At first, repression by the Soviet authorities meant that rock was performed only at illegal gatherings, while music from the West was available on Radio Luxembourg or smuggled records.
As pressure eased somewhat, rock musicals began to be released, such as Velnio nuotaka ('The Devil's Bride') and Ugnies medžioklė su varovais.
During this period, the Communist government of the Lithuanian SSR confronted rock music, which was considered a decadent and corrupting cultural invasion from the West.
The younger post-World War II Lithuanian generation under Soviet rule had few means to get acquainted with popular Western music.
The first local rock bands started to emerge around 1965 and included Kertukai, Aitvarai and Nuogi ant slenksčio in Kaunas, and Kęstutis Antanėlis, Vienuoliai, and Gėlių Vaikai in Vilnius, among others.
For example, Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock-opera 'Jesus Christ Superstar' was staged by Lithuanian composer Kęstutis Antanėlis on December 25, 1971 at the Vilnius Academy of Art.
This musical proved to be a huge success - during the period from 1976 to 1983 it was performed 185 times in cities and towns across Lithuania and the Soviet Union.
The group cited several influences, including the sound of The Stranglers, as well as the 1980s post-punk movement (for example the notable nod to Depeche Mode on Foje's 1990 electronica album Žodžiai į Tylą).
During his two-decade career both as a leader of Foje and as a solo artist he has written and recorded more than 20 platinum albums, as well as masterminding the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 entry We Are the Winners by LT United [1].
At their inception the band, led by frontman Algirdas Kaušpėdas, engaged in punkish experiments, but things changed considerably in early 1986 when the group developed an impressive horns section.
Petras Ubartas became responsible for the music of the band while Kaušpėdas concentrated on writing lyrics, which were full of irony and satire on the Soviet way of life.
Antis staged many live shows in front of huge crowds in Lithuania and the Soviet Union, and toured throughout Europe and United States in 1989/1990.
Built on ska riffs with Latin beats and socially-oriented, brave and ironic lyrics, the group soon became one of the most interesting local acts.
Turboreanimacija can undoubtedly be regarded as the most influential HC band of Lithuania, which in its time was well received by such fanzines as Maximum Rock 'n Roll in the US.
Their first up-tempo albums reminded listeners of early records from Scottish HC legends the Exploited, while later Turboreanimacija embarked on the power-punk road.
Green' (who are famous for their numerous DIY activities and intensive touring through the punk scenes of Europe), street-punkers Toro Bravo and hardcorists Bora and Mountainside.
Some bands of this period were trying to build upon the music scene emerging in Manchester at the time (e.g. Lygiai Lyja, Šiaurės Kryptis) - often fairly successfully; while others preferred grunge, noise and psychedelic experiments (for example, SH, Empti, Blyškūs Veidai, Summerland, Dogbones).
Airija (the name is Lithuanian for Ireland) from Alytus skillfully combined rock music with Irish folk melodies.
Leader of Airija Darius Mileris currently resides in Dublin, Ireland and plays similar music to that of his former band in an outfit called Nojus.
Lemon Joy and Merlin drifted to the side of pop/electronic music shortly after the release of their debut albums, while Biplan have stayed rather successfully with rock.
SKAMP blends Pop, Rock, Hip Hop, and Reggae genres into a unique[citation needed] alternative sound.
In the late 80s to early 90s, the company's head, Dovydas Bluvšteinas, made efforts to organize concerts in Vilnius by such alternative music icons as Sonic Youth, Sugarcubes, Pop Will Eat Itself, The Fall and many others.