Bang! 101 Songs about Nuclear War from the 1980s · Dave Malbon and Pank Pathak

(Waiting for the) Heatwave

·59 min·5 clips

Tony Travis describes seeing tornadoes at eye level in Wales, fueling the band's anti-nuclear anthem.

This episode of Bang! features hosts Pank and Dave exploring five more songs from their list of 101 tracks about nuclear war from the 1980s. The episode includes a special interview with Tony Travis, bassist for the band Fay Wray. The first song is Fay Wray's "Waiting for the Heatwave," which was the original inspiration for the entire podcast. Tony Travis explains the band formed in Bangor, North Wales, from members of two local groups, Dick Dick and the Dicks and Hot Water. He describes recording their 1982 album at Surrey Sound Studios after being spotted at a London gig supporting Killing Joke. The lyrics of "Heatwave" depict someone stopping their car to see a city in a burning glow and a mushroom cloud. The music video was filmed in a sand quarry in Kent and features a character in a diving suit. Travis notes the song was more popular in Germany, France, and the Netherlands than in the UK due to distribution issues with WEA Records. He also shares that the band appeared on a BBC community programme about CND alongside a screening of the film *The War Game*. The second song is Deacon Blue's "He Looks Like Spencer Tracy Now," an album track from 1987's *Rain Town*. The lyrics are largely adapted from a 1985 *Time* magazine article about Harold M. Agnew, a scientist on the Hiroshima mission. Agnew flew on the plane *The Great Artiste*, which accompanied the *Enola Gay*, and later smuggled film of the bombing to J. Robert Oppenheimer. Singer Ricky Ross added the refrain "he cries all night" to introduce a tone of regret to the song. The third song is Young Marble Giants' "Final Day," a 1980 track described as a 90-second vision of nuclear holocaust performed as a lullaby. The Cardiff band's minimalist arrangement uses a homemade drum machine and synth bass without drums or a bass guitar. The hosts compare the stoical tone to the animated film *When the Wind Blows*. The fourth song is The Jacksons' "Be Not Always," a 1984 album track featuring Michael Jackson on lead vocals. Lyrics like "Mothers cry, babies die, helplessly in arms, while rockets fly" frame it as a nuclear ballad. The hosts discuss Jackson's 1988 concert in West Berlin, performed so close to the Wall that the East German Stasi prepared a pre-recorded show to broadcast if his comments became too political. The final song is Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Two Tribes (Annihilation Mix)," a nine-minute version of their 1984 number-one single. The hosts note this specific mix is currently unavailable on major streaming platforms. The tone is conversational and educational, blending music history, personal anecdotes, and geopolitical context. Listeners who enjoy deep dives into post-punk, new wave, and 80s pop with historical Cold War connections will love this episode. Those seeking only mainstream hits or uninterested in detailed artist interviews might find parts less engaging.

As heard by us

A memory-rich music chat that gives one nuclear-war song its history.

This episode sits somewhere between a memorial and a music conversation, and that mix works. It opens on recent losses in the music world, then settles into a nuclear-war-themed track and the story around it.

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Why you'd press play

Press play for a memory-lane conversation that mixes song intros, old favorites, and the history behind them.

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