List of songs about nuclear war

Songs with a theme of nuclear war have been a feature of popular culture since the early years of the Cold War. ^[1]

Song name	Artist	Year	Comment
4 Minute Warning	Radiohead	2007
137	Brand New	2017
1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)	Jimi Hendrix	1968
1999	Prince	1982
2 Minutes to Midnight	Iron Maiden	1984
540,000 Degrees Fahrenheit	Fear Factory	2005
30000 Megatons	Pond	2016
99 Luftballons	Nena	1983	[2]
A Blue Wave	Cleaners From Venus	1981
Adrian	Eurythmics	1985
A Flash in the Night	Secret Service (band)	1982
After the Fall	Klaus Nomi	1982
After the Flood	Van Der Graaf Generator	1970
After the Holocaust	Nuclear Assault	1986
After the War	Asia	1985
Aftermath	Armored Saint	1985
Aftershock	Anthrax	1985
All Fall Down	B-Movie	1991
Always the Sun	The Stranglers	1986
America	Kurtis Blow	1986
American Soviets	CCCP	1990
April 2031	Warrant	1992
Arise	Sepultura	1991
Armageddon Days (Are Here Again)	The The	1989
As The World Burns	Bolt Thrower	1992
As the World Caves In	Matt Maltese	2017
Atom and Evil	Heaven and Hell	2009
Atom Bomb	Glenn Barber	1955
Atom Drum Bop	The Three Johns	1986
Atom Tan	The Clash	1982
Atomic	Blondie	1980
Atomic Dog	George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars	1982
Atomic Playboys	Steve Stevens	1989
Back to Zero	The Rolling Stones	1986
Beat Street	Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five	1984
Beneath the Remains	Sepultura	1989
Between the Wheels	Rush	1984
Beyond the Black	Metal Church	1984
Bikini Red	The Screaming Blue Messiahs	1987
Billy's Line	Red Box	1986
Birthright	Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe	1989
Black Celebration	Depeche Mode	1986
Black Planet	The Sisters of Mercy	1985
Blackened	Metallica	1988
Blossom and Blood	Midnight Oil	1985
Blow the House Down	Siouxsie and the Banshees	1984
Blowin' Sky High	Berlin	1988
Bombers	David Bowie	1971
Another Bomb	Gang Green	1987
Bomb Iran	JC & The B-1 Bombers	1980
The Bomb Song	Darwin Deez	2010
Bombe the Russians	Fear	1985
Boom!	System of a Down	2002	on the album Steal This Album!
Boom Box	Vitabeats	1985
Breathing	Kate Bush	1980
Brighter Than A Thousand Suns	Iron Maiden	2006
Bring Back the Bomb	GWAR	2004
Brush the Dust from That Old Bible	Bradley Kincaid	1950
Burning Down the House	Talking Heads	1983
Burning Heart	Survivor	1985
Can't Stop Running	Space Monkey	2002
The Catalyst	Linkin Park	2010
Channel-Z	The B-52's	1989
Chemical Bomb	Aquabats	1999
Chemical Warfare	Slayer	1983
Children Of The Grave	Black Sabbath	1971
Christmas at Ground Zero	"Weird Al" Yankovic	1986
Claude Rains	The Front Lawn	1989
Clean, Clean	Bruce Woolley and the Camera Club / The Buggles	1979
Cloudburst at Shingle St.	Thomas Dolby	1982
Come Away Melinda	Bobbie Gentry	1968
Countdown to Extinction	Megadeth	1992
Countdown to Zero	Asia	1985
Crawl Out Through the Fallout	Sheldon Allman	1960
Cries of Help	Discharge	1982
Cruise	David Gilmour	1984
Cruise Missiles	Fischer-Z	1981
Cuando Seas Grande	Miguel Mateos	1993
Curfew	The Stranglers	1978
Current Events	Joe King Carrasco and the Crowns	1998
