Bang! 101 Songs about Nuclear War from the 1980s

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=4da04b17ed3347eahttps://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-6mo4j9KFByBgKXlAnd 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: bangnuclearpodcastBlue Sky: @bangpodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: Bang Nuclear PodcastReddit: r/bangnuclearpodcastEmail: [email protected] and closing music: (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John LoveringArtwork: Rachel MalbonAssistant Producer: Shivam PathakOpening 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=4da04b17ed3347eahttps://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-6mo4j9KFByBgKXlMake 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: bangnuclearpodcastBlue Sky: @bangpodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: Bang Nuclear PodcastReddit: r/bangnuclearpodcastEmail: [email protected] and closing music: (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John LoveringArtwork: Rachel MalbonAssistant Producer: Shivam PathakOpening words: Richie WheelerWith 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=4da04b17ed3347eahttps://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-6mo4j9KFByBgKXlKeep in touch and connect:Instagram: bangnuclearpodcastBlue Sky: @bangpodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: Bang Nuclear PodcastReddit: r/bangnuclearpodcastEmail: [email protected] and closing music: (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John LoveringArtwork: Rachel MalbonAssistant Producer: Shivam PathakOpening 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.comOur 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=4da04b17ed3347eahttps://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-6mo4j9KFByBgKXlDon’t forget our socials:Instagram: bangnuclearpodcastBlue Sky: @bangpodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: Bang Nuclear PodcastReddit: r/bangnuclearpodcastEmail: [email protected] and closing music: (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John LoveringArtwork: Rachel MalbonAssistant Producer: Shivam PathakOpening words: Richie WheelerBrief 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=4da04b17ed3347eahttps://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/bang-101-songs-about-nuclear-war-from-the-1980s/pl.u-6mo4j9KFByBgKXlDon’t forget our socials:Instagram: bangnuclearpodcastBlue Sky: @bangpodcast.bsky.socialFacebook: Bang Nuclear PodcastReddit: r/bangnuclearpodcastEmail: [email protected] and closing music: (Waiting for the) Heatwave – Fay Ray, appears courtesy of Fay Ray. Written by John LoveringArtwork: Rachel MalbonAssistant Producer: Shivam PathakOpening words: Richie WheelerIdent intro from MTV. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.