High School Folk Fest: Mississippi John Hurt, Doc Watson, and Hedy West... ....Philadelphia 1964-1967

Poster courtesy of Carl Apter (225)

"Good Evening everybody...with y'all, glad to be with you. Hope I can entertain you nicely... hope I can."

When I found out that Mississippi John Hurt played a concert in 1966 in the auditorium of the school I teach at, I knew there had to be a story.... Others played too: Doc Watson, Hedy West, The Country Gentlemen, The Capitols, and a number of other local and student bands.

So far I've located the phenomenal Hurt and Watson sets, and an odd short interview with Doc, tracked down thanks to an over the air tape of Gene Shay's WXPN folk show where he thanks David Kleiner (Central Class 225) for the recordings.

Mississippi John Hurt - 1966 - Central Auditorium

Set 1
Nearer My God To Thee
Baby What's Wrong With You
Coffee Blues
It Ain't Nobody's Business
Candy Man
Stagolee
Monday Morning Blues

Set 2
Salty Dog
I'm Satisfied
Make Me a Pallet On Your Floor
Frankie
Spanish Fandango
My Creole Belle
You Are My Sunshine
Avalon

Doc Watson - 1965 - Central Auditorium

Muskrat 
Honey Baby Blues
The Little Stream of Whiskey
Georgie
We Shall All Be Reunited
The Fisher's Horn Pipe / The FFV
Windy and Warm
The Wild Goose Chase
Blackberry Blossom
Greensleeves
Hand Me Down My Walking Cane
Life Gets Tedious, Don't It
Deep River Blues
Otto Wood The Bandit
Hiram Hubbard
I Like The Old Time Worship Of The Lord
Ramblin' Hobo
Streamline Cannonball
Oh By Jingo
Tom Dooley
Fiddle Tune Medley - The Fiddler's Dram/Whistling Rufus/Ragtime Annie
Doc demos songs from his earlier band career / Brown's Ferry Blues
Blue Smoke
Interview by Barry Berg

Gene Shay (former WXPN Folk Show host) identified Barry Berg as the recording engineer for both the Hurt and Watson concerts. Berg was a Temple student who had a folk show called Broadsides on WRTI and was one of Shay's "Folklore Flunkies" when he did his show on WHAT. "While Broadsides was technically a folk show, it was sometimes a thinly-veiled attempt to play rock music on the college station where the administration had banned rock and roll." -Broadcast Pioneers

Meanwhile, both Central (all boys at the time) and the nearby Philadelphia High School for Girls had their own Folk Song Societies. "Clubs were the only way to interact with girls from Girls’ High. So I belonged to Drama Club, Folk Music Club, Political Affairs club."  -Jake "George" Fratkin (Class 225), Central Folk Song Society member

CHS Jug Band

The Central and Girl's High Folk Song Societies organized a remarkable series of folk festivals, listed below along with The Centralizer student newspaper articles from the Central High School Archives.


April 11, 1964 - Girls HS Auditorium
Hedy West
Tossi and Lee Aaron (Lee was co-director of the Phila Folk Music Workshop)
Benjamin Aranoff
Quandary Quintet - with Michael Bacon (224) and sister Hilda Bacon
(Recording not yet found)

   ...This concert will be the ""biggest thing in S[tudent] A[ssociation] history," as it will cost approximately six hundred dollars. This is the first SA function with professional performers and the first time an SA function of this type has been held on a Saturday night. The Folk Festival will cost SA members $1.00 and non-members $1.50, a quarter going to the student associations of these schools to promote sales.
   The performers will include Hedy West, nationally known artist from New York City, author of best selling song "Five Hundred Miles"; Tossi Aaron, accompanied on the mandolin by her husband, Lee, the co-director of the Philadelphia Folk Music Workshop; Benjamin Aranoff, one of the best banjo players in the country and runner up in the Philadelphia Folk Festival Banjo Contest; the Quandary Quintet, upcoming jug band that will soon appear at "The Second Fret."
-The Centralizer (student newspaper), March 1964

June 2, 1964 - Central Auditorium
Stupidity Singers (CHS students)
Ukranian Folksingers (GHS students)
(The recording by WRCV has not yet been found. Phil Covelli (222) was president of the club and produced and directed the show.)

   On June 2, the combined Folk Clubs of Central and Girls High presented a folk concert in the Central auditorium. The concert was taped by WRCV AM radio and rebroadcasted at 10:00 P.M. on June 6.
   Two new folksinging groups made their debut on the Central stage. One was a group of Ukranian folk singers.... The other, a threat to the 'Chad Mitchell Trio' and 'Peter, Paul, and Mary', was the 'Stupidity Singers.'
   The concert was attended by more than 400 students from both schools.
-The Centralizer, June 1964

May 1, 1965 - Central Auditorium
Doc Watson
Uncalled IV Jug Band

   Doc Watson and the Uncalled IV Jug Band appeared at the Second Annual Central High Folk Festival in the SA's most successful event.
   510 people attended from many schools, resulting in a $100 profit. All profits from the refreshment stand have been donated to the Mississippi Book Collection [a SNCC and SCLC program to increase literacy and voter participation among Black voters in the Jim Crow South].
   When Doc Watson appeared, no one failed to respond to him. Not only was his guitar and banjo playing extraordinary, but his warmth and personality compelled appreciation from all at the concert. Playing a variety of folk music from blues to country banjo, Watson always told a little story before each song. Watson played his instruments with such tremendous dexterity that even the anti-folk music audience appreciated him. He could flat pick a song, playing only one string at a time, and reproduce an effect created by fingerpicking, or playing three strings simultaneously.
   The high point of the concert was the union of Doc Watson and Roger Sprung, who played the banjo in the Jug Band. Sprung, in his own right one of the best progressive banjo players in the country, presented his stunning syncopated version of "Greensleeves", backed by Watson on the guitar.
   To Doc Watson, folksinging is a way of life. Watson picked up the banjo when he was six and the guitar at fourteen. He played traditional music all his life, but didn't start recording until he was forty, in 1960, when folk music revived in popularity. Doc, a most mild mannered person, is angered at only one subject - Bob Dylan. "I like his songs; they're basically good. I just don't like the way he sounds."
   Appearing with Doc Watson at the festival was the Uncalled IV Jug Band, a group of four of the most gross musicians ever to play. However, despite their appearances, which supplemented their wild music, the Jug Band created the most excitement at the concert.
-The Centralizer, May 1965

(photo not from the CHS concert) 

May 21, 1966 - Central Auditorium
Mississippi John Hurt
Jerry Ricks
John Pilla
Dan Starobin (224)

   Central High's Third Annual Folk Festival, featuring Mississippi John Hurt, was held Saturday evening, May 21, at 8:30 P.M. in the CHS Auditorium.
   Mississippi John Hurt, 75 year-old singer and guitarist, isolated from blues singers for many years, has developed a style all his own. His repertoire includes traditional, traditional-religious, and original compositions. Although Mr. Hurt first recorded in 1928, his 1963 appearance at the Newport Folk Festival marked the end of his long absence from performing.