Dancing at the Nuclear Holocaust	Doug P. Stone	1977	[3]
Dancing With Tears in My Eyes	Ultravox	1984
Dangerous Moments	Martin Briley	1985
Dawn Patrol	Megadeth	1990
The Day After	The Men They Couldn't Hang	1985
The Dead Next Door	Billy Idol	1983
De Bom	Doe Maar	1983
De Bom Valt Nooit	Herman van Veen	1984
Def.Con.One	Pop Will Eat Itself	1992
Destruction Preventer	Sonata Arctica	1999
D-Day	Bus Boys	2001
Dig a Hole in the Ground	Fred Small	2011
Disaster Area	All Out Attack	2006
Distant Early Warning	Rush	1984
Does Anybody Care	Alex Hirsch	2022	[4]
Domino	Genesis	1986
Don't Crash	Front 242	1987
Do the Evolution	Pearl Jam	1998	[5]
Do You Believe in the Westworld?	Theatre of Hate	1982
Down from the Sky	Trivium	2008
Downer	Nirvana	1988
Dream Home in New Zealand	The Beat	1981
Dream Told	Moto" By Minutemen	1983
Earth Crusher	Mr. Lif	2002
Eighth Day	Hazel O'Connor	1980
Einstein A Go Go	Landscape	1981
Einstein on the Beach (For an Eggman)	Counting Crows	1994
Electric Funeral	Black Sabbath	1970
End of the World	Gary Moore	1981
The End	Discharge	1981
Enola Gay	OMD	1980
Epitaph	King Crimson	1969
Euroshima	John Waite	1984
Eve of Destruction	Barry McGuire	1965
Everybody Have Fun Tonight	Wang Chung	1986
Everybody Wants to Rule the World	Tears for Fears	1985
Everyday Is Like Sunday	Morrissey	1988
Fabulous Disaster	Exodus	1989
Fact And Fiction	Twelfth Night	1982
Fallout	Data	1980
Fallout Shelter	Peter Scott Peters	1961
Famous Last Words	Tears for Fears	1989
Fight Fire with Fire	Metallica	1984
The Final Bloodbath	Discharge	1982
Final Day	Young Marble Giants	1980
Fire in the Sky	Saxon	1981
Fireside Favourite	Fad Gadget	1980
Firestorm	Leslie Fish	1989
Five Years	David Bowie	1972
Flame of the West	Big Country	1984
Flyingdale Flyer	Jethro Tull	1980
Forever Young	Alphaville	1984
Four Minute Warning	Mark Owen	2003
Four Minutes	Culture Shock	1989
Four Minutes	Roger Waters	1987
Folded Flags	Roger Waters	1986
French Letters	Herbs	1987
The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades	Timbuk3	1986
Games Without Frontiers	Peter Gabriel	1980
Glad It's All Over	Captain Sensible	1994
Grandpa Atomic	New Bomb Turks	1994
The Great Atomic Power	The Louvin Brothers	1962
Ground B Sound	Death Piggy	1999
Ground Zero Brooklyn	Carnivore (band)	1987
The Gunner's Dream- Paranoid Eyes	Pink Floyd	1983
Guns in the Sky	INXS	1987
Hallowed Ground	Violent Femmes	1984
Hammer to Fall	Queen	1984
Happy Birthday	"Weird Al" Yankovic	1983
Harrisburg	Midnight Oil	1985
Heat	Leslie Spit Treeo	1990
Heatwave	Fay Ray	1982
A Hell On Earth	Discharge	1982
He Looks Like Spencer Tracy Now	Deacon Blue	1987
Help Save the Youth of America	Billy Bragg	1986
Hercules	Midnight Oil	1992
Here Comes President Kill Again	XTC	1989
Heresy	Rush	1991
History (remember Hiroshima & Nagasaki)	John McGuinness John McGuinness & Vince Lewis band (2018)	1984
Hiroshima	Gary Moore	1983
Hiroshima	Sandra	1990
Hiroshima Nagasaki Russian Roulette	Jim Page	1976
Hiroshima Nagasaki Russian Roulette	Moving Hearts	1981
Hiroshima, Mon Amour	Ultravox	1977
House at Pooneil Corners	Jefferson Airplane	1968
