Cold War Nostalgia

November 26, 2006... I'd been feeling nostalgic for the Cold War even before the stories surfaced this week of the poisoning of former Soviet spy, Alexander Litvinenko, and the recent murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya, an opponent of another former Soviet spy, the current President of Russia, Vladimir Poutine.

Ylno sevitarepo Naidanac rof egassem dedoc

Many good things came out of the Cold War: US military bases in West Germany, for example.

2Bad - Idiot Tree

Lee Hollis was an American GI stationed in West Germany during the early 1980s. Following the trail blazed by the Monks two decades before, Hollis quit the USAF to join a rock group instead. In fact, Hollis quit the army to join a lot of rock groups--among them, the Spermbirds, the Ankry Simons, and 2Bad. Of them all, 2Bad is my favourite.

2Bad - Cry

2Bad's lyrics were fairly standard punk rock fare lampooning social climbers and political posturers, albeit with a particularly unsympathetic twist. But 2Bad's sound was anything but standard: dissonant, metallic guitar; squealing, atonal saxophone; a rock solid rhythm section; and snotty punk vocals.

2Bad - Declaration

One of the other good things to come out of the Cold War was a bloc of countries that did not look, sound or smell like the west. There aren't many of those left today, but North Korea is certainly one. For an excellent description of what it's like to live in a present-day totalitarian state, where assembly and expression are not free, where images of the "Great Leader" adorn every wall, and there are no Big Macs to be found, check out Guy Delisle's graphic novel, Pyongyang: A Journey in North Korea.

To purchase a copy of 2Bad's Idiot Tree, or any of their other releases--all of which are available on CD at low low prices--check out X-Mist, the German record label what released 'em.

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