Zima Stulecia

What would have happened if Michael Dudikoff had gone missing in action, say – in Poland in 1987 – during the harshest freezing spell of the century? Would he have coped under these conditions like John Rambo has in the town of Hope? We shall never find out, but the soundtrack is already there. Latarnik and Cancer G (members of EABS and Błoto) would call this film Zima Stulecia: Minus 30°C.

When Twin Peaks debuted on Polish National Television with its oneiric music by Angelo Badalamenti, Poland could feel as eerie as the series. Seemingly nothing quite matched, but on the other hand, no one was surprised. Growing up in the 1990s inevitably brings back memories of street stalls selling anything from cleaning products from Germany, underwear, Haribo jellies and Jacobs coffee, to the "latest" cultural releases, at the time arriving late in Poland. Pirated copies of cassette tapes and VHS, with typewritten labels would transport kids' fantasies to another world. This is how many of these kids got their first glimpse of The Predator, Terminator, Robocop, as well as Van Damme's stunts in Bloodsport and a plethora of other action movies, which to this day - like American Ninja - are rerun on TV over and over again. The afterimages of these soundtracks nestled in the heads of Marcin Rak and Marek Pędziwiatr for years and found expression on their debut album.