1984-08-17 Atomic Mix/Post Nuclear Party

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I was into theme shows during this period (the water theme is a good one), and as a policy debate coach I am destined to be obsessed with the concept of nuclear war. Even if I was not a debate coach, I might well be obsessed with this threat. As I often do, I approached the problem with a combination of serious dread along with tragicomic humor. There is a lot of music to select from to paint the sort of sonic pastiche I was looking for in this radio program. One of the best things about this is that in the second part things started to look up, people called in and the mood lightened. The second part is actually somewhat optimistic.

Only on WRUV-FM Burlington.

Yes, it is possible that we may survive. As I write this it is 25 years later and the cold war is over, nuclear weapons are still around, but so is the world. I support Greta in her endless struggle against nuclear weapons. Weapons that kill one person are bad, a bunch of people terrible, but millions of people?

Interesting treatments of the Ronald Reagan sound clip "We begin bombing in five minutes." You need to remember when I played these Reagan sound clips he was PRESIDENT of the USA! Also enough respect to Frankie Goes to Hollywood for their "Two tribes" recording, and I had the dub version 12". Extra great stuff on these old 12" records with dub versions, just the sound clips, etc. I culled a lot of old-time songs about nuclear weapons off of a few compilations I located, and then there is always the post-punk experimental groups. Oh, and it was the year 1984.

Join in this melody of protest, commentary, playfulness and determination.

Click to listen or right click to download:

http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/cmk840817atomicmix.mp3

http://www.uvm.edu/~asnider/listen/cmk840817postnukeparty.mp3