Big-beat (also called 'big beat' or bigbit) is a term used in Eastern Bloc countries in the 1960s to cover

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm a ...

and related genres, as the original name was not approved by authorities in those nations (the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and its satellite states in the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist repub ...

Background

Genres of American origin, such as

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

twist Twist may refer to: In arts and entertainment Film, television, and stage * ''Twist'' (2003 film), a 2003 independent film loosely based on Charles Dickens's novel ''Oliver Twist'' * ''Twist'' (2021 film), a 2021 modern rendition of ''Olive ...

, and especially rock and roll were banned or at least hardly tolerated in Eastern Bloc countries in the mid-20th century. Such music was considered to be an element of American imperialism. Despite the official attitude, a number of jazz bands formed in the Eastern Bloc. In the 1950s, these bands included rock and roll elements in their performances. The first Polish band that officially played rock and roll was Rhythm and Blues, formed in 1959, and they were forced by the authorities to disband a year later. The manager of Rhythm and Blues, Franciszek Walicki, to avoid the term ''rock and roll'', coined the term "big-beat" to refer to the band's music. In Walicki's intention, it was a pure synonym of rock and roll, but the name became widely used in reference to any

popular music Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fu ...

with a strong rhythm and a simple melodic structure, such as

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...

madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

, or twist. Walicki went on to form new bands, including

Niebiesko-Czarni Niebiesko-Czarni (Blue-Blacks) were one of the most popular Polish big-beat and rock groups of the 1960s and early 1970s. The band was founded by Franciszek Walicki. Czesław Niemen Czesław Niemen (; February 16, 1939 – January 17, 2004), ...

, and rock and roll under the name "big-beat" became popular in Poland from the early 1960s. In Czechoslovakia and Hungary, it happened in the middle of that decade. The first rock and roll concert in the Soviet Union was performed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1966. However, in the USSR, rock was performed without a specific genre name, and rock groups were called "vocal and instrumental bands" (

VIA (music) VIA (Russian: ''ВИА'') is an abbreviation for Vocal- usicInstrumental-Ensemble (russian: Вокально-инструментальный ансамбль, ''Vokalno-instrumentalny ansambl''). It is the general name used for pop and rock ba ...

). In Poland and Czechoslovakia, the term "big beat" or "bigbit" was mostly used, while in Hungary, it was called "beat". In 1970s Poland, rock became called "young generation music", and it changed as

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...

emerged. In the 1980s, the name "rock" was already accepted by the authorities.

Later uses of the term

After genre names such as rock and roll were finally allowed in the Eastern Bloc, the term "big-beat" fell into obscurity. However, it made a return in the 1990s, this time on the international sphere. Rather than referring to rock genres, it became the name for a new style of electronic dance music pioneered by artists such as the Prodigy and Fatboy Slim, among others.

References

{{reflist Rock music genres 20th century in Europe Censorship in the Eastern Bloc Eastern Bloc European political history History of Eastern Europe