# 80s/90s Cold War protest songs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773 "2011-10-25T20:06:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/21 "2011-10-25T23:46:28Z")
**Bruce Cockburn** did a whole album (_Stealing Fire_) based on his travels in Central America, and the proxy wars being fought there. Biggest song from the album: [If I had a Rocket Launcher](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7vCww3j2-w) ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2011, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/22 "2011-10-25T23:50:47Z")
End of Innocence, by Don Henley. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/23 "2011-10-26T01:11:12Z")
“In the Army Now” by Status Quo (they covered it I think) ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/24 "2011-10-26T03:48:10Z")
“I’ve Known No War” (and if I ever do the glimpse will be short) - The Who “When Ivan Meets GI Joe”-The Clash “North Country Girl” - Pete Townshend ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/25 "2011-10-26T03:55:03Z")
Oh, another “When the Walls Came Down” - The Call ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/26 "2011-10-26T04:05:19Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > “I’ve Known No War” (and if I ever do the glimpse will be short) - The Who > “When Ivan Meets GI Joe”-The Clash > “North Country Girl” - Pete Townshend Reminds me: “The Call Up” - The Clash ---
**Author:** ![Oly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/oly/32/8255_2.png) [@Oly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oly)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/27 "2011-10-26T12:27:19Z")
Red Skies At Night -the Fixx Guns on the Roof - Clash Forever Young - Alphaville ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/28 "2011-10-26T12:31:51Z")
[Seconds](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28z5aTiN4UI) - U2 ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/29 "2011-10-26T13:20:15Z")
Mike + The Mechanics’ [Silent Running](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep7W89I_V_g) (Ignore the video and just listen to the lyrics.) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/30 "2011-10-26T13:36:49Z")
Maybe it’s a bit old for an '80s-‘90s playlist, but The Fugs’ “C.I.A. Man” fits nicely into the Cold War ethos. (it was also played at the end of the Coen Brothers movie “Burn After Reading”). \*Who can kill a general in his bed? Overthrow dictators if they’re Red? Fucking-a man! C.I.A. Man!\* ---
**Author:** ![mcgato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@mcgato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mcgato)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2011, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/31 "2011-10-26T23:24:16Z")
Shona Laing [Soviet Snow](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHEhL34zeHg) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/32 "2011-10-27T00:12:49Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > Shona Laing [Soviet Snow](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHEhL34zeHg) Beat me to it! Oh lord what a great song. Kate Bush’s [“Breathing”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVXAKXmteCw) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/33 "2011-10-27T00:27:00Z")
The OP is so vague, the answers have run the gamut from anti-Soviet/anti-Communist songs, to anti-Reagan-administration songs (protesting its conduct of the cold war, from nuclear weapons to support of proxy troops like the Contras), plus a few pox-on-both-houses type songs (the ones about nuclear amregeddon in general, mainly). I’d say only about half of the ones mentioned so far should be considered “protest” songs. I’ll throw in an 80s true protest song “No More Genocide”, as sung by the multigenerational lesbian folk duet of Holly Near and Ronnie Gilbert (the latter of Weavers fame). ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/34 "2011-10-27T02:26:54Z")
Uh oh. The thread police are here. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/35 "2011-10-27T07:20:47Z")
Oh, come on. I’m just trying to figure out, and then try to provide, what the OP asked for. If someone wanted suggestions for “War on Terror protest songs”, and 25 percent of the responses were songs with an anti-extremist-Muslim message, 25 percent with an anti-Bush-neocon message, 25 percent just against war in general but happen to be since 2001, and 25 percent not against anything, just making observations, wouldn’t you want to try to help everyone involved to clarify what was being sought? If the OP’s answer to that question does turn out to be “all of the above”, that’s fine with me, but like it or not, that’s a dilution of the more common definition of “protest song”. No big deal, though. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/36 "2011-10-27T07:38:45Z")
“Nikita” by Elton John ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/37 "2011-10-27T07:40:49Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > “The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades” by Timbuk3 That’s a Cold War protest song? I always thought it was about materialism. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/38 "2011-10-27T07:42:00Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > Peter Gabriel - Red Rain Or “Games Without Frontiers” ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/39 "2011-10-27T08:28:31Z")
The soundtrack to the Vic-20’s, War Games Cartridge, Pokes and Peeps and Peeks as you defend against Intecontinental Balistic Armaggedon. [It was before Broderick was Ferris Bueller](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086567/). Very popular early PC Game. ---
**Author:** ![Headrush042](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Headrush042](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Headrush042)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2011, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773/40 "2011-10-27T09:16:16Z")
> [@Pixel\_Dent](#): > > Sting - Russians Also [Gueca Solo (They Dance Alone)](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjyi0hW7pCo) by Sting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/80s-90s-cold-war-protest-songs/600773.md?page=3)