Many of these pieces frame the middle years of the 80s as the "twilight" of the Cold War. To the older readers out there(and I'm one of them), does this match your memories of those years?

"I'm not doubting that environmental destruction was one of the things he was thinking of "

Is this the quote that's circulating around so many websites purporting to explain Rush lyrics? I went digging last night and saw the same quote internet-recycled many times.

But it was upgraded to something that could detect ICBMs. Anyway…

Now that shit is crazy…

Yes, yes it does…

And a bunch of songs from Ozzy's Ultimate Sin. Not thrash it's true, but the album cover does feature a mushroom cloud.

But I'm pretty sure I've read that it's about environmental concerns, and not nuclear war. No doubt the reference to the D.E.W. line, used to detect a Soviet missile launch, has contributed to that perception, in addition to the video featuring a kid riding a cruise missile.

Aww…I wanted to spend more time with your earlier response. But since it's gone…

Don't forget a fiddle or a steel guitar! Or both!!!

The entire country music industry is built around having professional songwriters write songs played by session players behind an affable telegenic "singer".

It was their laps, in the middle of a subway car.

To me, it is just an apple.

"It's obviously: "The age of the Alexandria utopia is over!"

Maybe.

Nope. It's just an apple. A common breakfast food that would also be readily available in northern VA in the fall, and a way to show that the Hilltoppers are now providing food to RickCo.

"unless it's a symbol, there's no reason for it to be there."

"the first thing that popped in my head was what were they trying to do by showing the apple"

This comment section validates your perspective, because several people are upset about the apple.

Yes! I had to plow through way too many comments to find this.