Rock music and the fall of communism
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Rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States an ...
played a role in subverting the
political order In political science, a political system means the type of political organization that can be recognized, observed or otherwise declared by a state. It defines the process for making official government decisions. It usually comprizes the govern ...
of the
Soviet Union 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 national ...
and its
satellites A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotop ...
. The attraction of the unique form of music served to undermine Soviet authority by humanizing the West, helped alienate a generation from the political system, and sparked a youth revolution. This contribution was achieved not only through the use of words or images, but through the structure of the music itself. Furthermore, the music was spread as part of a broad
public diplomacy In international relations, public diplomacy or people's diplomacy, broadly speaking, is any of the various government-sponsored efforts aimed at communicating directly with foreign publics to establish a dialogue designed to inform and influen ...
effort, commercial ventures, and through the efforts of the populace in the
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
. In the 1960s,
The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
sparked the love of rock in the Soviet youth and its popularity spread. In August 1976,
Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...
became the first Western rock act to play behind the
Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...
, playing twelve concerts in the Soviet Union; twelve dates in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and eight in Moscow. Throughout the 1980s, a number of Western acts performed behind the Iron Curtain, including
Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
(who is often incorrectly cited as the first Western artist),
Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
,
The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
,
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
,
Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
,
Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, pianist and songwriter. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man (song), Piano Man" after his album and signature song of the same name, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo ...
and
Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and television personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which period he adop ...
.


History and background


1950s

The
stilyagi Stilyagi ( rus, стиляги, p=sʲtʲɪˈlʲæɡʲɪ, "stylish, style hunters") were members of a youth counterculture from the late 1940s until the early 1960s in the Soviet Union. A stilyaga ( rus, стиляга, p=sʲtʲɪˈlʲaɡə) w ...
, the first youth
counterculture A counterculture is a culture whose values and norms of behavior differ substantially from those of mainstream society, sometimes diametrically opposed to mainstream cultural mores.Eric Donald Hirsch. ''The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy''. Hou ...
movement in the Soviet Union, emerged in the 1950s. The stilyagi, meaning stylish in Russian, listened to the music and copied the western fashion trends. Unlike later youth movements, the regime made no attempt to infiltrate and channel the movement toward their own ends, opting instead for public oppression. The stilyagi virtually disappeared by the early 1960s because many restrictions on the flow of information were relaxed, showing that the styles the stilyagi drew inspiration from were outdated. The
6th World Festival of Youth and Students The 6th World Festival of Youth and Students was held from 28 July to 5 August 1957 in Moscow, capital city of the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The festival attracted 34,000 people from 130 countries. This became possible after the po ...
took place in Moscow in 1957, permitting
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 major ...
and western forms of dance for one of the first times in the Soviet Union. Although there was some hope that this was an indication of relaxation of restrictions, by the end of the 1950s,
Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...
countries began arresting stilyagi and rock fans. In 1958, partially in response to these events, NATO published a report speculating on the intentional use of rock music for subversive purposes.


1960s

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
sparked the love of rock in the Soviet youth, and its popularity spread in the early 1960s. Their impact on fashion was one of the more obvious external signs of their popularity. "Collarless Beatles jackets, known as 'Bitlovka', were assembled from cast-offs; clumsy army boots were refashioned in Beatles style." In addition to their influence in fashion, they also helped drive the expansion of music in the
black market A black market, underground economy, or shadow economy is a clandestine market or series of transactions that has some aspect of illegality or is characterized by noncompliance with an institutional set of rules. If the rule defines the se ...
. Illicit music albums were created by recording copies onto discarded X-ray emulsion plates. The music itself was acquired either by smuggling copies from the west, or recording it from western radio. The latter became easier and more common after United States president
Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
made international broadcasting a priority in the mid-1960s.
Hippie A hippie, also spelled hippy, especially in British English, is someone associated with the counterculture of the 1960s, originally a youth movement that began in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to different countries around ...
culture emerged in the late 60s and early 70s. Although very similar in terms of aesthetic to their western cousins, Soviet hippies were more passive. The Soviet hippie movement did not develop the same radical social and political sensibilities as did the
New Left The New Left was a broad political movement mainly in the 1960s and 1970s consisting of activists in the Western world who campaigned for a broad range of social issues such as civil and political rights, environmentalism, feminism, gay rights, g ...
in the United States. Elsewhere in the eastern bloc, however, rockers and hippies were quite politically active and in the
Prague Spring The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First Sec ...
of 1968 numerous concerts were held in support of greater liberalization.