   Others in the program included Jerry Ricks and John Pilla, guitarists. Of special interest was Dan Starobin, also a guitarist, who was graduated from Central in the 224th Class.
-The Centralizer, May 1966


April 29, 1967 - Girls' High Auditorium
The Country Gentlemen (from DC)
Igra Dance Group (directed by Bill Vanaver)
Dan Starobin (224)

   This year's Folk Concert is a joint venture with Girls' High. The S.A. is sponsoring Central's share of the performance in cooperation with the Folk Song Society, headed by Steve Landau and Mark Schultz (both 226).
   Topping the program are the Country Gentlemen, a group specializing in its own style, a blend of country, jazz, and folk music. The Gentlemen, from Washington, D.C. have appeared at Carnegie Hall... and have recorded on the Mercury and Folkways labels. Unlike many other groups of their type, they gear their program, filled with humor, to urban audiences.
   Also at the concert will be the Igra dance group, under the direction of Bill Vanaver. The dancers, new on the scene, perform folk dances including those of the Balkans, Poland, and the Ukraine.
   Dan Starobin (224), folk singer, humorist, and Central graduate, will be on hand as he was at last year's concert.
   Ticket's can be obtained in the lunchroom opposite the change booth. Tickets are $1.50 with a twenty-five sent S.A. card reduction.
-The Centralizer, April 1967

Other Concerts at Central - Dates unknown
Jim Kweskin Jug Band
Geoff and Maria Muldaur
The Capitols

Much thanks to my Central colleague Elliott Drago for starting this ball rolling by telling me about the John Hurt concert; the alumni members of the Central Folk Song Society for sharing their memories and information and for making these concerts happen: Carl Apter (225), Jake "George" Fratkin (225), Elliott Fratkin (225), David Starobin; Rudy Cvetkovic (239) and David Kahn (220) of the Associated Alumni of Central High School for putting me in touch with members and granting access to the Central Archives and back issues of The Centralizer; Barry Berg, for making the recordings, the late Ed Sciaky for digitizing them, and David Kleiner (225) for sharing the recordings with me, and us all.

Find more at the Mississippi John Hurt Foundation, a non-profit organization devoted primarily to preserving the musical legacy and history of Mississippi John Hurt, while providing musical and educational opportunities to disadvantaged youth.

Jake "George" Fratkin from the 225 Yearbook

*********

Addendum:

Carl Apter (225), President of the Folksong Society sent in the program from the show:

Radioactive Releases... ........... ......The Music of Three Mile Island

Root Boy Slim, doing the Meltdown....

Pennsylvania Governor Dick Thornburgh recommended that pregnant women and young children evacuate the area near Three Mile Island in March 1979. Maybe he should have included musicians too....

(Potter County Was Made By the Hand of God, But the Devil Made) Three Mile Island - Al Shade & Jean Romaine (Potter County PA 1979)

by Tom Quinn (Lancaster-24 miles away) & Sean Kilcoyne (Hummelstown-8 miles away)

TQ: I was 10 years old on that day when we got news that something was happening at some place called Three Mile Island. I never heard of it at the time, but it was only about 24 miles northwest of our suburban Lancaster home. We were supposed to stay indoors with the windows closed. My parents remained calm, but I could tell my mom was really worried and there was a lot of talk about which way the wind would blow. When she dropped us off at my friend Corey's house, we ran from the car to the front door.

SK: Three Mile Island had been spitting radioactive filth around central Pennsylvania for more than 48 hours when the governor issued his recommendation that pregnant women and preschool-age children evacuate. It was a Friday afternoon and I was in the first grade. My elementary school was slightly outside the five-mile evacuation radius, a measurement which provided little comfort when emergency sirens began screaming out in the late March air. My six-year-old ears heard one teacher tell another that we would all probably die. 

TQ: Until that day, I had never heard of radiation. I don't think I knew what nuclear power was. I just knew about the Bomb. We spent the day playing in the basement while my parents were at work, entertaining ourselves for a little while by running up to the little window by the ceiling and screaming RADIATION! I'm Meeeeltinnnng!

photo by Lose Kibler

SK: Within the space of an hour or two, most parents had collected their offspring, leaving the school eerily depopulated. My own family was missing in action and naturally I began to panic. Fortunately, a non-catastrophic explanation prevailed: we owned a single car and my father had been detained at work. Sometime later – the wait seemed interminable but was probably an hour or so – our red VW Beetle was wobbling through the Allegheny Mountains toward Altoona.  

TQ: The next day, we headed for the hills with my cousins and spent the weekend at their grandfather's trailer in the Poconos. I was worried about my dad, who stayed behind, but we picked blueberries, ran around the woods, and had a great time. If only all disasters could be this much fun.

SK: I distinctly remember the tension of the ensuing days, my group of adults nervously monitoring media transmissions for evidence of the situation back home. It was unthinkable that something called a hydrogen bubble could cause an explosion large enough to destroy our home and kill everybody that stayed behind....

*Denotes songs we haven't found yet--please help us out!

1979: Immediate Aftermath

Radiation Funk / Meltdown - Maxwell (Columbia PA)
Radiation Sickness - Cinecyde (Detroit)
Three Mile Island - The Tyme-Aires (Etters PA)
It's a Meltdown - The Citizen Kafka Singers (NYC)
27.3 - Ice 9 (Portland OR)

Three Mile Smile - Aerosmith (Boston)
Three Mile Island - Jorge Santana
Three Mile Island Interlude - J.P. and the Reactors (Harrisburg)
Plutonium is Forever/Power - John Hall (NY)

No More Nukes - Joy Ryder & Avis Davis (NYC)
Shut 'Em Down / We Almost Lost Detroit at the No Nukes Concert - Gil Scott Heron (NYC)
Melt Down Boogie - Buzzards (Chicago)
No More Nukes / Bleecker Street Visions - Roger Matura & the Niss Puk Band (Germany)

Three Mile Island - Joseph Aronesty aka Aaron Este (NJ)
Roulette (demo) - Bruce Springsteen (NJ)
Face the Fire - Dan Fogelberg (Nashville)
Radiation - Richie Gerber (ME)
The Beatles at Three Mile Island - Russell Hoffman (on Dr. Demento)
London Calling / Clampdown - The Clash (UK) video
Three Mile Island - Jethro Jive & the Genetic Rejection
Microwave Radiation - Xterminators (San Diego)
Volcano - Jimmy Buffet
Radiation Nation on a Three Mile Isle - Mark Levy aka LEV (CA)
Overexposed - Rick Kirby and the Vigilantes (CA)
Is Your Radio Active? - Times 5 (San Francisco)
Atomic - Blondie (NYC) video
On the Beach - The Rattlers (w/Joey Ramone)
Take the Children and Run - Don Lange
Radiation Level - Sun (Dayton OH)
Nuclear Madness - Joseph Lee Hooker (DC or NJ?)
Nuclear Power - Angletrax (UK)
The Meltdown - Root Boy Slim & the Sex Change Band (DC)

