Frankie Goes to Hollywood “Two Tribes” b/w “One February Friday,” 1984. This UK #1 hit, which spent 9 weeks at the top of the charts making it the longest-running number-one single of the 80′s, “presents a nihilistic, gleeful lyric expressing enthusiasm for a nuclear war, it juxtaposes a relentless pounding bass line and guitar riff inspired by American funk and R&B pop with influences of Russian classical music…the recording makes extensive use of samples of the British Protect and Survive public information films on how to survive a nuclear attack.” Again, I keep thinking about the worldview I developed as kid in the 1980′s: the West’s stance against the USSR during the peak of Reagan-era Cold War tensions and the fear imprinted onto the American public of war with Russia. This black and white vision of the world seems quaint now, bizarrely nostalgic. Just try to imagine what the remake version of the video for “Two Tribes” would look like today.

The air attack warning sounds like
This is the sound

When you hear the air attack warning
You and your family must take cover

When two tribes go to war
A point is all that you can score
(Score no more, score no more)
When two tribes go to war
A point is all that you can score
(Working for the black gas)

Cowboy number one
A born-again poor man’s son
(Poor man’s son)
On the Air America
I modeled shirts by Van Heusen
(Working for the black gas) Yeah

Hear me more
When two tribes go to war
A point is all that you can score
(Score no more, score no more)
When two tribes go to war
A point is all that you can score
(Working for the black gas)

Switch off your shield
Switch off and feel
I’m working on loving, yeah
I’m giving you back the good times
I’m shipping out, out
I’m working for the black gas

Tell the world that you’re winning
Love and life, love and life
Listen to the voice saying, “Follow me”
Listen to the voice saying, “Follow me”

When two tribes go to war
A point is all that you can score
When two tribes go to war
A point is all that you can score

We got two tribes
(We got the bomb, we got the bomb)
Yeah
Something this good died

Are we living in a land
Where sex and horror are the new gods
Yeah

When two tribes go to war
A point is all that you can score