Listening to music does not only relieve you from stress or to get you in the mood. Some songs were actually inspired by many events that became nostalgic to the hearts and minds of the composers and singers. Most music producers tap on albums and song inspired by events not only to raise charity but to make global awareness on what is happening to the world today. That’s because, among the many mediums of communication, a song is the most powerful way to persuade a close mind and melt a stone heart.

A matter of fact, if you ever have a hard time understanding your History teacher about the lessons on important dates written on most textbooks, listening to songs inspired by the greatest tragedies in history could help. And the following songs listed are some of the world’s infamous tragedies that people will never forget.

99 Luftballons by Nena

The 99 Luftballons sung by the German singer Nena is a Cold War-era protest song which was re-recorded for an English version entitled 99 Red Balloons. The song tells a story about the 99 balloons floating in the air that have triggered an apocalyptic overreaction by the military forces. These balloons were mistaken as UFOs which have caused a general to send pilots to investigate the floating objects. Since they found nothing, the pilots put on firepower shows which have caused worries over the nations along the borders and war have resulted.

The fact of the matter is that the song was released during a period of escalating tension between the United States and the Soviet Union in the Cold War. That time, the US deployed the Pershing II missiles in West Germany on January 1984 as their response to the Soviet Unions' deployment of new SS-20 nuclear missiles. Thus, it prompted numerous protests across Western Europe.

Holland, 1945 by Neutral Milk Hotel

The Holland, 1945 is a song released by an American indie-rock group Neutral Milk Hotel and was the last single in their album, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea. This song is notable for its references to Anne Frank, where she and her sister Margot died of typhus in 1945, just when World War II had ended.

Born in the U.S.A by Bruce Springsteen

The song Born in the U.S.A written and performed by Bruce Springsteen was released in 1984 as a caustic commentary on the hypocrisy of patriotism. The song narrates the origin of the protagonist, its induction into the armed forces, and its return to the States in which the whole war efforts in the States became futile.

Another interpretation made by some scholars is that the song is a lament for the identity of the embattled working-class. That’s because the Vietnam War that was inferred in the song was actually a metaphor to the social and economic siege of American blue-collar communities. And that the economic devastation as discussed in the lyrics are the effects of blind nationalism towards the working class.

Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday

The song, which was originally written as a poem by a teacher named Abel Meeropol and was published in 1937, sang and performed by Billie Holiday in 1939. The song is originally a protest over American racism, particularly the extrajudicial killing of African Americans. Such lynching had reached to the top in the South at the end of the century but then it continued on the other parts in the United States, where the majority of the victims were black.

We Didn’t Start the Fire by Billie Joel

Among the many songs that were released in reference to important events that had happened in the world, the song by the American musician Billy Joel left a great impression as this song has managed to narrate more than a hundred headlines in a 3-minute song. It only took the singer just to mention a single word for each major events and people listening to it already knows what he is talking about.

The events in the song were put on bold letters and were arranged chronologically based on its order of happening. The song described important events that had happened in the entertainment scene, the foreign affairs as well as sports which were all intermingle to give an impression on the culture of the society in between the 1940s and 1980s.

Some of the notable figures and events that were mentioned in the song are Harry Truman (who authorized the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki), the widespread of television in Europe and North America, the Psycho movie as a landmark for graphic violence and sensationalism in cinemas, the Watergate scandal, the hit television show Wheel of Fortune, and the Chinese martial law that ends the Tiananmen protests.

These are some of the songs that are worth checking out if you’re a history buff or was just plain looking for music that contains great relevance.