It was an era of engagement and
activism. You were expected to stand for something, and what people
stood for was sometimes good, sometimes not. Standing up for
environmental issues was one of the best things you could do – if
more people had done it, perhaps we wouldn't be where we are today,
with on one hand a scorched earth and on the other a flooded one. The
anti-nuclear movement was particularly strong towards the end of the
70's and early 80's, engaging several artists. Two 'no nukes' various
artists albums were released, one in 1975 and one in 1980.
Vi kan leva utan kärnkraft (Silence,
1975)
Featured artists: Bernt Staf / Tore Berger / Elektriska
Linden / Turid / Roland von Malmborg / Nynningen / Røde
Mor / Thomas Wiehe /
Thomas Tidholm
Swedish vocals
International relevance: **
Silence put out this album in 1975,
with both label acts and non-Silence artists.
All tracks were recorded specifically for the album. Qualitywise it's
a bit hit and miss, but stylistically it's surprisingly coherent
despite the disparate contributors. The oddest ones out in this
predominantly acoustic lot are Røde
Mor, actually a Danish
band but here augmented by Nynningen's Totta Näslund on vocals.
Roland von Malmborg provides "Stoppa all atomkraft", one of his best songs, and Thomas Tidholm's ”Fortsättning följer” is a great and moody way to end
the album.
Nej
till kärnkraft! (MNW/Silence, 1979)
Featured artists: Lill Lindfors / Anders Linder / Monica Dominique /
Ola Magnell / Marie Bergman / Robert Broberg / Dag Vag / Monica Törnell /
Bernt Staf / Lasse Tennander / Hjördis Petterson
Swedish
vocals
International
relevance: *
A
referendum on the future use of nuclear power was held in March 1980.
There were three alternatives to vote for. No. 1 was a definite yes
to nuclear power, supported by Moderata Samlingspartiet (The Moderate
Party, right-wing). No. 2 stood for a slow phase out of nuclear
energy, and was supported by Socialdemokraterna (The Social
Democratic Party, left-wing) and Folkpartiet (The People's Party,
right-wing liberals). No. 3 represented a definite no and wanted a
quick stop to the use of nuclear power, and it was supported by
Vänsterpartiet Kommunisterna (The Communist Party, left-wing
obviously) and Centerpartiet (The Centre Party, right-wing).
Alternative no. 2 won but the phasing out still hasn't happened.
A vast
number of artists supported the third alternative, and to raise money
for the no nukes campaign, the two most notable progg labels MNW and
Silence joined forces for a mutual release in 1979, ”Nej till
kärnkraft!”. If ”Vi kan leva utan kärnkraft” has a diverse
line-up, it's nothing compared to this release. Bringing together
mainstream artists such as Lill Lindfors and Marie Bergman, actress
Hjördis Petterson who had her heyday in the 1930's-50's, progg
singer/songwriters like Bernt Staf and Ola Magnell, the one-of-a-kind
visionary Robert Broberg, and jazz singer Monica Dominique
(previously in Solar Plexus) to mention but some of the participants
sure makes for a spastic listen. Which is not to say it's without
merits. Most notably, it has ”Många gånger om”, one of the best
track the excellent progg/rock/reggae band Dag Vag ever did. But the
album is certainly subordinated to the cause and I can't think of
anyone who would actually enjoy it from start to finish.
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