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Old 09-17-2008, 08:10 AM
 
Location: Portland, Oregon
1,373 posts, read 3,115,260 times
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I was born at the end of the Cold War (1990) so obviously to me it's all history.

What was the fear like? Was it not much scarier than the threat of nuclear or biowarfare now, or was it a far more real fear?

Does the fact the Cold War was going on make say, 1950 and 1985 feel close together in a way?

Could Rock N' Roll have existed without the Cold War? Hip hop seems like a product of the years after the end of the Cold War.
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Old 09-17-2008, 09:43 AM
 
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From about 1960 to 1965 was frightening, with the peak being the time around the Cuban Missile crisis. On the night of October 23, the Joint Chiefs of Staff instructed Strategic Air Command to go to DEFCON 2, for the only time in history. There were two points during the days to follow that we almost became nuclear toast. Around noon on the 27th, a U-2 over Cuba was shot down, and the day before that event, the U.S. depth charged a soviet nuclear sub. At the time, one of my brothers was a naval radar operator at Gitmo, and my father had direct access to the newswires and shortwave, so our family had a direct knowledge of how serious things were.

Oddly, when things began heating up in Vietnam it became apparent that a crossfire of nukes was highly unlikely, and the fear lessened.
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Old 09-17-2008, 10:11 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MimzyMusic View Post
I was born at the end of the Cold War (1990) so obviously to me it's all history.

What was the fear like? Was it not much scarier than the threat of nuclear or biowarfare now, or was it a far more real fear?

Does the fact the Cold War was going on make say, 1950 and 1985 feel close together in a way?

Could Rock N' Roll have existed without the Cold War? Hip hop seems like a product of the years after the end of the Cold War.
I came of age in the 70's and 80's but I can say it probably didn't have that much of an impact on sociology at all. People lived with it - just like people live with the threat of terrorism and planes blowing up today...or lived with the possibility of being run over by a car or hit by lightning. No one dwelled on it. You had a few kooks with air raid shelters, etc. A few good flims came out of it ("Dr. Strangelove", etc).
Rock and Roll is more a product of the Baby Boom, which in turn is a product of WW2.
The tensions in the early 60's (Cuba standoff) were not known to most people during the actual events so it wasn't any greater crises. But that was before my time. I do remember my parents watching the news and the USSR sending tanks into Checkoslovakia in the l1968 and them saying "this may be the start of ww3".
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Old 09-17-2008, 11:32 AM
 
2,790 posts, read 6,336,584 times
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Originally Posted by Dd714 View Post
Rock and Roll is more a product of the Baby Boom, which in turn is a product of WW2.
This statement is not entirely accurate. The popularity and longevity of rock 'n roll is due to Baby Boomers, but it is not a product of Baby Boomers. Bill Haley was born in 1925, Chuck Berry in 1926, Fats Domino in 1928, Ike Turner in 1931, Pat Boone was born in 1934 along with Jackie Wilson, Elvis in 1935 as was Jerry Lee Lewis, Bobby Darin and Roy Orbison were both born in 1936. Even people like Ricky Nelson, Fabian, Paul Anka, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and the Rolling Stones were all born before the Baby Boomer era began. It would seem that rock 'n roll is a product of something else, other than the cold war or WWII. Rock 'n Roll is the product of Depression-era Blues, 40's Big Band music, and Southern Rockabilly.
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Old 09-17-2008, 11:35 AM
 
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Obviously it ebbed and flowed with the peak probably being McCarthy to the Cuban Missle Crisis/Berlin Wall. Things calmed down for awhile until the USSR went into Afghanistan.


Like the other poster, I came of age in the 70s and 80s. The 70s were a pretty trippy time and the likes of Breschnev, Honnecker and the younger versions of Castro, Ghaddaffi, Ortega, etc could throw a chill into you. Ironically, it now seems better as we were dealing with a more "rational" and defined advesary. And of course there were always things that lessened tensions such as Tito and later Mao telling the Soviets where to stuff it.