1970s

The major development for rock behind the
Iron Curtain The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...
in the 1970s was original songs written in the authors' native language. Bands like Illés in
Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
, the
Plastic People of the Universe The Plastic People of the Universe (PPU) is a Czech rock band from Prague. They are considered the foremost representatives of Prague's underground culture (1968–1989), which defied the Czechoslovakia's Communist regime. Members of the band ...
in Czechoslovakia, and
Time Machine Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...
in the Soviet Union adapted their native languages to rock. They managed to enjoy a steady following, unlike similar attempts by other bands in the 1960s, although they were mostly underground. The mainstream was dominated by
VIAs The Vias GmbH (stylized VIAS) is a rail service company based in Frankfurt (Germany). The name of the company was taken from the Latin word via for ''way'' and the letter ''S'' for service. It operates rail services in the states of Hesse, Rhine ...
(vocal instrument ensembles) which were officially sanctioned rock and pop groups whose lyrics were vetted and whose music was considerably tamer than the underground groups. The
East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
government even established a bureau for rock, indicating their desire to gain control of the movement. Although the Seventies were mainly a doldrums for Soviet rock fans, resistance to official policy would still erupt from time to time elsewhere in the bloc, particularly East Germany. Even in places where rock's suppression did not produce violent reactions, like
Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...
and the Soviet Union itself, the underground continued to flourish, creating a "second culture", which would have dramatic effects in the future.


1980s

In 1980, the Tbilisi Rock Festival was held. The festival was significant because the bands that generated the most "buzz" were not official VIA groups but underground acts like
Aquarium An aquarium (plural: ''aquariums'' or ''aquaria'') is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aq ...
. As the 80s progressed, more authentic and "street" oriented groups would gain popularity.
Mike Naumenko Mikhail Vasilyevich Naumenko, better known as Mike Naumenko (russian: link=no, Майк Науменко, 18 April 1955 – 27 August 1991)Composers' Union and out of concern for the negative effects of rock, the underground and rock music were effectively outlawed. Clubs were closed, rock journalists were censored, popular underground bands were criticized in the press, and official bands were forced to play songs written by the Composers' Union. Elsewhere in the Eastern Bloc,
punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
was beginning to take hold due to dissatisfaction with the political and economic situation for the youth in Czechoslovakia and East Germany. In 1985, with the election of
Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (2 March 1931 – 30 August 2022) was a Soviet politician who served as the 8th and final leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 to the country's dissolution in 1991. He served as General Secretary of the Comm ...
and the inauguration of
glasnost ''Glasnost'' (; russian: link=no, гласность, ) has several general and specific meanings – a policy of maximum openness in the activities of state institutions and freedom of information, the inadmissibility of hushing up problems, ...
and
perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...
, official attitudes toward rock music became much more permissive. At the 12th International Festival of Youth and Students, foreign bands were allowed to play. They ranged from English rock bands, to Finnish punks, to a reggae group that ritually smoked ganja in red square. All these changes inspired the new slang word of the day tusovka - "meaning something's happening, some kind of mess, some activity." When the Rock Lab Festival took place in 1986, the tusovka spirit was on display with
Zvuki Mu Zvuki Mu (russian: Зву́ки Му , roughly translated as "Sounds of Moo") was a Russian alternative rock/indie/post-punk band founded in Moscow in 1983. Lead singer and songwriter Pyotr Mamonov was one of the most revered and eccentric fig ...
frontman Peter Mamonov singing lyrics like: After the
Chernobyl disaster The Chernobyl disaster was a nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April 1986 at the No. 4 reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is one of only two nuc ...
, a benefit concert was organized. When government bureaucrats attempted to enforce compliance with a series of regulations and paperwork, the artists and planners simply ignored their requests. There was no official reprimand, confiscation of instruments, or violence from the police in response, something unthinkable even a few years prior. More signs of dissent occurred; at a festival in Petersburg shortly after, the band Televisor stirred the crowd with a song entitled 'Get Out Of Control':


