Week of 9/12/2010 - Would You Like To Play A Game?

Reagan. Gorbachev. Mutual Assured Destruction. Cold War. Холо́дная война́, Wolverines - all phrases that were a large part of living in the 80's. The cold war was very prevalent in the thoughts and minds of most of us, and artists used their medium to let their thoughts about nuclear war be heard. In this week's podcast, I put together a group of songs that show exactly how people were feeling at the time. Some dark and thought provoking, others kind of have fun with a dark subject. If you don't already have it, get this week's podcast here.

I thought I'd share the reasoning for a couple of my picks, in the off chance you weren't aware certain songs were indeed war related.

Bullet The Blue Sky by U2 The song was originally written about the United States' military intervention during the 1980s in the El Salvador Civil War. Bono was thinking of Ronald Reagan as he sang "This guy comes up to me / His face red like a rose on a thorn bush / Like all the colors of a royal flush / And he's peeling off those dollar bills / Slapping them down."

One Of Our Submarines by Thomas Dolby Great job expressing the paranoid feelings of the time.

Russians by Sting Not so much about war, as it was about the rhetoric that was tossed around by the East and West.

M.A.D. by Sigue Sigue Sputnik Actually, I really don't need to explain this one, do I?

Of course, the entire podcast isn't about The Cold War, oh no no no! There's other goodness in there - you have to check it out! One band I stumbled across recently, is Sideway Look. With Brian Smith on vocals, this band out of Scotland delivers a big guitar sound that reminds me of Simple Minds or Big Country. They have a great sound, and I'll be playing more of them in the future. Sadly their stuff is out of print, but well worth the effort to try and find.

This week's Track listing:

1. Sideway Look - Knowing You From Today

2. My Bloody Valentine - Slow

3. The Flirts - Jukebox (Don't Put Another)

4. Sigue Sigue Sputnik - M.A.D.

5. Sting - Russians

6. U2 - Bullet The Blue Sky

7. Ultravox - Dancing With Tears In My Eyes

8. Adam Ant - P.O.E.

9. Sisters of Mercy - Dominion / Mother Russia

10. The Police - Bombs Away

11. Thomas Dolby - One Of Our Submarines

12. Modern English - Pillow Lips

13. Roxy Music - True To Life

14. Oingo Boingo - Pain

Hope everyone enjoys this weeks' podcast. Be sure to check out the Facebook fan page here. From there you can check out videos, as well as post your request. You can also call the request line at:(508) 809-4192 and get your request in as well, or just drop us an e-mail to surfingtrucker@gmail.com