The Year In Music: 4th June

Girl VII, Saint Etienne (1991)

June 4th, 1989. A different place, a different time.

Tiananmen. A distant world in our living rooms, blazing on television. Kate Adie in front of the crowds, the wide-eyed bystanders, the cracking gunfire, her chin up, defiant.

Tehran. The breaking news of the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, architect of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. The question of succession, the tremors of international instability.

Six miles from Asha, central Russia. A faulty gas pipeline has been leaking propane and butane across the lowlands, creating a flammable cloud. Two trains carrying 1,300 passengers travel through it in the early hours. An explosion leaves nearly 600 dead, and 800 injured.

Poland. The first elections happen in Eastern Europe after a Communist government abandons its powers. Lech Walesa’s Solidarity party wins the freely contested seats. A starter gun is fired on the end of communist rule in the Eastern Bloc.

Britain. The third summer of love. The end of a decade. Everything starting to change.