B Reactor Atomic Culture Room: Nuclear Songs

The Nuclear Songs exhibit panel in the Atomic Culture Room.

See exhibit panel for specific image credits.

Main Text
Text at the bottom left reads: “Nuclear Songs - As the world entered the nuclear age, songs about atoms and bombs emerged from all over the American music scene from gospel (Jesus Hits Like an Atom Bomb, 1950) to rock and roll (Uranium Rock, 1958). Radioactive by Imagine Dragons (2012) uses nuclear age metaphors to discuss overcoming personal obstacles and starting a new age more powerful than ever. Songs of the nuclear age have been, and continue to be, a powerful way to express and explore Americans’ fascination and fear of nuclear technology.”

Other songs listed include: We Will All Go Together When We Go, Tom Lehrer; Jesus Hits Like An Atom Bomb, Lowell Blanchard; Crawl Out Through The Fallout, Sheldon Allman; So Long Mom (A Song for World War III), Tom Lehrer; Uranium Rock, Warren Smith; Life During Wartime, Talking Heads; Atomic Playboys, Steve Stevens; Brighter Than A Thousand Suns, Iron Maiden; When They Drop The Atomic Bomb, Jackie Doll and the Pickled Peppers; So Long And Thanks For All The Fish, A Perfect Circle; 1999, Prince; 99 Red Balloons, Nena; and Dawn Patrol, Megadeath.

Exhibit Panel Description
The poster, entitled “Music,” shows a list of song titles and artists over an image of vinyl LPS and 45s strewn haphazardly on top of one another.

Visit This Exhibit Panel
In-person visitation of the B Reactor is only authorized on guided tours offered by the Department of Energy.