Human Error	Subhumans	1981
I.C.B.M.	Amebix	1987
I Come and Stand at Every Door	The Byrds	1966
I Don't Wanna Die	4 Skins	1982
I Found That Essence Rare	Gang of Four	1979
Ignorance	Sacred Reich	1987
I Melt with You	Modern English	1982
In the Hole	Armored Saint	1985
Invasion	Skrewdriver	1984
I Remember the Sun	XTC	1984
Is There Something I Should Know?	Duran Duran	1981
It's a Mistake	Men At Work	1983
I've Known No War	The Who	1982
I Won't Let the Sun Go Down on Me	Nik Kershaw	1984
Janitor	Suburban Lawns	1980
Just Another Day	Oingo Boingo	1985
Jesus Hits Like the Atomic Bomb	Lowell Blanchard and the Vally Trio [1] : 117	1998
Juggernaut	Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush	1982
Kill for Peace	The Fugs	1966
Kill the Poor	Dead Kennedys	1978
Killer of Giants	Ozzy Osbourne	1986
Kinky Sex Makes the World Go Round	Dead Kennedys	1982
King of the World	Steely Dan	1973
Land of Confusion	Genesis	1986
Last Domino	Genesis	1986
Last in the House of Flames	UK Decay	1981
Lawyers in Love	Jackson Browne	1983
Leave in Silence	Depeche Mode	1982
Leningrad	Billy Joel	1989
Let Me Die In My Footsteps	Bob Dylan	1963
Let's All Make A Bomb	Heaven 17	1981
Let's Have A War	Fear	1982
Let's Talk About it	Dweezil Zappa	1986
Life During Wartime	Talking Heads	1979
Listen	Tears For Fears	1985
Live Fast, Die Young	Circle Jerks	1980
Living Through Another Cuba	XTC	1980
Lock and Key	Rush	1987
London Calling	The Clash	1979
Love Missile F1-11	Sigue Sigue Sputnik	1986
Lovers in a Dangerous Time	Bruce Cockburn	1984
M.A.D.	Hadouken!	2009	lyrics and title refer to nuclear war; the whole album's and lyrics refer to atomic war
Man at C&A	The Specials	1980
Manhattan Project	Rush	1985
Maralinga	Urban Guerrillas	1983
Massive Retaliation	Sigue Sigue Sputnik	1986
Mediate	INXS	1987
Merry Minuet	Kingston Trio	1959
Missiles	The Sound	1980
Morning Dew	Bonnie Dobson; also recorded by Jeff Beck, Blackfoot, Einstürzende Neubauten, Tim Rose, and The Grateful Dead	1962
Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.)	Gillan	1986
Nagasaki Nightmare	Crass	1981
New Frontier	Donald Fagen	1982
New Mexico	Oppenheimer Analysis	1982
No Nuclear War	Peter Tosh	1987
North Winds Blowing	The Stranglers	1985
Nuclear	Mike Oldfield	2014
Nuclear Attack	Gary Moore	1981
Nuclear Attack	Sabaton	2006
Nuclear Cop	Redgum	1980
Nuclear Sunrise	Hand of Fire	2017
Nuclear War	Sun Ra [6] Arkestra	1982
Nuclear War	New Politics	2010
Nuclear War	Yo La Tengo	2001
Oblivion	Dirty Rotten Imbeciles	1987
Old Man Atom	Sons of the Pioneers	1950
On the Beach	The Comsat Angels	1980
One of the Living	Tina Turner	1985	from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Oppenheimer	Leni Oppenheimer	2019
Paranoid Chant	Minutemen	1980
Party at Ground Zero	Fishbone	1985
Pink World	Planet P Project	1984
Planet Earth	Duran Duran	1981
Political Science	Randy Newman	1972
Pride of Man	Hamilton Camp	1964
Pronto viviremos en la Luna  [ es ]	Spanish singer-songwriter Víctor Manuel	1984
Protect and Survive	Runrig	1987
Put Down That Weapon	Midnight Oil	1987
Quite Unusual	Front 242	1987
