No Nukes | |
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Directed by | Daniel Goldberg Anthony Potenza Julian Schlossberg |
Produced by | Daniel Goldberg Julian Schlossberg Barbara Kopple (Uncredited) |
Starring | Jackson Browne Graham Nash Bonnie Raitt John Hall James Taylor Carly Simon The Doobie Brothers Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band |
Cinematography | Haskell Wexler |
Edited by | Neil L. Kaufman |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
Release date |
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Running time | 103 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
No Nukes is a 1980 documentary and concert film that contained selections from the September 1979 Madison Square Garden concerts by the Musicians United for Safe Energy collective, with Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, and John Hall being the key organizers of the event and guiding forces behind the film. Also included were scenes of the organizers getting the event together, expounding upon the dangers of nuclear power, and staging an anti-nuclear rally at Battery Park in New York City.
This was the first official appearance of Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band's live act on film, and many critics hailed their performances as the best in the documentary. Additionally, the future Springsteen classic "The River" was debuted at these shows and on the film, as well as Chaka Khan's consternation at being "Broooced" (Raitt deadpanned backstage, "Too bad his name wasn't Melvin"). The other generally acclaimed highlight of the film was Carly Simon and then-husband James Taylor's physically dynamic duet on "Mockingbird". On the other hand, Graham Nash's earnest spoken part about having seen "giant sponges" as a side effect of nuclear waste dumps earned itself a Spinal Tap-like reputation for rock star verbal blundering.
No Nukes was released for home consumption on VHS, Betamax and LaserDisc along the way, but as of 2023 not on DVD. Two of Springsteen's three numbers are available on his 2001 The Complete Video Anthology / 1978-2000 DVD, however.
The No Nukes live album was also released in May 1980 from this event, although it contained varying musical contents from the film (generally, the artists' biggest hits make it into the film but not the album, while some artists are on the album but not in the film).
Those who performed in the film in order of appearance,
at Battery Park:
Other famous personalities and celebrities are seen during the film, including Jane Fonda, Chaka Khan, Maggie Kuhn of the Gray Panthers, Ray Parker Jr., Ralph Nader, Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Nicolette Larson, Phoebe Snow, and ubiquitous backup singer Rosemary Butler.
Bonnie Lynn Raitt is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. In 1971, Raitt released her self-titled debut album. Following this, she released a series of critically acclaimed roots-influenced albums that incorporated elements of blues, rock, folk, and country. She was also a frequent session player and collaborator with other artists, including Warren Zevon, Little Feat, Jackson Browne, the Pointer Sisters, John Prine, and Leon Russell.
Clyde Jackson Browne is an American rock musician, singer, songwriter, and political activist who has sold over 30 million albums in the United States.
Musicians United for Safe Energy, or MUSE, is an activist group founded in 1979 by Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Harvey Wasserman and John Hall. The group advocates against the use of nuclear energy, forming shortly after the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in March 1979. MUSE organized a series of five No Nukes concerts held at Madison Square Garden in New York in September 1979. On September 23, 1979, almost 200,000 people attended a large rally staged by MUSE on the then-empty north end of the Battery Park City landfill in New York.
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John Joseph Hall is an American musician, songwriter, politician, environmentalist, and community activist. He was elected to the legislature of Ulster County, New York, in 1989 and the Saugerties, New York Board of Education in 1991, and he was the U.S. representative for New York's 19th congressional district, serving from 2007 to 2011. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Hall also founded the rock band Orleans in 1972 and continues to perform with them.
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Harvey Franklin Wasserman is an American journalist, author, democracy activist, and advocate for renewable energy. He has been a strategist and organizer in the anti-nuclear movement in the United States since 1973, and in the election protection movement since 2004. He has been a featured speaker on Today, Nightline, National Public Radio, CNN Lou Dobbs Tonight, Democracy Now!, Thom Hartmann, The Young Turks, Flashpoints, Egberto Willie's Politics Done Right broadcast on KPFT 90.1 fm Houston, Texas, and many other major media and internet outlets. Wasserman has been a senior advisor to Greenpeace USA since 1991, and at the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, an investigative reporter, and senior editor of The Columbus Free Press where his coverage, with Bob Fitrakis, prompted Rev. Jesse Jackson to call Wasserman and Fitrakis "the Woodward and Bernstein of the 2004 election." He lives with his family in Los Angeles where he co-hosts the California Solartopia Show on Pacifica Radio's KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles, California. He also co-hosts Green Grassroots Emergency Election Protection Coalition zoom gatherings most Mondays 2 to 4 pm Pacific Time.
Rosemary Ann Butler is an American singer. She began her career playing bass guitar and singing in an all-female band named the Ladybirds while attending Fullerton Union High School in Fullerton, California. The band appeared on several Los Angeles area television shows before opening for the Rolling Stones in 1964. She then joined all-female psychedelic rock band the Daisy Chain in 1967 and the all-female hard rock band Birtha in 1968, the latter of which released two albums for Dunhill Records. After they split in 1975, she became a popular back-up singer in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Her vocals were featured on Bonnie Raitt's album Sweet Forgiveness, on songs "Gamblin' Man", "Runaway", "Sweet Forgiveness" and "Two Lives". She was also featured in Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Jackson Browne's "Stay " during Springsteen and The E Street Band's 1979 "No Nukes" shows at Madison Square Garden.
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