessity (and it’s a great tune too). Our next track is the  Christmas pastiche “Christmas at Ground Zero” by Weird Al Yankovic. The song takes on a much darker mood when watched in conjunction with the video which uses American “Duck and Cover” film – all of which serves to demonstrate the futility of it all.

Perennial Christmas favourite “Stop the Cavalry” by Jona Lewie is up next. A song that surely needs no introduction to our UK listeners but it may come as a surprise to find out that it was never intended to be a Christmas song.

Finally, what else could we finish our list of 101 songs with apart from “99 Red Balloons” by the mighty Nena? She was also kind enough to introduce this episode for us.

We discuss this great song along with other great highlights from her extensive back catalogue.

Our playlist is updated to show all 101 songs and now we are asking listeners to contribute to our next episode in a fortnight’s time which will be a review of the first series.

We’d love a voice note giving us your favourite tune from the list and, as it’s that time of year, your favourite Christmas song as well. Use our email address as below.

Thanks for staying with us and don’t forget our 19 previous episodes.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vLjQBbJEhiDaFNOTz9snD?si=4da04b17ed3347ea

https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-6mo4j9KFByBgKXl

Make sure you contact us before 10th December 2025 if you want to get a voice note in for our final episode of the season:

Instagram:                     bangnuclearpodcast

Blue Sky:                        @bangpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook:                     Bang Nuclear Podcast

Reddit:                             r/bangnuclearpodcast

Email:                              [email protected]

Opening and closing music:              (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John Lovering

Artwork:                          Rachel Malbon

Assistant Producer:  Shivam Pathak

Opening words:          Richie Wheeler

With sincere thanks to NENA for her wonderful message.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Episode 19.  Our countdown is almost complete and in this episode we discuss tracks 93 to 97. And they are all huge.

We start with “Nuclear Device” by The Stranglers (1979, but who’s counting?); a very upbeat song about a particularly controversial Australian politician who was involved in the sale of uranium for nuclear weaponry. 

Our next track is the wonderful “Let’s All Make a Bomb” by Heaven 17 – one of the most memorable bands of the 80s. The nuclear message is as clear as the capitalist one. There’s a rare video of this which is worth looking at, even though the song was not a single.

Morrissey’s “Everyday is Like Sunday” is next. With the memorable lyric “Come Armageddon, Come”. Whatever emotions he conjures up now, his place in the list is assured.

We then discuss “Missiles” by The Sound. We think this is a thoroughly under-appreciated song by an under-celebrated band. Their lead singer, Adrian Borland, died in tragic circumstances, but his legacy is huge.

Perennial favourites Level 42 end this episode with their hugely memorable hit “The Sun Goes Down (Living it Up), a reflective but danceable tune about making the most of life in the face of impending doom.

Our playlist is updated at 97 songs! What are the final 4….?

To end the episode Dave and Pank become film critics to discuss the latest Kathryn Bigelow nuclear war thriller "A House of Dynamite".

Don’t forget our 18 previous episodes.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vLjQBbJEhiDaFNOTz9snD?si=4da04b17ed3347ea

https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-6mo4j9KFByBgKXl

Keep in touch and connect:

Instagram:                     bangnuclearpodcast

Blue Sky:                       @bangpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook:                     Bang Nuclear Podcast

Reddit:                           r/bangnuclearpodcast

Email:                            [email protected]

Opening and closing music:              (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John Lovering

Artwork:                          Rachel Malbon

Assistant Producer:   Shivam Pathak

Opening words:            Richie Wheeler

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Don’t be afraid - it’s Episode 18.  And with Halloween just done, it’s time to unleash some Goth heroes on you all, as well as our very special guest, Kirsty Harris.

We start with “Black Planet”, Sisters of Mercy’s dark, foreboding warning of a post-nuclear world. Check out the video that features the original Monkeemobile.  Our next song is “A Strange Day” – Robert Smith standing on a beach (unsurprisingly) ruing the last day on earth.

“Cities in Dust” is one of the greats by Siouxsie and the Banshees. The song was inspired by Siouxsie’s trip to Pompeii but it is obviously symbolic of the fragility of our planet in the flash of an explosion.

We move on to the precursors of the mighty Cult – Southern Death Cult and their wonderful polemic “Moya”, which draws powerful comparisons between nuclear annihilation and the ravaging of Native American lands.

We end with a lesser-known gem. Bauhaus’ bassist David Jay released “Can’t This Shadow of Fear” as a solo single. It’s well worth checking out.

Kirsty Harris is a remarkable artist whose main theme is nuclear tests and the resulting mushroom clouds. Her stunning work depicts detonation on an enormous scale, but captures the beauty of the brutality. Dave and Pank visited her exhibition in South London and were lucky to interview her.  She talks about her involvement with nuclear campaigning with her parents and her love of 80s music.

Visit her website and check out the works for yourself: kirstyharris.com

Our playlist now stands at 92 songs! Just 9 left.

Our previous episodes are all here for you to enjoy too.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vLjQBbJEhiDaFNOTz9snD?si=4da04b17ed3347ea

https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-6mo4j9KFByBgKXl

Don’t forget our socials:

Instagram:                     bangnuclearpodcast

Blue Sky:                        @bangpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook:                     Bang Nuclear Podcast

Reddit:                             r/bangnuclearpodcast

Email:                              [email protected]

Opening and closing music:              (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John Lovering

Artwork:                          Rachel Malbon

Assistant Producer:  Shivam Pathak

Opening words:          Richie Wheeler

Brief snippet of Robert Smith from Roskilde Festival 2017

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It’s Episode 17.  With the recent news that MTV is to cease broadcasting in large parts of Europe and South America, we thought we might try and find songs by artists who appeared on MTV on its very first day…. And we were not disappointed, as 5 songs we had planned to discuss anyway all fell into that category.

Buggles opened up MTV’s account, and we remember their catchy wartime hit “Clean, Clean”, complete with arcade game tank video.  Trevor Horn has already featured in our podcasts as a producer so it’s a pleasure to include one of his own compositions.

Fischer-Z, fronted by the legendary John Watts, released the album Red Skies over Paradise from which the amazing, fearful and brooding “Cruise Missiles” was a memorable album track.

Next, comes the anti-world leader hit from Genesis – “Land of Confusion”, which was all the more memorable for its Spitting Image based video featuring the band, US and UK leaders in warmongering mood, and a cast of a hundred well known puppets.

We then discuss the excellent song “Bunkers” by British post-punk band The Vapors. Again, their album “New Clear Days” had (unsurprisingly) a Cold War theme, and this was the one we chose.

We conclude the episode with one of the greatest songs by one of the greatest bands – “Life During Wartime” by Talking Heads.  Despite not being a hit at all, there are few music fans who wouldn’t recognise the album and live versions as being hugely influential.

All 5 artists had at least one song played on MTV’s opening day of pop-videos.

Our playlist now stands at 87 songs! Only 14 to go…. 

Our previous episodes are all here for you to enjoy too.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0vLjQBbJEhiDaFNOTz9snD?si=4da04b17ed3347ea

https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-6mo4j9KFByBgKXl

Don’t forget our socials:

Instagram:                     bangnuclearpodcast

Blue Sky:                       @bangpodcast.bsky.social

Facebook:                     Bang Nuclear Podcast

Reddit:                           r/bangnuclearpodcast

Email:                              [email protected]

Opening and closing music:              (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John Lovering

Artwork:                          Rachel Malbon

Assistant Producer:   Shivam Pathak

Opening words:           Richie Wheeler

Ident intro from MTV.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.