Reactor No. 2 - Nash the Slash (Toronto)
Radio Activity - Digital Dance (Belgium)
Nuclear Night - Crystal Disco Band
Atoms on the Loose Pt. 1 and Pt. 2 - Seals and Clubs (LA)
Goodbye T.M.I. - Gary & the Outriders (Hershey/Middletown PA)
Radiation / Jimmy Carter - Styphnoids (Portland OR)
My Radiation / King of the Hill / We Are the Nukes - The Nukes (Bloomington IN)
Nukes Make Me Puke - Oz (Wilmington DE)
Living In the Cancer Zone - Lisa & the Escorts (Wilmington DE)
Three Mile Island - Andrew R. McGhie (Wilmington DE)
Nuclear Boy - Killing Joke (UK)
Three Mile Island - Frank Canna (NJ)
Nuke Update - Fluke and O'Neal
Three Mile Island - Jim Bob Graves (VA)
Black Gold - Sam Church, Jr.
General Boy Visits Apocalypse Now - Devo
The Middletown Meltdown - Larry McCollough (PA)
Nuclear Blues - Kevin Minchin (Australia)
*TMI (after Sex Pistols EMI) - The Pleasure Dotz (York PA)
Three Mile Island Blues - Alan Fox (see 1981 recording)
*Radiationmasturbation - The Fall of Christianity (CA)
Harrisburg Radiation Blues - Ernie Hawkins (Pittsburgh)
*No Nuke Blues - Vic Sadot & the Crazy Planet Band (Newark DE)
*Three Mile Island - Thomas Keegan (MI)
Three Mile Island Blues - Barry Hyman
*Three Mile Island - Robert Schlipf
*Three Mile Island Shakedown - John Fonville (San Diego?)
*TMI - Julia Goldensohn (Philadelphia)
*Three Mile Island - Jeff Kalmar
*Now We All Live in Pennsylvania - Jesse P. Slocum (Bloomington IN)
*The Phantom Atom - Thomas J. Mantle & Julia F. Kooken (CA)
*TMI Blues - Debra M. Goodson
*Three Mile Island - Joe Wagner
*3 M.I. (it's what you need) - John Alan Connerly
*Radiation for Free - Rockylox (New Zealand)
3 Mile Island - The Howard County Dump (MD, see Les Alstat 2011)
Three Mile Island - Bill Romansky (Philadelphia)
Ballade á Chooz - GAM Groupe d'Action Musicale (Belgium)
*The Ballad of Three Mile Island - Red River Dave McEnery (TX)
*Don't Melt Down on My Baby / Nuclear Waste / Plutonium - Tru Fax & the Insaniacs (DC - see 2014)

40th anniversary reissue by Sean KilKoyne's
 Metallic Rainforest Records on Bandcamp!

Meltdown - El Pifco (Australia)
Nuclear Man - The Doodads (CO)

Radiation Nuclear Machine - Don and Handbone (San Francisco 1979, recorded 1987)

Chain Reaction  - Jesse Colin Young (NYC)

Headin' for Armageddon - Willis Meyers (Souderton PA)
Headin’ for Armageddon - The Gospel Blenders (Philadelphia)

*Three Mile Island - April 3, 1979 - "B.O.M.B" (Baltimore Oblivion Marching Band)
(My Home Town Is A) Nuclear Meltdown - Extroverts (Canada)
Contaminational Power - Crass (UK)
Dixy Lee Raydiation - Geff Ratcheson (WA)
No Nukes (is Good Nukes) - Wet Paint (Canada)
Ain't No Where You Can Run - Holly Near (CA)
Next Ice Age - Eric & the Erotics (NYC)
T.C. Radiation - Radiation (Italy)
Meltdown - Derek Austin (UK)
Disco Meltdown - L.R. Murphy (NYC)
Meltdown - Chalawa (Canada)
In Harrisburg - Kabarett Dusche (Germany)
*Teenage Radiation - Tokyo Rose (Detroit)
Holiday Meltdown - Tod Dockstader
Countdown for Meltdown b/w After the Meltdown (blank b-side) - The Isotopes (FL)
Critical Mass - Chrome (San Francisco)
Critical Mass - Pera & the Dogs (Spain)
Critical Mass - Little Kenny Wilson & His Band of Renown (DC)
Atom-Alarm - d’Gift-Lobby (Switzerland)
The Dictators - Machiavel (Belgium)
Melt Down - Hans Edler (Sweden)
Susquehanna - Lynn Grasberg (CA)
Don't Trust the Nukes - Gargerelli (NJ)
Harrisburg - Mark Jones (VA)
Rondeau Atomique - Tòcabiòl (France)
Fiesta Atomika - Alain Markusfeld (France)

Three Mile Island Blues - Fritz Hassel (Jackson Center PA)
Give It Back (demo) - Death (Detroit)
Harrisburg, Oh Harrisburg - Ruvensky, Burt and Jeff Pekarek (San Diego)
Future Fear - Bahama Mama (Rochester)
Harrisburg Girls - Lucky Del Ray & the Raydells (NJ)
Pennsylvania - At Random (MI)

Harrisburg - Teach-In (Netherlands)
Atomic Lover - Borderline (CA)
Ydinvoimaa (Nuclear Energy) - Sensuuri (Finland)

Tighten Up - Kenny Miles
Leakin’ Like a Sieve - Lev (aka Mark Levy) (CA)
Shut Down - The Tennessee Farm Band (NRC) (TN)
Meltdown - Robert Hoke (AZ)
Let’s Glow - Craig Bevan and the Tourists (Wilkes Barre PA)
Murder in the Gas Line - Randy Pump & the Gasolettes (US)
Im Laufe Der Woche - Cochise (Germany)
Heart Core Meltdown - Dean Rainey (TX/NM)
It Takes a Worried Man - DEVO (OH) video
Acres of Clams - Andrea Knopf (Harrisburg)
Traumurlaub in Zwentendorf - Akkord Arbeiter (Austria)
Na Harrisburg - Alkmaars Straat Orkest, George Janzsen (Netherlands)
Harrisburgballade - Werktuig (Netherlands)
Kernengergie - Jules de Corte (Netherlands)
Radio-Active - The Cheetahs (Edinburgh)
Nuclear Babies - The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo (Los Angeles)
TMI and the Nuclear Lie - Donald Kovacs and Ralph Stoner (Mechanicsburg)
Radioactive - Terminal Mind - (TX)
Contamination Zone - The Limps (UK)

Melt Yourself Down - James White & the Blacks - (NYC)

Nucalypso - Gary Lapow (San Francisco)

SK: When Harrisburg wasn’t blown off the map we came down from the mountains of western Pennsylvania. My family adhered to a powdered milk regimen despite assurances that radiation exposures were within “acceptable limits...."


