Music & World: Cold War

Part of the Music & World series, this day the topic is the geopolitical conflict between the USA and the Soviet Union.

The Cold War, a contemporaneous period of history between 1945 and 1991, the superpowers that emerged by their victories over the old schooled imperial powers of World War II, the conflicted confronted not only governments, but also (and even more important) societies and cultures. Though some others wanted peace, peace in a world of war and hatred.

The clearest example is Sting's song Russians, an 80's song about the conflicts between USSR's Leonid Brezhnev and US' Reagan, about the worldwide feeling and concern about the Cold War, and a thought that says, why we hafta fight each other? The central idea of Sting's song is expressed on a verse, a verse that still applies to the actual situation: We share the same biology, regardless of ideology.

The counter cultures of the Cold War era marked the begining of new genres that got inside the situation, that took active part in the Cold War by expressing their concerns, their rejects and their discontent with the actions taken by the international community.

The Hippie movement is well known and remebered by their ideals, one phrase to sumarize it all: PEACE & LOVE, we all can remember the picture of youths placing white carnations in the barrels of the police's firearms, the beginning of a multinational movement of young people in pacific actions against what they believe was incorrect: the Vietnam War, the hardline of the State and the old fashioned values. The ex-Beatle John Lennon, and who the hell have never heard of John Lennon, wrote the song Imagine, a song about peace, John Lennon himself described the message as "give Peace a chance", and talking about Lennon, we all just need to listen at The Beatles and songs like All You Need Is Love, The Establishment, Big Brother or The Man. Cold War cannot be fully understood without the counter cultures, the youth had something to say to their governments: they wouldn't believe and trust them anymore, they wouldn't be silent anymore.

Punk movement, a diverse movement which ideals cover the full old political spectrum of left vs. right, their basis: direct action not standing still and quiet. It can fit into Socialism with Marx' ideal of the ultimate goal: disband the State as the last stage of socialist movement, the stage known as Communism; but can be better understood into Nihilism, anti-conformism, must Punk people had disregard not just against Capitalism and its belic direction, but also against Soviet Socialism which they saw (and still see) as another imperialist form of government, just as repressive as Capitalism.Classic Punk music inclued Sex Pistols, The Ramones or The Clash, this last one less known than Sex Pistols, but for me more iconic, as a latin american I acclaim The Clash and their support for the latin american movements for liberation like the song (and album) Sandinista! about the nicaraguan guerilla that struggled against the US-backed Somoza dinasty, or the song Washington Bullets that goes: "As every cell in Chile will tell, the cries of the tortured men. Remember Allende in the days before, before the army came. Please remember Victor Jara, in the Santiago Stadium. Es Verdad, those Washington Bullets again", an open support for the peacefull Revolution of Salvador Allende that was stopped by Richard Nixon. Punks had different means for changing the world than hippies: direct action against opression, expressing what they want and clash with anyone that attempted to shut their voices, the Punk sound evolved from proto sound of The Clash to the sound of Hardcore Punk.

Within the Punk times mid 70's-mid 80's Pink Floyd emerged, another iconic band of the Cold War era with songs influened by the conflict itself and with the enviorment of the Western Bloc, their album Animals based on the book Animal Farm is a critic to the Soviet repression, a reject of Socialism, viewed as another mean of repression. Their acclaim against repressive means goes against both sides of the conflict, the album The Wall and what might be the most famous song(s): Another Brick In The Wall, composed of 3 parts, the best known one is Part II, the criticism of how repressive the education system was, the story is metaphoric in all aspects, the wall is a metaphor of a protection in which the person is guarded, the adverse enviorment leads the person to build a wall, to guard, to protect, a way to escape from the horrific reality. The sequence goes from sadness (Part I) to protest and standing up (Part II) to the fury that leads to action (Part III), part III is the final escape from the "protection" and being finally isolated from the world leading to the end of the album with Goodbye Cruel World. The Wall gives us a mixture of nihilistic views with heavy anti-establishment views, a protest against the current system of Pink's era.

The last one I'll mention is West German song 99 luftballons, a song about events that might lead to the ultimate war, inspired by an anecdote that might be seen as common, Nena's Carlo Karges saw a group of balloons that flew to the horizon and while leaving they looked like UFO'S, like strange objects, so he thought, "what if they pass to the Soviet sector, to the GDR and seen as military devices?" War will begin and the world would end.

The influence of the Cold War in the popular culture is countless, artists are part of society, people, to be more specific grown-up adults see the youth as careless, and our music just as an irritating noise, even worse in the 1960's or1970's, for adults Punk music was just noise, was rubbish and never listened to the sense of the lyrics, yet today they listen to protopunk music and just hate it; but we're not appart, we're not self-excluded, we care about our present and future; even those rejects (as society calls hippies and punks and grungers and almost all youths that do not follow the mainstream and the status quo) cared about their community. That was our expression.

The youth of the Cold War era felt uncomfortable, felt not represented, and they expressed their disregard with the status quo, but that ain't to be careless, all they way around, is to care for the future, like Pink Floyd's Another Brick In The Wall or John Lennon's Let It Be, youth acclaimed peace, justice, wanted to be part of society, but of a fair and egalitarian society. They weren't looking for a fight, they were looking to belong, to be part of society and to be listened, their message was and still is: better society, a true and fair community, a claim for justice.

Cold War affected all people, was a concern not just for nations, presidents or armed forces, was a concern of all, and the youth wasn't careless, adults thought they were careless just cause a teen denied to obey the established rules and exposed different ideas and the possibility of a better world.