Collapse of the Berlin Wall

All over the Eastern Bloc, resistance to rock was being worn down. In 1987,
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
,
Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
, and the
Eurythmics Eurythmics were a British pop duo consisting of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart. They were both previously in The Tourists, a band which broke up in 1980. The duo released their first studio album, '' In the Garden'', in 1981 to little succ ...
played in
West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
.
Radio in the American Sector RIAS (german: Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor; en, ''Radio in the American Sector'') was a radio and television station in the American Sector of Berlin during the Cold War. It was founded by the US occupational authorities after World War ...
announced the lineup and time well beforehand and the concert planners pointed the speakers over
the wall ''The Wall'' is the eleventh studio album by the English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released on 30 November 1979 by Harvest/EMI and Columbia/CBS Records. It is a rock opera that explores Pink, a jaded rock star whose eventual self-imp ...
so that
East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
ers would be ready and could enjoy the concert. When East German security forces tried to disband the crowd of fans assembled by the wall, the fans promptly rioted, chanting "tear down the wall!" In 1988, a similar situation erupted when
Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...
performed in West Berlin, and the security forces, while trying to disperse the fans, even attacked western camera crews that were filming the scene. In an attempt to improve its image, the East German government invited
Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...
to perform in
East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
in July 1988. No violence erupted during this concert. The crowd joined in enthusiastically while Springsteen was singing "
Born in the USA ''Born in the U.S.A.'' is the seventh studio album by American recording artist Bruce Springsteen, released by Columbia Records on June 4, 1984. It topped the charts in nine countries, including the US and UK, becoming his most commercially succ ...
", with many clutching small, hand-painted American flags (something the official East German press neglected to mention). Additionally, Springsteen said: "I am not for or against any government. I have come here to play rock and roll for you East Berliners in the hope that one day all barriers can be torn down", showing his understanding of the restrictions East Germans faced while avoiding the impression that he was playing in support of the East German government. A few months after that concert,
Erich Honecker Erich Ernst Paul Honecker (; 25 August 1912 – 29 May 1994) was a German communist politician who led the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1971 until shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. He held the posts ...
, the leader of East Germany, resigned. The Berlin Wall itself collapsed in 1989.


Rock's social and political effects


Soviet inflexibility

Thomas Nichols, in "Winning the World," holds that the ideological pronouncements of the Soviet State required that virtually all actions be seen in terms of political import. For example,
KGB The KGB (russian: links=no, lit=Committee for State Security, Комитет государственной безопасности (КГБ), a=ru-KGB.ogg, p=kəmʲɪˈtʲet ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)əj bʲɪzɐˈpasnəsʲtʲɪ, Komitet gosud ...
documents show that the intelligence agency interpreted
vigil A vigil, from the Latin ''vigilia'' meaning ''wakefulness'' (Greek: ''pannychis'', or ''agrypnia'' ), is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance. The Italian word ''vigilia'' has become genera ...
s for
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
in 1980 as protests against the regime. The song
In the Navy "In the Navy" is a song by American disco group Village People. It was released as the first single from their fourth studio album, '' Go West'' (1979). It was a number one hit in Canada, Flanders, Japan and the Netherlands, while reaching numbe ...
by the
Village People Village People is an American disco group known for its on-stage costumes and suggestive lyrics in their music. The group was originally formed by French producers Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis following the release ...
was even described by the Soviet press as supporting
militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...
, an inaccurate claim seeing as the lyrics are a series of thinly veiled references to homosexual behavior. This extreme rigidity in ideology made the Soviet system especially weak in adapting to social changes, and very open to human rights critiques and ridicule.