1980

Who Will Close Pandora's Box - Fred & the Jupiter Gypsies (Harrisburg)
Radioactive Nights - Syn (Philadelphia)
Nuclear Infected - Alice Cooper (Detroit)

photo by Donna Jean

Atomic Love - The Late Teens (Harrisburg)
Critical Mass / System Failure / We are the NRC - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (TN)
Radioactive - Scott Wilk & the Walls (Chicago)
Radiation - Suicide (NYC)

Radioactivity - The Zips (Glasgow)
I'm a Reactor - The Reactors (CT & NYC)
Radioactive Love - Wreck'n Crew (NY)
TMI - Reesa & the Rooters (Philadelphia) video
Nuclear Toy - Hawkwind (UK)
All Clear in Harrisburg - Tom Paxton (NYC)

Radiation Squirm - The Judy’s (TX)
Three Mile Island - Larry Coryell (NYC)
Rotten to the Core - Missing Persons (UK)
Nuclear Twist - The Hipsters (State College PA)
Anti-Nuclear Blues - Louisiana Red 

Harrisburg / Your Money and Your Life / Tell ‘Em No - The Fourth Wall (NYC from We Are the Guinea Pigs documentary)
Janitor - Suburban Lawns (LA)
TMI - Locksmith (Pasadena)
Give Me Nuclear Power - Mykel Board’s Art (NYC)
The Whole World Causes Cancer - The Ralphs (TX)
Nuclear Blues - Blood, Sweat and Tears (CA)
Reactor - Painterband (Chicago)
Strontium 90 - Six Minute War (UK)
Low Level Radiation - The Cardboards (Pittsburgh)
Radioactivity - The Aircuts (Vancouver)
Harrisburg Half Life - Ray Anderson (US)
Harrisburg - Sidevind (Denmark)
R-Love (is Approaching Critical Mass) - Transistors (CO)
Atomreggae Harrisburg - KSMB (Sweden)
Harrisburg / Metallo Electtico - Kaos Rock (Italy)
Tmi - Elliott Sharp (NYC)
Radiation Man - Fault 151 (UK)
I Wanna Have a Nuclear Reaction - R-F (Atlanta)
Half Life - Humans from Earth (NJ)
City of Fear - Rondos (Netherlands)
Mutant - K.T.H. Kill The Hostages (FL)
Radioactive Feelings - Outrageous (France)
Radiation Polka - Chicago City Limits (NYC)
Reactor #2 - D.C. LaRue
Meltdown / To the Core - The Reactors (San Bernadino)
She Glows In the Dark - The Bagazoid Brothers (Cincinnati)

Atom-Most-Fear - Eric Burdon (UK)

RadioActive - Russell Morris & The Rubes (Australia) 

Radiation Dance - Tirez Tirez (UK) 

Nuclear Cop - Redgum (Australia) 

Reactor / Atomic Waste  - Walt Rockman (West Germany)
Three Mile Island - Images
The Plutonium Factor - Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger (Scotland & US)
Hard Luck Story - Johnny Van Zant
Contaminated - The Flames (Vancouver)
Radiation - Visitor (Netherlands)
Three Mile Island Pt. 1 / Three Mile Island Pt. 2  - Arcade (York PA)
*Need You - Presence (central PA)
*Three Mile Island Blues - Larry Downey and Teddy Felix
*The Harrisburg Syndrome - Michael P. Wright (OK)
Harrisburg Syndrom Oder Störfall In Stade - Gerd Schinkel (Switzerland)
Atomic Waste - Peter Alsop
Radiation - Tony Gradadi (Louisiana)
Harrisburg Rag - The Racquette River Rounders (NY)
Radiation - The Radiators (Australia)
Radiation Baby - Executive Slacks (Philadelphia)
Radiation - Fingerprintz (UK)
3 Miles High - Scott Hot Band (Allentown)
*Meltdown - Sleazy Pieces (OR)
Gone Fission - Pickers (WV)
Nuclear Waste - Inner City Unit (UK)
No Harmful Effects/Mentality Meltdown - The Parasites of the Western World (OR)
Meltdown - Steve McDonald (New Zealand)
Prompt Critical - Insinuations (VA)
Call Home - The Scientific Americans (MA)
Radioactive Blues - Knut Kiesewetter (Germany)
Down Town Reactor - Jezz Woodroffe (UK)
My Girl’s Radioactive - Pink Steel (Canada)
Atomic Harvest - Main Street (Switzerland)
Gamma Rock - Rolls Rock (CA)
Nuclear Holiday - Credo (Bethlehem PA)
The Neutron Bomb Song - Watz Bros. (IL)

Nuclear Power - ‘Āina (HI)

Nuclear - Such a Waist (sic) - Warpigs (Sweden)
The New Talking Atom Blues - Stringband (Canada)

Energy Crisis - Athletico Spizz (UK)
Pennsylvania Rain - Frigos (Italy)
Song from Harrisburg - Nightwatch (NYC)
No Nukes For Me - Judy Gorman-Jacobs (NYC)

Vi Älskar Dej, Amerika! - Björn Afzelius (Sweden)
Suomi-ilmiö - Eppu Normaali (Finland)
Acid Rain - Truth & Rights (Toronto)
Downwind - Mark Vavra (IL)
Kosher Delight (Napper’s Delight) - The Yiddish People aka Gefilte Joe & the Fish (Los Angeles)

*Atomic Energy Overdose - Chamois (Austin) Possibly same as Waylyn James 2017

Nukes Till We Puke - The Fleshapoids (ME)
Nuclear sí - Aviador Dro (Spain) video
Atomic Crusader - DuChamp (Kansas City)
Gamma Ray Blues - John Gill (Coatesville PA)
No Nukes - George Robson (AZ)

SK: Growing up, TMI was an inescapable feature of my domain, a 400-foot concrete colossus lurking at the periphery of my daily movements and vision. My imagination absorbed the forbidden interiors, the  massive control panels, the slope of the cooling towers, the vapor pillows spilling over their tops, merging with the atmosphere....