Radiation Sickness	Nuclear Assault	1986
Radioactive Toy	Porcupine Tree	1992
Red Rain	Peter Gabriel	1986
Red Shadows	T.S.O.L.	1984
Red Skies	The Fixx	1982
Red Skies over Paradise	Fischer-Z	1981
Ride the Wind	Crazy Planet	1988
Ronnie Talk to Russia	Prince	1981
Russians	Sting	1985
Rust in Peace... Polaris	Megadeth	1990
S.D.I.	Loudness	1987
Seconds	U2	1982
Set the World Afire	Megadeth	1988
Shattered	Pantera	1990
Skeletons of Society	Slayer	1990
Sign o' the Times	Prince	1987
So Afraid of the Russians	Made for TV	1983
So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish	A Perfect Circle	2018
So Long, Mom (A Song for World War III)	Tom Lehrer	1965
Soviet Snow	Shona Laing	1987
The Stage	Avenged Sevenfold	2016
Stagnation	Genesis	1970
Stop the World	The Clash	1980
Strike Zone	Loverboy	1983
Strontium 90	Fred & Betty Dallas with Ron Fielder	1959
The Sun Is Burning	Ian Campbell	1963
Summer of ‘81	Mondo Rock	1981
Sunrise	Icehouse	1987
Survive	Nuclear Assault	1988
Survivor's Song	Julia Ecklar	1986
Talkin' World War III Blues	Bob Dylan	1963
The Apple Tree	Difford & Tilbrook	1984
The Temptation of Adam	Josh Ritter	2007
Thank Christ for The Bomb	Groundhogs	1970
Thank God for The Bomb	Ozzy Osbourne	1986
The Sun Is Burning	Simon & Garfunkel	1964
This World Over	XTC	1984
Time After Time	Electric Light Orchestra	1983
Time Will Crawl	David Bowie	1987
Total Eclipse	Klaus Nomi	1981
Town to Town	Microdisney	1987
Tropicana	Gruppo Italiano	2002
Twilight Gods	Helloween	1987
Two Minute Warning	Depeche Mode	1983
Two Suns In the Sunset	Pink Floyd	1983
Two Tribes	Frankie Goes to Hollywood	1984
Vamos a la Playa	Righeira	1983
Vaporized	X-15	1981
Victims of the Future	Gary Moore	1983
Walk the Dinosaur	Was (Not Was)	1987
Walking in Your Footsteps	The Police	1983
The Wanderer	U2 and Johnny Cash	1993
Warhead	Tarot	1997
Warhead	UK Subs	1980
We Don't Want No Nuclear War	Peter Tosh	1987
We Will All Go Together When We Go	Tom Lehrer	1959
We Will Become Silhouettes	The Postal Service	2005
What Have They Done	Squeeze	1986
When the Wind Blows	David Bowie	1986
When They Drop the Atomic Bomb	Jackie Doll and the Pickled Peppers [1] : 130	1951
White Train	Bananarama	1986
Will The Sun Rise?	Dokken	1985
Wind of Change	Scorpions	1991
Wooden Ships	Crosby, Stills & Nash	1969
World Destruction	Time Zone	1984
World War III	D.O.A.	1979
World Wars III & IV	Carnivore (band)	1985

References

1. Charles K. Wolfe; James E. Akenson (2015). Country Music Goes to War. University Press of Kentucky. ISBN   978-0-8131-4965-3.
2. Hurley, Jessica (2014). "War as Peace: Afterlives of Nuclear War in David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest". In Blouin, Michael; Shipley, Morgan; Taylor, Jack (eds.). The Silence of Fallout: Nuclear Criticism in a Post-Cold War World. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 192. ISBN   978-1-4438-4479-6.
3. "Dancing at the Nuclear Holocaust". YouTube .
4. "Does AnybodyCare". YouTube .
5. Pearl Jam - Do the Evolution (Official Video) , retrieved 2022-12-23
6. "Sun Ra and His Outer Space Arkestra on Amazon Music". Amazon.