# Greatest Hits of the Cold War **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 20, 2001, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763 "2001-03-20T19:42:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/1 "2001-03-20T19:42:52Z")
Let’s talk about the greatest hits of the cold war. Heck, let’s talk about the really lousy ones too. What songs do you remember that only made sense in the context of East and West eyeing each other uneasily? I’m guessing more of these are from the '80s than from any other period, but maybe yinz can prove me wrong. The ones that come to mind immediately, for me: **Nikita** - Elton John **99 Luftballons/99 Red Balloons** - Nena ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/2 "2001-03-20T20:23:36Z")
**19** by Paul Hardcastle - Memorializes the contribution of young American servicemen in Vietnam, which was a manifestation of the ideological battle between Communism & Capitalism. **Peace in Our Time** by Eddie Money - Trite, but upbeat song about the razing of the Berlin wall. **Winds of Change** by the Scorpions - A not-bad song about the sweeping political changes in Eastern Europe circa 1989. Michael Shenker’s vocal treatment is appropriately rough-hewn. **Der Kommisar** by After the Fire - Very cool dance hit playing on the underground element’s mistrust of totalitarian authority. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/3 "2001-03-20T20:51:01Z")
**Transmission** by M. A little strange and probably not well known. Various samples of Radio Moscow played over a beat. **Lawyers in Love** by Jackson Browne. References to the Russians escaping “while we weren’t watching them” and the USSR opening as “vacation land for lawyers in love.” ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/4 "2001-03-20T20:53:41Z")
“Back In the USSR”. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/5 "2001-03-20T21:24:52Z")
[ul][li] **Miss Gradenko** - The Police[/li][li] **I Hope the Russians Love Their Children, Too** - Sting (Not sure about that title.)[/li][li] **Land of Illusion** - Genesis[/li][li] **Every Day Is Like Sunday** - Morrissey (“And a strange dust lands on your hands, and on your face…”)[/li][li] **If I Had a Rocket Launcher** - Bruce Cockburn (Written from the perspective of Central American insurgents.)[/li][li] **Right Here, Right Now** - Jesus Jones (About the fall of Communism in Europe.)[/li] **1999** - Prince (“Mommy…Why does everybody have a bomb?”)[/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/6 "2001-03-20T21:37:11Z")
Oh yeah, and [ul][li] **It’s a Mistake** - Men at Work[/li][li] **Games Without Frontiers** - Peter Gabriel[/li][li] **Exhuming McCarthy** - R.E.M.[/li] **Seconds** - U2 (“Push the button and pull the plug…”)[/ul] ---
**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:** [March 20, 2001, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/7 "2001-03-20T22:43:01Z")
_Christmas at Ground Zero_ by Weird Al Yankovic ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/8 "2001-03-20T23:04:00Z")
Can it still be a “greatest hit” even if it’s incredibly obscure? What’s that, you say it can? Okay, then I nominate **Five Minutes** by Bootsy Collins and the Rubber Band. For those who don’t know, it comes from an incident in which President Reagan sound-tested an open (and recording) microphone by telling a bunch of anti-Soviet jokes that culminated in “… we start bombing in five minutes”. Bootsy essentially just mixed the entire speech with a funk beat and released it as a single. It’s one of the few pieces of 80’s music I still own. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2001, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/9 "2001-03-20T23:36:28Z")
You can’t talk about the music of the Cold War and leave out the apocalyptic/postapocolyptic hits of the '60s! Eve of Destruction - Barry McGuire and its evil twin Dawn of Correction Wooden Ships - Crosby Stills Nash and Young ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/10 "2001-03-21T00:13:56Z")
**Radio Free Europe** - R.E.M. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2001, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/11 "2001-03-21T00:18:47Z")
Tom Lehrer: “So Long, Mom, I’m Off to Drop The Bomb”, “We Will All Go Together When We Go”, and “Who’s Next?”: > [@](#): > > First we got The Bomb, and that was good > 'Cause we love peace and motherhood. > Then Russia got The Bomb, but that’s okay > 'Cause the balance of power’s maintained that way. > Who’s next? ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2001, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/12 "2001-03-21T00:44:01Z")
Pink Floyd’s _The Wall_–the whole thing. ---
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2001, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/13 "2001-03-21T01:25:17Z")
Hm, I disagree with several of the choices above (e.g. the Nena song is about war in general). Most songs on the Fischer Z album Red skies over paradise fit the bill, as well as the Dutch classic Over de Muur (across the wall) by Klein Orkest. Talking about the Vietnam war, we also have Goodnight Saigon by Billy Joel and Cambodia by Kim Wilde. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2001, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/14 "2001-03-21T01:36:01Z")
“Watching the World” by Chaka Khan and Phil Collins from the “Destiny” album. Kinda in the same vein as “Right Here, Right Now”. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2001, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/15 "2001-03-21T02:08:00Z")
[ul][li] **Party at Ground Zero** - Fishbone[/li][li] **Still in Saigon** - Charlie Daniels Band (If we’re gonna include Vietnam songs.)[/li][li] **Run Through the Jungle** - Credence Clearwater Revival[/li] **Under Cover of the Night** - Rolling Stones (Deals with the proxy wars in Latin America.)[/ul] ---
**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:** [March 21, 2001, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/16 "2001-03-21T05:29:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Under Cover of the Night - Rolling Stones (Deals with the proxy wars in Latin America.) As does Don Henley’s _All She Wants To Do Is Dance_ ---
**Author:** ![Silvio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@Silvio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvio)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2001, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/17 "2001-03-21T05:57:13Z")
“A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall”, “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues”, “Neighborhood Bully” (the later actually about the Israel-Arab conflicts but close) by Bob Dylan “Revolution” (a critique of the New Left, not exactly Cold War but pretty close) by the Beatles “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones “War, children, it’s just a shot away” “Who’ll Stop the Rain” by CCR, which I always heard as a Vietnam allegory “London Calling”, “When Ivan Meets GI Joe”, “The Call-up”, and “Sandinista” by the Clash ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2001, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/18 "2001-03-21T06:10:01Z")
Also by Billy Joel - Stalingrad The Ramones’ “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg” is sort of related. So is “Born in the USA”, I do remember all sorts of “Born in the USSR” versions. and one obscure one, “Remember My Name” by Toy Matinee, about Vaclav Havel. ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2001, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/19 "2001-03-21T06:11:05Z")
“Two Minutes to Midnight” - Iron Maiden “Heroes” - David Bowie (about the split of Berlin) “Blind Curve” and “Berlin” - Marillion (also about the division of Berlin) ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2001, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763/20 "2001-03-21T06:22:14Z")
The Merry Minuet by The Kingston Trio …But we can be tranquil And “thankfill” and proud, For man’s been endowed With a mushroom-shaped cloud. And we know for certain That some lovely day Someone will set the spark off, And we will all be blown away! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/greatest-hits-of-the-cold-war/58763.md?page=2)