1981

Nuclear Power - Fallout (UK)
Three Mile Island - Fred Small (MA)
Stop the Nukes - Joey Skidmore & the Cellmates (MO)
Nuclear Meltdown - ? 
Three Isle My Land / Meltdown Requiem - Heads in the Sky (Canada)
Radiation Baby - The Form (Boston)
Radioactive Love - Nathan-Coates (Chicago)
Harrisburg - De Fabriek (Netherlands)
Radio Active (Fun, Fun, Fun) - Deborah Galli 
Harrisburg Today - Tim Craven (PA)
Strontium 90 - Kreegah! (Norway)
Radiation - The Mistakes (UK)
Nuclear Song - Craig Carothers (Portland OR)
Radioactive Love / Radiation - Gotham City (Australia)
Three Mile Island - Steve Allen
Meltdown Situation - The 012 (UK)
Shades - Poly Styrene (UK)
Radiation - Bell & James (Philadelphia)
Radiation - The Tom and Marty Band (VA)
*Susquehanna Meltdown - Fly By Night (central PA)
Meltdown - The Chameleons (Portland OR)
No More - Charlie Murphy (Seattle)
Plutonium - Al Millan and the Robots (San Luis Obispo)
Another Harrisburg - Nomadic Dissident
Ground Zero / No Need To Worry - L.E. McCullough (Pittsburgh)
Radioactive Kid - The Meteors (UK)
Why Don’t You Trust Us? - Leland Scott (VA)
Free Three Mile Island - Obrador (WA)
Meltdown - Day 5 (UK, see elMasher’s 2010 version)
Radioactive Baby Food - Random Speed (NY)
Radiation Song - Dogman and the Shepherds (TX)
Meltdown - David Hines (Los Angeles)
Radioactive - Rocking Horse (Minneapolis)
Fall Out Dust - Asha Puthli (India/NY)
The Atomikid - Agents Provocateurs (Amherst)
Nuclear Therapy - Laboratory Adults (NYC)
Attack of the Fifty Foot Woman - The Tubes - (Los Angeles)
Meltdown - Wood Brothers (NC)
One Little Thing the Atom Can’t Do - The Bluestein Family - (CA)
Bright Morning Star - Charlie King & Bright Morning Star (New England)
Three Mile Island Blues - Alan Fox with Steve Portman (Philadelphia 1979 song recorded in 1981 on Swarthmore College Radio)
Atomic USA - Moderns (CA)

Nuclear Love - Exits (LA)

1982

Radiationmasturbation - The Authorities (CA)

Harrisburg - Buschband (Germany)
Uh-Oh Plutonium! - Anne Waldman & the Hyacinth Girls (NYC)
Radiation Nation - Subverts (Chicago)
Meltdown - Lipstick Stains (GA)
The No Nuke Song - Serious Bizness (NYC)
Atomkraft - Elektrisk Regn (Norway)
Nuclear Blues - Flashback (CA)
Ballad of Three Mile Island - Jack Alves (AZ)
Babylon - Driftwood 
Here's to the Nukes - AJO Repertory Company 
Caveat No. 23 - Rigsby and Lamb 
Radiation Blues - Hans Olson 
Nuke Blues (Melt Down Mama) - Richard Kaplan
Midlogue - Peter Cannon
Five or Ten from Now - Big Pete Pearson with the Magic Matt Band (AZ)
Shut Up! - Sun City Girls (AZ)
Girl From Three Mile Island - Timothy J. MacDonald (LA on the Dr. Demento show)
Radiation - The Outfit (Ireland) 
Nuclear Reactor - Birth Control (Germany)
*Anti-Nuclear Songbook - Shelly & the Crustaceans (Seattle) video
Radio-Active - Barry Ford (UK)
Fission Blues - Andy Nookes
Nuketown - Atomic Reactors
The Battle of the Nuke War Dreams - Gary Mule Deer w/Dr Demento intro (SD)
Radioactive Mist - Iko (Montreal)
Radio Active - Vital Organs (UK)
Human Error - Mark Foggo - (Netherlands)
An Accident Waiting to Happen - Michele Mercure (Harrisburg) video
Nuclear No - Las Vulpess (Spain)
Along the Susquehanna - JE Dudgeon with Michael Bogdon and Friends (MD)
No Candu - Cobblestone (Canada)
Canvey Island - DIRT (UK)
Drowning Witch - Frank Zappa (CA)
Take the Children and Run - Peggy Seeger 

Meltdown (Davis Besse) - Pat Dailey (OH)

1983

Radioactive Chocolate - MDC (San Francisco)
Nuclear Power (Yes Please) - Dave Greenfield & J.J. Burnel (UK)
Radio Active Baby - The Turn-Ups (Harrisburg)
Sister Cities - The Pawns of Society (Harrisburg)
Harrisburg - La Banda Sin Futuro (Spain)
I'm in Love With My Nuclear Reactor - Kelley & the Beachcombers (LA) video
Melt Down - Loverboy
T.M.I. - Spanish Dogs (FL)
Happy Mutants (For Nuclear Energy) - Killing Children (IN)
Meltdown - Lives of Angels (UK)
*Meltdown - Metro Youth (UK)
Stimulation Radiation - Scot Freed
No Nukes - US Import
Nuclear Reactions - Long Beach Long Island (NY)
Three Miles to Oblivion - Crucifix (Berkeley)
Uranium - Autumn Poison (UK)
Nuke Blues - Page Wilson (VA)
No Nuclear Energy - The Bite (Belgium)
Harrisburg Blues - Terry Kegan (West Germany)
Nineteen Miles from Shoreham Town - Kirk Kelly (NY)
All Clear in Harrisburg - Nan Hoffman (NY)
Don't Mess with the Messer - The Speedboys (Lancaster)
Atomic Love - Katzberg & Snyder (RI)

Overexposed - The Crustaceans (Seattle)

1984

Three Mile Island - Pinkard and Bowden (TX)
Harrisburg - Midnight Oil (Australia)
*Sister Cities - The Screaming Lincolns (Harrisburg)
Glowing In the Dark - Experimental Products (Philadelphia)
Give Us More (Nuclear Power) - Qxx (UK)
Reactor Disaster - Leukaemia (UK)

Marching Up To Seabrook - Pat Scanlon & The Black Water String Band (Boston)

Sizewell ABC - Tim Laycock (UK)

3 Mile Ain’t An Island - The Proles (Philadelphia)
Take the Children and Run - Iain MacKintosh (Scotland)

Meltdown (at Madame Tussaud's) - Steve Taylor (Denver)

Nuclear Love / Meltdown Dub - Annie G

1985

Meltdown - Watchtower (TX)

No Filthy Nuclear Power - Oi Polloi (UK)
Only One Mile from Three Mile Island - Libby HaLevy
Harrisburg - The Beliers (Sweden)
Harrisburg - Ur (West Germany)

SK: ...the Nuclear Regulatory Commission allowed the undamaged Unit 1 reactor to go back online in 1985. This was not a welcome development for most central Pennsylvania households, but by that point in my own childhood I had spent the entire Reagan-era acutely fearful of the coming nuclear holocaust. When emergency sirens sounded in the dead of night to arouse volunteer firefighters from their slumbers, my juvenile pysche was pre-programmed for panic. After  the TMI-1 restart, the only formality was which flavor our nuclear death would assume: reactor or missile-based. 

TQ: By the time of the Chernobyl disaster I had gone from pretend meltdowns to musical meltdowns (Ha! These songs are getting to me; I succumbed to the hokey TMI metaphor! But "meltdown" came into widespread usage after 1979), playing in bands and listening to music with apocalyptic themes. I was pretty sure 1986 was the year World War III would start, based of course on all the scholarly evidence I had accumulated from pop psychics, episodes of Leonard Nimoy's In Search Of..., and the lyrics of the Minutemen and Dead Kennedys. I didn't bother to apply to colleges until the last minute, and then only one....


