This is a listicle rather than a news report, highlighting three well-known songs from the 1980s that subtly reference the Cold War-era fear of nuclear conflict between the United States and Soviet Union. The piece argues that while these tracks became mainstream pop hits, closer inspection of their lyrics and origins reveals commentary on the era's anxieties around warfare and destruction.

The songs featured are Prince's "1999" (1982), inspired by a documentary predicting the future, which frames the threat of nuclear annihilation with a message of living in the moment; Tears For Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" (1985), reportedly originally titled "Everybody Wants To Go To War" and described by band member Curt Smith as being about power and the misery caused by warfare; and Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire", which directly name-checks Cold War touchstones such as H-bombs, the Rosenbergs and Joe McCarthy, with Joel explaining the song simply reflects that "the world's a mess."