Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne, at the height of their popularity, played the “No Nukes” rally (concert) in New York City’s Central Park. Nearly 800,000 were in attendance, making it, at the time, the largest concert crowd ever gathered.
JUNE 12, 1982 — “Faggots Against Killing Men In War” So read a sign being held by a skinny guy, with long, scraggly, red hair and a beard to match. He was standing at the entrance to Central Park that I had come upon. It was Saturday afternoon, my third day in New York City, and I was on my way to what was to be the biggest concert and protest rally ever seen. 800,000 in the center of the city, where I was to be for the next three months.
Missiles Among Us — As the post-Cuban Missile Crisis Cold War grew frigid, the “No Nukes” movement that started in 1979 with the Muse Concerts for a Non-Nuclear Future, was, by 1982, “Hotter Than Hell.” The June 12, 1982, the movement’s defining moment was had in New York City’s Central Park, where 800,000 peace-loving people gathered to call for absolute Nuclear Disarmament, a Nuclear-Free planet Earth, and to part of the best accompanied political rally ever staged in the United States of America.
Back Home in Gainesville YOU GOT LUCKY (TWO TICKETS TO TOM PETTY PARADISE) TOM PETTY (HOMECOMING 1981) BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN (TICKET QUEST) Waiting in the rain outside the Lakeland Civic Center, Sally was hoping to score four “prized” tickets to see the recently emerged Bruce Springsteen. He and his E-Street Band, were expected to play one of their legendary, New Jersey-fueled, three-hour shows. The kind of show played on his historic 1978 tour.
NEWS AT ELEVEN — New York City news report after the largest protest rally the world had ever seen was had earlier that afternoon in Central Park. 800,000, “peaceful” protestors.
As the world entered the 1980s, the music industry took the (corporate/promotional) lead in political, social, and environmental activism. Many were live concerts, broadcast live around the World.:
1985 — SAVING THE WORLD We Are The World Michael Jackson Quincy Jones Live Aid Artists United Against Apartheid All monumental, but none so organic as the “No Nukes” cause to rid the world of nuclear power, weapons, and waste.
Hollywood’s depiction of the B-Boy Culture that had surfaced in the parks and abandoned buildings in and around New York City’s Five Burroughs. FREE TO THE PUBLIC — After being created, underground and under cover of night, Graffiti painted subway cars became a moving exhibit of art. Trains running across the five New York City Boroughs. Fine, Vivid Art, in the Sunlight, or a criminal act of vandalism. (StyleWars)
UN Special Session on Disarmament— Calling for a freeze and reduction of all nuclear weapons and the transfer of military budgets to human needs. “Glow Spiritually, Not Radioactively.” “End the Arms Race, Not the Human Race.” Sign-wielding protesters from around the world gathered outside the UN Building, and began a peaceful march up 5TH AVE.) to Central Park, where close to a million gathered for the largest political rally ever seen, and, until then, the biggest musical event ever staged. As I entered The Park (New York City’s Great Lawn), I was greeted by my (still) favorite of all the activist signs. June 12, 1982 — At the height of the “No Nukes” movement, the largest political rally in US history was held in New York City. Nearly 750,000 people congregated in Central Park, calling for Global, Nuclear Disarmament. A Rock N Roll Saturday In The Park …
Many of the performers are veterans of Musicians United For Safe Energy (MUSE), a group formed in the wake of the Pennsylvania’s Three Mile Island nuclear meltdown and the sponsor of several No-Nukes concerts in 1979.
Linda Ronstadt begins her six-song set with her cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Tumbling Dice” and closes with a rendition of Chuck Berry’s “Back In The U.S.A..” James Taylor sings his Carole King-penned hit “You’ve Got a Friend” and invites John Hall to join him on his new song, “Children’s Cry.” Bruce Springsteen who debuted “The River” as part of an anti-nuclear protest, teams with Jackson Browne for “Running On Empty“ and “The Promised Land.” The special session wraps up on July 10 with the General Assembly failing to agree on a specific strategy for arms control and disarmament. Democratic representatives hope to use the rally’s historic numbers to influence an overturn of defense budget proposals, but Defense Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger contends it’s all for naught when it comes to legislation. “The fact that a very large number of people turn out for a particular event is certainly something that people notice,” he said. “But I don’t think that anybody rushes back and says, ‘We have to change our policy’ because of a well attended rally.”
June 12, 1982 (Saturday) — More than one million people gathered on the Great Lawn in Manhattan’s Central Park, in support of nuclear disarmament and to call for a freeze in the ever-increasing Cold War arms race between the United States and the U.S.S.R. People were drawn to the rally by an all-star lineup of classic rock artists, including: Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Gary “U.S.” Bonds and protest movement veteran Joan Baez. Artist Keith Haring created artwork for the event and a poster of it was handed out to the attendees. The demonstration coincided with a Special Session on Disarmament at the United Nations, where a march to the rally in the park began earlier in the day. It is thought to be the largest political demonstration in U.S. history. The New York Times’ coverage of the rally seems almost quaint in retrospect. But as much as the day was a high water mark in the involvement of rock musicians in political issues, it was also followed by an ever-growing dissatisfaction on the part of some fans with the acts they enjoyed using their music to support and promote partisan causes. Here are Browne and Springsteen performing the former’s “Running on Empty”… And Ronstadt
The event’s setlist included: Linda Ronstadt Tumbling Dice Blue Bayou The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss) Desperado Heat Wave Back in the U.S.A. James Taylor That Lonesome Road You’ve Got a Friend Up on the Roof Stand and Fight It’s Growing (with Chaka Khan) Children’s Cry (with John Hall) It’s Gonna Work Out Fine (with Ronstadt) Jackson Browne The Pretender (with Bonds) The Promised Land (with Springsteen) Running on Empty (with Springsteen)