1986: Chernobyl

Deadly Radiation Blues - Jayne Cortez (NYC)
Party At the Nuclear Plant - The Flys (CA)
Fallout - Dead Flowers (UK)
The Susquehanna River - Mofungo (NYC)

Meltdown - Hermanos Gusanos
Tsjerno Harris- R.T.C. Rockin Teenage Combo (Netherlands)
Harrisnobyl - De Fabriek (Netherlands)
Rich Man’s War - John Trudell (Santee Sioux)

1987

Meltdown - Reactor
Tute Sekura - Persone (Sweden, in Esperanto)
Chernobyl Song - Battery Farley (Los Angeles)
3 Mile Island - Moaners (DE)

1988

 
Nuclear Wastoid - Miser (Elizabethtown PA)
Roulette - Bruce Springsteen (NJ orig 1979)
The Wheel of Light: Three Mile Island - Zone (Wales)
*Three Mile Island - Ed Johnson
*Radiation Contamination - Sneak Attack (NJ)
Keikoku Dōri, Keikaku Dōri (As Warned, As Planned) - Sano Motoharu (Japan)

Dare Ni Mo Mienai, Nioi Mo Nai (“No One Can See It, It Has No Smell”) - Rankin Taxi (Japan)

Nucalypso - Dave Guard (US)

1989

 
Three Mile Island - Suzanne Pasternak (Canada)
Nuclear Power - Silence (central PA)
Future Shock - EvilDead (Los Angeles)

1990

TMI - Rick Baker (Pittsburgh)

From Three Mile Island With Love - Richard Joseph
Last Call - T.P.Y. (Hershey PA)
Extinction - CIA

Metal Meltdown - Judas Priest (UK)

Take Them Down - Anne Feeney (Pittsburgh)

1991

Headin' for Armageddon - Joey Welz (Lititz PA cover of Willis Meyers' 1979 single) video

Stop the Pollution - Dr. Alban (Sweden)
Constantí, Molta Merda I Poc Vi - Els Pets (Spain) 

Three Mile Island - Stony Island (Chicago)

Radioactivity - Kraftwerk (Germany)

1992

Meltdown (or Mickey Mouse at 3 Mile Island) - The Urban Squirrels (NY)
Three Mile Island - Mark Harp
Atomic Myopia - Destroy

Störfall - Toxoplasma (Germany)

Mutant Dandelion - John Kruth (US)

1993

This Land - MDC (San Francisco)
Do the Meltdown - Brain-Wave Project (Conshohocken PA)

1994

Time To Fight - H-Blockx (Germany)

1995

Strahlentod - Prager Handgriff (Germany)

1996

We're the Kids of the Three Mile Island - The Vitamen (NYC)

1997

Bearer of Bad News - Triple Fast Action (Chicago)

 

1999

Intro - TMI Generation (Mechanicsburg PA)

*Groove For Radial Nerve / 3 Mile Island - Beowulf Scantron Test (MI)

2000

  
TMI / TMI (Unit 3) / Nuclear Fusion - Hex / L.U. Cipha (York PA)
Three Mile Island - Imagho (France)

2001

 
Three Mile Island - Jerry Joseph & the Jackmormons (CO)
America - Donna the Buffalo

2003

 
Three Mile Island - Andy Middleton (Harrisburg)
Three Mile Island - Kickland, Johnson & Martin
War All the Time - Thursday

Fallout Shelter - Dennis Most & the Instigators (IN)

 

2004

 

Harrisburg - Lanny Kaufer

 

2005

 
Three Mile Island - Nuclear Forehead (WA)

Three Mile Island - Crossroad (Austria)

2006

 
Three Mile Island - Two For One At the Eye (Moon Township PA)
*Three Mile Island - ek-sedes (LA)
*Three Mile Island - Radio Active (NJ)
*Daytrip to Three Mile Island - From This Moment On (UK)
Vacation Homes on Three Mile Island - Chris Hamlet (Louisiana)
3 Mile Island - Owenshire (Ontario)

True Love - Thou Shalt Not

2007

Three Mile Island - Oh Shit They’re Going To Kill Us (Franklin PA)
Nu-Clear - Johnny Dock (Doylestown PA)

2008

Three Mile Island - Clouds 10: Mushrooms (WI)
Three Mile Island - Darius Brubeck & Dan Brubeck
Nuclear Power Song - Environment Man (CA)
Three Mile Island Baby - The Shame Holes (WI)
3 Mile Island/Core Breach/Half Life/Children of the Atom - Paul Blackford
The Cryin’ Land - Jefferson Pepper (York Haven PA)

Meltdown - Atomic Mosquitos

2009

Three Miles Island - Nightmare (France)
Good Times on Three Mile Island - The Durden Estate (Red Lion PA)
Three Mile Monster Island - Divine Tragedy (Pittsburgh)
INES Level 5 - Middletown, Pennsylvania (TMINGS) - Lev Kowalczwk (Ireland)
Three Mile Island - Phil Nico (FL)
Radioactive Boy - Modern Action (CA)

Cocktail Time in Hell - D.O.A. (Vancouver)
Lonely Road - Genuflect (Boston) 

2010

Three Mile Island - Three Step Charlie (Las Vegas)
Harrisburg (Three Mile Island) I-XI - Gasfront (CA)

Three Miles to Oblivion - Entrapment (Netherlands - cover of Crucifix 1984)

2011: Fukushima

Three Mile Island-part two - Les Alstat & the Green Farmacy Gardeners (MD orig 1979 by Howard County Dump) video

Three Mile Island - Arms
Three Mile Island - Minushuman (France)
Three Mile Island - Metalhead Motion Pictures (Long Island)
A Catastrophe - Fukushima, Chernobyl, Three Mile Island - Miki Shunji and his Grand Orchestra (Japan)
Three Mile Island - Noon By Noon (UK)
Surf's Up! Three Mile Island - The Lugosis (Shippensburg PA)
Three Mile Island - A Jedi Craves Not These Things
Three Mile Island - Phil Jacobi (UK)
Nuclear Hotseat - Libby Halevy
Another Fukushima - Raging Grannies
No Nukes Swing - Laura Sue, the Silver Nightingale & Friends (FL)
Pennsylvania Wind - Brendan "Mookx " Hanley (Australia - written 1979)
TMI-2 - Dan Parr (UK)

Song For Fukushima - David Bernz - (NY)
Nuclear Accident - Next Generation (Switzerland)
Harrisburg - Redkay

2012

 

