CONELRAD Atomic Platters

High School Drag

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 18:02:03 GMT

Approximately mid-way through the Albert Zugsmith exploitation film masterpiece HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL (1958), an attractive, quasi-bohemian woman strides on stage at a coffee house and belts out a beat poem that provides a delightfully nihilistic snapshot of the Cold War�including references to the space race and atomic evacuation. The fact that she happens to be accompanied by Jackie Coogan (who plays a heroin kingpin in the film) on piano is, like, pure existential gravy. Predictably,...

If the Bomb Falls: A Recorded Guide to Survival

Tue, 06 Dec 2005 14:35:19 GMT

Released shortly after JFK's Civil Defense appeal to America in the pages of LIFE magazine, this chilling spoken word LP was issued complete with a bonus insert manual on how to construct a "Family Fallout Shelter." SIDE ONE, "What to Do In Case of Nuclear Attack," opens with a CONELRAD alert signal and is followed by the no-nonsense narration of David Wiley: "The threat of nuclear warfare is a threat to all...

Dawn of Correction, The

Sat, 29 Oct 2005 05:10:36 GMT

An unfashionably optimistic answer song to Barry Maguire's nihilistic, yet catchy hit EVE OF DESTRUCTION, DAWN OF CORRECTION commands more interest today mainly because of the overexposure of the song that it is responding to. That and its tortured and dated lyrics: "Self-government�s replacing colonization. What about the Peace Corps organization? Don�t forget the work of the United Nations." Huh? And what did Mr. Maguire think of this unlikely answer to his masterpiece? In...

Iron Curtain Has Parted, The

Sun, 02 Oct 2005 04:54:48 GMT

This song about American military men released from 'Red' imprisonment was waxed by Don Windle after Nashville producer Bill Beasley told him he needed a topical song recorded quickly. Beasley's motivation was to cash in on an unfolding international incident: The Russians had seized U.S. servicemen and Beasley wanted to release the song as soon as the soldiers were freed. Beasley brought in top people for the session including Tommy Jackson on fiddle. The flipside of this single was I Want...

Let's Keep The Communists Out

Sun, 02 Oct 2005 04:52:22 GMT

An essentially spoken word song that has the courage to finally tell the truth about the underlying fear that drove the Cold War: That if the Communists were to ever take over, they would place Santa Claus in a gulag! This song also earns extra points for including a gratuitous sound effect of an atomic bomb explosion. One of the pioneers of the Bakersfield sound, Ferlin Husky was born in Flat River, Missouri in 1927. He began his musical career in his teens performing at various...

Tennessee

Sun, 02 Oct 2005 04:50:53 GMT

This song about Tennessee's contribution to country music manages to fit in the fact that the state was also where the first atomic bomb was built. It isn't exactly clear how this relates to the salutes to Red Foley, Ernest Tubb and Eddy Arnold, but we'll take our Bomb references wherever we can find them. Rockabilly pioneer Carl Perkins was born in Tiponville, Tennessee in 1932 and was inspired by country music as a child listening to The Grand Ole Opry on the radio. He also gained...

Russia, Russia (Lay That Missile Down)

Sun, 02 Oct 2005 04:48:25 GMT

An amusing song written by folk artist Tom Glazer that seeks to find common ground with the Soviets before they use their missile! There is no biographical information on Prescott Reed.

Rockin' Behind The Iron Curtain

Sun, 02 Oct 2005 04:46:51 GMT

The familiar Huey 'Piano' Smtih & The Clowns beat is evident in this song that imagines rock 'n' roll breaking out in Communist China. Marchan was lead vocalist in Huey 'Piano' Smith's group for several years beginning in 1957. Marchan can be heard on the group's hits Rockin' Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu and Don't You Just Know It. Rock 'n' roll and soul artist Bobby Marchan was born in Youngstown, Ohio in 1930 and got his start in show business as a female impersonator. In...

To Russia With Care

Sun, 02 Oct 2005 04:44:26 GMT

A bizarre blue collar country song in which the song's fed up narrator packs a pinko woman into a box to send her to the Soviet Union. This is the kind of song that appealed to the right-wing voting block that Richard Nixon would later lovingly refer to as 'The Silent Majority.' Harold Weakley was a native of Nashville, Tennessee who was born into a musical family. His mother played guitar and his father was a fiddler. He started his career in music as a vocalist for Big Jeff and the...

Sputnik (Satellite Girl)

Sun, 02 Oct 2005 04:39:18 GMT

A rocking rockabilly number that imagines a guy and his girl circling the earth on the famous Russian satellite. No, the lyrics don't make a whole lot of sense, but the tune certainly moves. Engler recalled in an Internet interview conducted by Robert Meyerowitz that he wrote the lyrics to his most famous song while on a lunch break at his day job at the Eastman-Kodak company in Rochester, New York. He had, like everyone else, read about the Soviet space triumph in the newspaper. After...