If you think back to the early ’80s there was a series of films and songs that all focused on global thermonuclear war. The two superpowers, USA and USSR, were always at odds and the film and music industries capitalized on this.

First, I am sure everyone remembers War Games – the fictitious story of what could happen if a, then, supercomputer, was tasked with the United States’ nuclear response. If not, let me jog your memory.

War Games was released in June, 1983. It did $126 million at the box office… in 1983.

Later in 1983 The Day After would appear as a primetime TV film. It demonstrated what could actually occur post nuclear attack.

Per Wikipedia, more than 100 million people, in nearly 39 million households, watched The Day After during its initial broadcast. It was also rebroadcast in Russia several years later during nuclear proliferation treaty talks.

One final example is the UK TV film Threads. It also gave insight to a before and after scenario; wherein the after is an extended time period after.

Per Wikipedia, the initial broadcast of Threads on BBC was viewed by 6.9 million people.

As for music, several prominent pop songs were also written. The first example, Alphaville – Forever Young (1984). Here is a fantastic version I found that was re-recorded many years later.

Another example is Modern English – Melt With You (1982). This is kind of a peppy song for being about a nuclear holocaust, no?

And finally, perhaps the most in-your-face example regarding the subject matter, Nena – 99 Red Balloons (1984), which is funny, because this is an English version of the original German version 99 Luftballoons which deals with slightly different subject matter. You can read about that HERE. Enjoy the translated version below.

The films are considered classics / cult classics, and the songs are still bangers. But goddamn… The early ’80s was an eerie time to be alive.