Tomorrow I’m going to feature a gentleman who played a small role in keeping the whole damn planet from going all “splodey”. Cool eh?
First I need the set the scene for readers out there who did not experience (or have forgotten) the cold war. If you happen to be young and educated in history by public schools (sorry for your loss) or old and hopelessly steeped in patchouli (get a job loser) you may be unaware of certain facts. One is that the world spent several decades with two nuclear superpowers simply itching for an excuse to blow each other into itty bitty pieces. Both were (and are) equipped with piles of long range weaponry that compare to North Korea’s little dog and pony show like a howitzer compares to a broken slingshot.
That’s not strong enough. I’ll try again so we can get some shit straight right now… In fact I’ll codify it as a Curmudgeonly Gem of Insight:
“Part of the reason that folks in this decade fret about polar bears and student loans is because they’re not thinking about intercontinental ballistic missiles.”
That got your attention? Maybe. Folks of a certain age are nodding in agreement but younger folks are probably bored and tweeting on their iDevices. For them, I’ve linked two music videos from the time when MTV quaintly played music on the TV.
The first is Genesis with “Land Of Confusion”.
The second is Frankie Goes To Hollywood (you thought Lady GaGa had a corner on obtuse names?) and their craptacular opus “Two Tribes”.
From these nuggets of history I wish to communicate two precious facts:
- People in the 1980’s were terrified that Russia and America would go at it with nukes until nothing but glowing skeletons and Keith Richards remained.
- People in the 1980’s turned out some horrible music with music videos that beat you over the head with their point. Subtle inferences need not apply when the image is Gorbachev and Reagan kicking each other in the balls in a boxing ring.