Rock music and the fall of communism

The attraction of the unique form of music weakened Soviet authority by humanizing the West, helped alienate a generation from the political system, and sparked a youth revolution.

[2][3] The 6th World Festival of Youth and Students took place in Moscow in 1957, permitting jazz 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 countries began arresting stilyagi and rock fans.

[11] Elsewhere in the eastern bloc, however, rockers and hippies were quite politically active and in the Prague Spring of 1968 numerous concerts were held in support of greater liberalization.

Bands like Illés in Hungary, the Plastic People of the Universe in Czechoslovakia, and Time Machine in the Soviet Union adapted their native languages to rock.

[17][18] Even in places where rock's suppression did not produce violent reactions, like Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union itself, the underground continued to flourish, creating a "second culture", which would have dramatic effects in the future.

Mike Naumenko upset the status quo of even the underground with frank lyrics about life in the Soviet Union; he even addressed taboo subjects such as sex in songs like "Outskirts Blues" and "Ode to the Bathroom".

The finished products were often complete with album art and liner notes, bringing a greater level of quality and sophistication to amateur recordings.

[23] Elsewhere in the Eastern Bloc, punk was beginning to take hold due to dissatisfaction with the political and economic situation for the youth in Czechoslovakia and East Germany.

They ranged from English rock bands, to Finnish punks, to a reggae group that ritually smoked ganja in red square.

"[26] When the Rock Lab Festival took place in 1986, the tusovka spirit was on display with Zvuki Mu frontman Peter Mamonov singing lyrics like: I'm dirty, I'm exhausted.My neck's so thin.Your hand won't trembleWhen you wring it off.I'm so bad and nasty.I'm worse than you are.I'm the most unwanted.I'm trash, I'm pure dirt.BUT I CAN FLY!

[28] 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': We were watched from the days of kindergartenSome nice men and kind womenBeat us up.

In 1988, a similar situation erupted when Michael Jackson performed in West Berlin, and the security forces, while trying to disperse the fans, even attacked western camera crews that were filming the scene.

The crowd joined in enthusiastically while Springsteen was singing "Born in the USA", with many clutching small, hand-painted American flags (something the official East German press neglected to mention).

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.

The song In the Navy by the Village People was even described by the Soviet press as supporting militarism, 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.

[32] Artemy Troitsky 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.

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 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."

[54] 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 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.

"[55] 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.