Voordat de Bom valt: de representatie van de Koude Oorlog in Nederlandse muziek uit de jaren tachtig

Abstract

The Cold War had a significant impact on European societies, including on the Dutch. In the Netherlands, the Cold War era was characterized by many protests against the placement of American nuclear warheads at the Dutch military airport in Woensdrecht. According to scholars, these protests showed that the Dutch fiercely opposed the Cold War and that they also feared the nuclear bomb. Pessimism and anxiety are said to have prevailed. To what extent was this really the case? What was the Dutch mindset during the eighties as far as the Cold War was concerned? And was this mindset also reflected in the Dutch music? After all, music is a popular medium in which political thoughts and feelings are often reflected. This master thesis tries to answer the following question: how was the Cold War reflected in the Dutch music of the eighties? Three Dutch Cold War songs are central to this research. By considering the lyrics, the social context, the reception and the motivation of the songwriters, I have tried to paint a picture of Dutch Cold War mentality. The results show a nuanced picture: the supposed pessimism appears to be somewhat exaggerated. While the Dutch were aware of the Cold War, it did not dominate their lives. Furthermore, there was no clear preference for one of the ideological systems. Generally, the Dutch were fed up with the Cold War. These findings are the result of the analysis of three Dutch Cold War songs that explicitly refer to the Cold War in their title. Research using other songs or Cold War culture forms in the Netherlands may yield different results.