Viral spread

Artemy Troitsky Artemy Kivovich Troitsky (; , born 16 June 1955 in Yaroslavl) is a Russian journalist, music critic, concert promoter, radio host, and academic who has lectured on music journalism at Moscow State University. "He is an anarchist, pacifist and one ...
contends that rock music inspired the same sort of youth revolution that occurred in the west, but the Soviet system could not adapt to the resulting social upheaval. Throughout his book on the Soviet rock movement, Back in the USSR, he describes rock as a virus invading a host body. He also gives accounts of Soviet leadership and bureaucrats describing rock as a form of infection or a virus, supporting his
virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Since Dmitri Ivanovsky's 1 ...
metaphor. The main route for "infection" from "alien influences," in his view, came from the problem of permeable borders. The system could never effectively block out all outside influence, nor could it adapt to the ones that came through.


Impact of the Beatles

Leslie Woodhead James Leslie John Woodhead, OBE (born 1937) is a British documentary filmmaker. For his National Service commencing in 1956, he served in Fife at the Joint Services School for Linguists where he was taught Russian. He was posted to West Berlin ...
, in the 2009 documentary "How the Beatles Rocked the Kremlin," argues that rock music, and the Beatles in particular, alienated the youth against the leadership of the Soviet bloc governments. Artemy Troistky, who appeared in the documentary, asserted that the Beatles' appeal reached religious heights. Woodhead supported this assertion by showcasing fan testimony about the Beatles' ubiquitous popularity and the extent to which it still permeates Russian popular culture.


Western radio

The debate over the role of rock in the US public diplomacy effort began almost as soon as it became popular, and lasted through the Reagan administration. "Rock music was blasted to through the Iron Curtain through government-subsidized Voice of America and Radio Free Europe, and we interviewed the legal counsel for
VOA Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
who described the debates inside the Reagan administration about the appropriateness of sending "degenerate" rock music eastward. But even the advisory boards came to understand that it was the structure of rock, as much as the lyrics, that counted." In the mid-60s President Johnson expressed his desire to build cultural and economic bridges with the Soviet Union. This drove intensified radio broadcasts by the
VOA Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...
,
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...
, RFE, and
Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...
into the Iron Curtain, especially musical programming. All of this was viewed by the Soviets as an overt political
subversion Subversion () refers to a process by which the values and principles of a system in place are contradicted or reversed in an attempt to transform the established social order and its structures of power, authority, hierarchy, and social norms. Sub ...
campaign. Nevertheless, the Soviet-bloc responded by increasing domestic broadcasts of pop and rock, or big beat as they called it. The results of this saturation of the airwaves with popular music was revealed in a 1966 RFE study of requests from behind the Iron Curtain. The study showed that the taste in music among teenagers from the east and west were largely identical. Although American funding and support for such broadcasting varied, their broadcasting remained popular. KGB memos asserted that, at one point, 80% of Soviet youth listened to western broadcasts. In addition to the basic popularity of western broadcasts and whatever role that played in undermining the Soviets politically, by the mid 1980s the Soviets were spending more than three billion dollars to
jam Jam is a type of fruit preserve. Jam or Jammed may also refer to: Other common meanings * A firearm malfunction * Block signals ** Radio jamming ** Radar jamming and deception ** Mobile phone jammer ** Echolocation jamming Arts and entertai ...
or block RFE and Radio Liberty broadcasts. Václav Havel attributed this continuous appeal to the inherent rebelliousness of rock music, at least at the time.