So in my time, it could be uneasy, but not enough to consider building a bombshelter in the backyard.
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Old 09-17-2008, 12:02 PM
 
2,790 posts, read 6,336,584 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dd714 View Post
The tensions in the early 60's (Cuba standoff) were not known to most people during the actual events so it wasn't any greater crises.
I really am not picking on you, but I have to take issue with this statement as well. If this were true then why was my entire elementary school in Michigan, well away from the Cuban missle crises, drilling on what to do in the event of a nuclear bomb? I have talked to folks my age who lived in different parts of the country then, and they were practicing the same ludicirous drills- hiding under your school desk was not going to protect you from nuclear fallout. I think the fact that school districts all over the U. S. were addressing this demonstrates how real the threat was.

I may have been more aware because my father was a rocket scientist, he really was, so even though his work was top secret, we were aware of the importance of what he was doing.

One thing I am curious about is whether our neighbors in Windsor or other Canadian cities close to the U. S. also practiced those drills.
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Old 09-17-2008, 01:11 PM
 
14,988 posts, read 23,795,156 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MICoastieMom View Post
This statement is not entirely accurate. The popularity and longevity of rock 'n roll is due to Baby Boomers, but it is not a product of Baby Boomers. Bill Haley was born in 1925, Chuck Berry in 1926, Fats Domino in 1928, Ike Turner in 1931, Pat Boone was born in 1934 along with Jackie Wilson, Elvis in 1935 as was Jerry Lee Lewis, Bobby Darin and Roy Orbison were both born in 1936. Even people like Ricky Nelson, Fabian, Paul Anka, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, and the Rolling Stones were all born before the Baby Boomer era began. It would seem that rock 'n roll is a product of something else, other than the cold war or WWII. Rock 'n Roll is the product of Depression-era Blues, 40's Big Band music, and Southern Rockabilly.
HAHA, I assure you I know my rock and roll history. If you take it to that extreme then your statement is not accurate either. The progression of rock is, I agree, largely from the blues, the blues is from the old gospel music sung by blacks in the cotton fields of the pre-reconstruction/pre civil war south, that in turn has its roots in african rythms. Through the years of course it's had other influences - jazz, swing, etc. You bring into your question exactly what the birth of rock and roll is, that is beyond the scope of this discussion. The baby boomer era was clearly the key to the sucess of rock and roll and that's why I mentioned that. My point to original poster was who was responsible for the success of rock and roll - that answer is the baby boomer generation. I beleive that was the OP's question focus. The Beatles, Beach Boys, and Rolling Stones, although born before the end of the war, are clearly part of that generation. Without the post war generation, you would not know about the Beatles or the Rolling Stones.

For your second email I seem to recall old news clips of the school drilling (hiding under desks, etc) starting in the 50's. Had nothing to do with the cuban missle crises. But that all predates me. As a school child in the second half of the 60's I don't remember any drilling like that.
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Old 09-17-2008, 01:46 PM
 
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I was born in 1970 and growing up none of us had any fears of WW3, Cold War stuff.

The cheesy "Red Dawn" movie about USSR invasion of USA was pretty much considered as realistic as if they had fought with light-sabers.
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Old 09-17-2008, 01:50 PM
 
Location: South Bay Native
16,226 posts, read 27,321,462 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mathguy View Post
I was born in 1970 and growing up none of us had any fears of WW3, Cold War stuff.

The cheesy "Red Dawn" movie about USSR invasion of USA was pretty much considered as realistic as if they had fought with light-sabers.
What?!? You mean the Russian's true goal back in the 80s wasn't to take over a podunk town in the middle of nowhere, population 243?

Sob. Wolverines!

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Old 09-17-2008, 02:38 PM
 
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"For your second email I seem to recall old news clips of the school drilling (hiding under desks, etc) starting in the 50's. Had nothing to do with the Cuban missile crises."

Correct. I remember this clip having been shown.

YouTube - Duck and Cover
As a kid, I thought the shell idea was pretty cool, but cramped.

Even then, teachers weren't keen on the hiding under desk routine. We were instructed to line up against a basement wall, or the wall of a cloakroom, and I vaguely remember instructions for those kids within ten or fifteen minutes of the school to be prepared to run home.
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