TMI-2 - Three Mile Island (UK)
Three Mile Island Opera - Andrea Molino (Italy)
Three Mile Island: TMI - Suicide Squirrel (NJ)
Harrisburg - Rusk (Lithuania)
Three Mile Island - Grayscale
3 Mile Island - The James Taylor Quartet
Meltdown Stomp - The Meltdowns (Detroit)
Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima - Radiation Poisoning
Three Mile Island - Jackson Lee (NYC)
Three Mile Island - Paul Gibson
3 Mile Island - Proper Concern (Canada)
Sunrise Over Three Mile Island - Twenty Necks (Australia)
Three Mile Island - Chris Campbell (Los Angeles)
Wind Whistle - Dave Elder (NY)
TMI (Three Mile Island) - Sianide 1134 (York PA)
3 Miles Island - <1979> (Germany)

Hur Tänker Du Då? - Mikael Wiehe (Sweden)

Turn Back the Nuclear Tide - Richard Hamilton (US)

2013

<1979>Three Smile Island - DJapperz (Belgium)
Three Mile Island - Black Pilots (UK)
1979 - 3 Mile Island - DrMOIIE (Germany)
Three Smile Island - Analog Distortion (AK)
The Three Mile Island Incident - Anwkozik
Three Mile Island - Allioth (Germany)
Three Mile Island - Ben Johnson
Sunrise Over Three Mile Island - Garbage Day (Australia)
Three Mile Island - Trident (Philippines)
Three Mile Island - Ben Johnston (UK)

Good Times on Three Mile Island - Sometime After Dark (New Freedom PA)

3 Mile Island - The Wonderful Sadists (Cincinnati)

2014

Three Mile Island -Dog Flambe (UK)

Three Mile Island - El Kabongg (MD)
(Three Mile) Island Vacation - Nebulous 6
Three Mile Island - Tsar Bomba (Sweden)
Three Mile Island - Unit 2 (Middletown PA)
Three Miles Island - Genox ()
Meltdown - Tellurium Band (UK)
Bright Lights - Vid Libert (WI)
Energy - Jan Zander (Netherlands)
O'Pennsyltucky - Mischief Brew (Philadelphia) video

Don't Meltdown On My Baby / Nuclear Waste - Tru Fax & the Insaniacs (DC orig. 1979)
3 mile island - Radiation Patrol (RI)
Emergency Alert System - Three Mile Island Nuclear Accident - douro 20

Nitehawk - Airborn (Italy)

Just a Little Meltdown - Tom Neilson

2015

IT027 / Three Mile Island - Stenny-Hagale (Germany)
Gone Fission - Dallin Schmidt (Canada)
Unit 2 - Three Mile Island (Middletown PA)
Three Mile Island - Rogers Canyon (WY)
Three Mile Island - Lou Karsh (Australia)

2016

 
The New Scum - Ephelant and Time
How Would I Feel - Robert S. Steinberg
Three Mile Island / 1979 - Jake Kitty (Harrisburg)
Three Mile Island - Yellow 11 (Philadelphia)
Meltdown - elMasher (UK)
Ballad of Three Mile Island - Quasi Pseudo & the Annonymi (WV)

Hey Captain Midnight - Adolescents (CA)

Sallys Flat - Tony Smith (Australia)

2017

Three Mile Island - Marzie Doats (UK)
A Clear View of Three Mile Island From On Top of Governor Dick Tower - Soporus (Philadelphia)
Three Miles Island - My Own Cubic Stone (France)
The Power of the Atom - Dynamic Prophet (UK)
Three Mile Island - Daniel Fagerström & Alexander Skepp (Sweden)
Three Mile Island - The Black Museum (UK)
Dust From Three Mile Island (1979) - Arcane Waves (France)
Dreams of Three Mile Island - Striations/Macronympha (CA)
Atomic Energy Overdose - Waylyn James (Austin) - Possibly the same song as Chamois 1980

2018

3 Mile Island - Klike (UK)
1979/ The Happening at Three Mile Island Pennsylvania, U​.​S​.​A - Cloudwarmer (NYC)
Three Mile Island - Ethan Walters (Australia)
Three Mile Island - Dove Project
From Three Mile Island with Love - Ghosts and Leviathans (Dublin)
Way Down Upon the Susquehanna - Rich Stewart aka Barroom Ramber (Lancaster PA)
All U Can Hate - Three Mile Island - Scuderia (Italy)

Threads - Eureka California (GA)
Three Mile Island - Gypsy and Federico Balducci (UK)

Take the Children and Run - Mustard's Retreat (MI)

2019

Melted Roses (Three Mile Island Mix) - Manipulant (Lancaster PA)
Three Mile Island - Alien Keyes (Harrisburg)
Three Mile Island - Dumb Drugs
Three Mile Island - Alien Keyes (Harrisburg)
Turning A Potential Chernobyl Into A Mere Three Mile Island - HOORS (Ireland)

Aiko - Desolate (NY)
Risks - Moonrover (Portugal)
Chernobyl, F*ck You Shima! and Three Mile Island - Gregory Vanderlaan (CA)

Radiation Vacation - The Mortars (TN)

2020

Three Mile Island - Code of the Jaguar (Philadelphia)

Ketchup - Girls Rituals (Toronto) video
For DOOM - Open Mike Eagle (Los Angeles)
Three Mile Island 1979 - Mope County (UK)
Three Miles Island Grind Away Out (Spain)
Three Mile Island - WILT (Italy)
03_threemileisland - digitalsakura (Germany)
Three Mile Island - Klyde Parker (Pittsburgh)
Three Mile Island - Anders Hammar (Sweden)
Three Mile Island - Nightmare, Inc (Los Angeles)
The Three Mile Island Crisis in 1979 - Chris Woodbridge
Three Mile Island (1 & 2) - DigiMax
Every Man Is a Three Mile Island - Haerdsmaelta (Sweden)
Atomb - Cytotoxin (Germany)
Three Mile Island - HEX/Hex1134 (York, PA)

Eating the Paste - Murdered By Robots (FL)

2021

Three Mile Island - Main Theme - Paul Caveworks (Greece)

Three Mile Island Radiation Moloch - Flesh Wound (Finland)
Lukämie in de Elvmarsch - Wilfred Staake (Germany)

Sonsöz - Serap Yağız, Taner Öngür (Turkey)

The Same Mistake - Salem Trials (UK)

Harrisburg 79 - Oberkorn 86 (Germany)

2022

Three Mile Island - Sisto Rossi (FL)
Three Mile Island - Mostly Other People Do the Killing (NYC)
Three Mile Island - Remains of Silence
Three Mile Island - Lord M&M, Ft. Gino the Dino, Dan the Menace

Three Mile Island - Equinox
Three Mile Island - Dataloop
High Roller - Rapmessiah (NYC)
Uranium Rap - TheNeXTGUI
Three Mile Island - Itrusko (Italy)
Suicide - Dogg Brothers
Fire On the River - Phil Burdett & Blip Pilot (UK)
Literal Angels - Precision Auto (Melbourne)

Atomic Mama - John Kruth (NYC)