The underground and the black market

Magnitizdat ''Magnitizdat'' () was the process of copying and distributing audio tape recordings that were not commercially available in the Soviet Union. It is analogous to ''samizdat'', the method of disseminating written works that could not be officially ...
were DIY recordings that were the audio counterpart to the written Samizdat. Many of the early DIY recordings were made from plastic X-ray plates Rock fans and black marketeers would smuggle
records A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...
in from the west and would steal discarded X-Ray emulsion plates from dumpsters and garbage cans at hospitals. They would then bring their X-Ray plates and records into small recording studios, which were designed so that Soviet soldiers could record audio messages for family back home. Because the X-ray plates were flexible, they could be rolled and hidden in a sleeve which aided in the concealment and transport of the record. The recordings would still bear images of human skeletons, so they were referred to as "bones," "ribs," or '' roentgenizdat''. This practice began in the 50s, but proliferated in the 60s especially as
Beatlemania Beatlemania was the fanaticism surrounding the English rock band the Beatles in the 1960s. The group's popularity grew in the United Kingdom throughout 1963, propelled by the singles "Please Please Me", "From Me to You" and "She Loves You". By ...
spread. It didn't take long before Soviet youth wanted to form bands to emulate the
Fab Four The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...
, but the lack of instruments was a serious impediment to the formation of rock bands. Soviet youths had to improvise. They did so by creating their own guitars by sawing old tables into the shape of a guitar. Creating pickups and amps was a problem until an inspired young electrical engineer discovered that they could be created from phone receivers and
loudspeakers A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an Acoustical engineering#Electroacoustics, electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often ...
, respectively. The only readily available sources for these items were public telephone booths and speakers used for propaganda broadcasts, so young rockers would vandalize both for parts. From the early to mid sixties, the subculture was mostly ignored by the authorities. That is not to stay that fans could display their love for rock openly, but it wasn't actively persecuted until later. Most of these new bands would imitate the
Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
as best they could with their improvised instruments, and even clothing fashioned after Beatles stage costumes. They would play anywhere they could; cafes, front stoops, basements, dormitories; anywhere they could convince someone to let them. As the bands became more sophisticated and popular, rock scenes began to develop. How the authorities would react depended greatly upon the area and the time period. From the late 60s on, long haired men often would have their offending manes cut and bands would be denied official status, financial support, press coverage, and permission to play in bigger venues. In their place VIA's (the Russian acronym for vocal/instrumental ensemble), officially sanctioned bands were established to play state-approved music and lyrics with less "teeth." VIA's would avoid controversial topics in their lyrics, musical styles, or anything deemed "degenerate".


Youth revolution and political disobedience

Despite the attempts to stifle the native rock movement, the
underground Underground most commonly refers to: * Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth Underground may also refer to: Places * The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston * The Underground (S ...
survived and managed to create a different culture that many would flee to. Identification with this
subculture A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...
would make one less susceptible to Soviet propaganda and ideology and less likely to view the West as a threat. "The kids lost their interest in all Soviet unshakeable dogmas and ideals, and stopped thinking of an English-speaking person as an enemy. That's when the Communists lost two generations of young people. That was an incredible impact." Even if the individual did not enjoy rock for political reasons, because the political system was opposed to it, merely listening to music was an act of disobedience. By extension, active participation in the underground made one an active agent against the regime, as far as the leadership was concerned. Some of the more dedicated songwriters would go to great lengths to conceal their dissent, which was described in ''Rockin' the Wall'': "The trick was, Leslie Mandoki ">Leslie_Mandoki.html" ;"title="Leslie Mandoki">Leslie Mandoki noted in the film, to write a "rat tail." The rat tail was a song that ostensibly was about Ronald Reagan or the United States or capitalism—and would therefore clear censors—but which was obvious to all the kids to be a criticism of the Soviet system." The inability of the Communist regimes to eradicate, replace, or assimilate the influence of rock music probably did much to ensure that the populace would turn against the totalitarian system.How The Beatles Rocked the Kremlin


See also


References


Footnotes


Works cited

* * *


Films

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rock and roll and the fall of communism Cold War Rock music Music and politics