2023

Three Mile Island (Chainsaw Mix) - Leave It To Cleaver (CA)
Three Mile Island - Justin Depoy (NM)
Disassociating on the Shores of Three Mile Island - vacavi (OK)
Three Mile Island - Shane Dawson (Australia)
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman - Far Canal (UK)

All in the Hall - Honest John Lacy (CA)
3 Mile Island - Alaska & steel tipped dove (NYC)

2024

Three Mile Island - The Lucky Bastids (Boston)

Where is America? - Rick Arnoldi (MA)

Three Mile Island - Gilgamesh (Canada)

Three Mile Island - WesIV (York PA)

Radioactive Squirrels - Lawnmowers

2025

Three Mile Island - Bruce Bodden (WI)

Unknown Dates:
*Christmas On Three Mile Island - Leon Redbone parody by Old Man Ribber (no known recording)
Fukushima Harrisburg Chernobyl Hiroshima - KK Slider and Co
Harrisburg Blues - Uninvited (West Germany)

3 Mile Island Blues and Other Hummable Ditties for the 80's - Charles “Rick” Kelly
*Three Mile Island - Dave & Spike (Canada)

Proto-TMI - Atomic Blast Polka by the Steelton Polka Platters (Steelton PA c1978) is up there with the China Syndrome for eerily predicting the TMI accident!

TQ: I survived Three Mile Island and the latter Cold War, went to college in Philly without much of a plan, and grew out of my sense of impending doom. But the impact of TMI was much bigger than I ever realized, certainly as little kids in our own worlds, but even as adults, for me anyway. The only lyrical references I was aware of at the time were on The Clash's London Calling. 

Once I started looking, I was surprised to find so many TMI songs. I figure any song about "radiation" in '79-81 had to be part of the reaction. The '79 tracks tend to be very literal, anti-nuke, some good black humor, and sometimes hyperbolic and some would say silly fear mongering. There are lots of people glowing in the dark, mutant fish, and nuclear explosions. The 80s tracks began to use nuclear accident lingo as metaphor in the best tradition of atomic bomb songs from the 50s and 60s with "radioactive" coming to mean "hot love" more often than not.  Reesa's You melt my heart like TMI is my favorite, and Syn's Radioactive Nights is the hands-down mathematical winner (15 distinct metaphors!). I held most of the later tracks to a higher standard. Most had to make direct reference to TMI to make the cut. There are at least 21 songs titled Three Mile Island or TMI from the 2000-2012 period, though interestingly, outside the US, "Harrisburg" seems to be the word most closely associated with the accident. Sean and I salvaged many of these tracks from the analog abyss, digitizing and archiving them for the first time, and I hope people can find an interest in their collective effect, weirdness, fear, and humor.

SK: As far as the impact goes, yeah, I would agree, it's hard to overestimate. It even informed how we discussed such events. Following from your point about the word "radiation", I bet "reactor", "control rod" and "meltdown" weren't even in some adult vocabularies before 1979. And for those that wrote all the earnest, politically engaged protest songs throughout the 70s in opposition to new nuclear plants, all of a sudden their worst fears are confirmed.

I appreciate that these songs and other assorted cultural detritus (even crassly commercial cash-in stuff) tell a story about how humans of different cultures and belief systems respond to complex, traumatic events. It really becomes a sort of unofficial "people's history." There are some scholarly articles I came across about Chernobyl describing how school kids were responding with these morbid nursery rhymes while skipping rope! Children talking matter-of-factly about leukemia or calling one another "dirty radioactive pigs" as a form of insult. It's amazing how deeply these terrors filter down to the individual level, shaping private experience. This would also indicate to me that whatever official explanation may prevail, whenever you've lived through a nuclear accident, radiation exposure is a nebulous, gnawing sort of psychic burden.


There are surely more TMI songs that haven't been salvaged yet, and if you have any ideas about how we can permanently archive this collection, let us know.

Archivist and co-author of "Radioactive Releases" Sean P Kilcoyne's 2024 article, Hell No, We Won’t Glow: Selections from the Anti-Nuclear Power Discography (Signal 09: A Journal of International Political Graphics and Culture) has a long segment of protest music about the Three Mile Island accident, in the context of the global antinuclear movement and songwriting history, before, during, and after.

 
This fascinating mini-journal sized 88-page article, full of background research on the music, musicians, movement organizers, and agitprop album art, partially concludes with an an important call to action, asking: "...how do we preserve these materials for future audiences...these legacies and find ways for them to engage with the histories, ideas, art, and music inherent to these movements?"

Thanks to:

• Sean Kilcoyne contacted me as a stranger interested in helping out with the research. I had no idea he was as obsessed as I was. He found some of the most obscure tracks from all over the world and added a really great personal connection to this piece. Check out his Metallic Rainforest YouTube channel- an excellent companion source to this project!
• Rick Noll's Bona Fide blog got me started on this project.
• Bands of Central Pennsylvania
• Hardcore For Central PA
• Thanks to everybody that helped us track down a song, and to all the musicians who shared their work. -SK & TQ

Pin sent by Jeff Coleman
from Lancaster bands the Blame
and Fender Twinns,
and Steam Powered Studio.

Links:

• Popular Reactions to the Accident at Three Mile Island
• Health Physics Historical Instrumentation Museum Collection
• Three Mile Island Alert
• Three Mile Island Collection - Penn State Harrisburg
• Three Mile Island Collection - State Library of Pennsylvania
• Three Mile Island Emergency - Dickinson College Archives
• NUCLEAR WAR and Lancaster County.... Thirty Years After
• Nuclear Platters... The Unofficial CONELRAD Sequel
• Robert Del Tredici - The People of Three Mile Island
• Chornobyl's Folklore: Vernacular Commentary on Nuclear Disaster by Lairsa Fialkova
• The Sounds of Japan's Antinuclear Movement 

Arcade:

• Three Mile Island (Apple II computer game) - Richard Orban (1980)
• SCRAM (Atari 800 1980)
• Nuclear Power Plant (Atari 1981)
• China Syndrome (Atari 2600 video game 1982)
• Meltdown (Cosmi Atari 8-bit game 1982)
• Reactor (Gottlieb 1982)

Comic Material:

• The Pepsi Syndrome - Saturday Night Live (NYC April 7, 1979)
• Nuclear Energy - Richard & Willie (1979)
• Uranium - Fred Dagg (New Zealand 1979)
• Vocabulary Building - O’Brien, Michael and John Ellis - (US 1980)
• Mutant Blues - Chris Rush (NY 1981)

Radioactive Releases on the Radio and in the News:

• "Listen Up!" TMI Special - March 31, 2014 (archived)
• "Idle Noise" TMI Special -  April 9, 2014 
• I Remember TMI: Central PS Stories WITF PA Post, March 2019
• How Three Mile Island and the nuclear industry influenced popular culture (includes interviews with Sean and Tom) WITF PA Post, March 2019
• ‘Radiation Funk’: Song about Three Mile Island nuclear accident gave people a reason to smile PennLive March 26, 2019