Popular music and politics in Europe post World War Two
Music has always been a cathartic way for the public to deal with difficult realities. During the second half of the twentieth century, Europe had more difficult realities to face than there were hit records for. And during this time of tremendous turmoil, a very western form of music that mixed energy, rythym, politics,and rebellion found itself to be at the forefront of Europes artistic sword, rock and roll.
“ God save the Queen, The Fascist regime, they made you a moron, a potential H-Bomb.” – John Lydon – Sex Pistols “ God Save The Queen” 1977
If we look at this lyric from the proto-punk band the Sex Pistols, who changed the scene of music and politics in popular Eurpoean Culture forever, you can see references to two different political influences of the 20th century, Fascism and the H-Bomb.In a way, one could say that this type of music and certianly this lyric may not have come about without the help of the political climate in Europe during the cold war. England certianly had it’s fair share of rock and roll artists who commented on politics, John Lennon, The Clash, and Pink Floyd all come to mind, but Great Britian was not the only country in England that carried the flag of political reform in Europe after WWII. Germany, Ireland,and to a lesser extent Canada and Australia all have spawned artists or cultural movements based on the rebellious free speech of rock and roll. And of course, I would be extremely remiss to forget the importance of the rock and roll influence on The Soviet Union, whose most respected and admired politician,Gorbechev, was a self described “ Lennonist”.
To begin with we will look at how music and culture from the west began to spread in communist bloc countries in the 1950’s. The first music to reach the ears of the culture hungry communists was Jazz from America. This is infinately amusing to me as jazz represents the total opposite of what I would consider a communist style of music to be. Jazz is centered around solo’s and is an extremely chaotic form of music. But, once the “Iron Curtian” fell, citizens were looking for any amusement and sign of existence from the outside world they could find. Until 1953, jazz was banned in the Soviet Union by then leader Stalin. When he died, the doors slowly opened for a gradual acceptence of western jazz music, but even though the American form was most popular with the public, the majority of opinion leaders were of the opinion that it was evil dance music, and even certain types of dancing were banned. And I thought a lot of American propaganda was made up, but illeagal to dance? Damn them dirty commies! But eventually because of the nature of a communist government and it’s concern for the interst of it’s peoples interest, it was decided that if the people want to dance to crazy american jazz music and it might help them be better comrades, so be it. In december 1954, a Radio station in Europe called Voice of America began a show called Music USA that featured American jazz artists like Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. The soviet jazz afficionados kept the show running for forty years. If the Soviets and the heads of state of other bloc countries could forsee the cultural impact the next form of lewd and mischevious western influence would bring, perhaps the wall would have fallen long before rock and roll could crack it.
The history of Rock and Roll in Soviet Bloc countries is fascinating. While many or I should say all, the names are foreign to me (rimshot please), the fact that a form of music became a serious tool for the people to voice their unhappiness with their government should not be viewed as mere coincidence or simple catchiness of the melodies. Rock and Roll was a battle ground that pitted the people against their leaders. The first fad to penetrate the bloc was the twist. In America and in the year 2005 it seems a little silly to regard the song as anything but a silly old pop tune, simple even. But the freedom of dance, and the fact that the song was banned, made this song one of the first symbols of the peoples rebellion against the cultural repression of the Communist rule. Next came Beatlemania, the outbreak of which came to the Soviet Union only three months after their appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, causeing fan riots similar to those in the states. This also caused the birth of several bloc beatles infuenced bands to spring up, to the chagrin of the party leaders. As time went on rock and roll music was banned and unbanned, musicians were jailed and kicked out of countries, and western bands began touring bloc countries. The best example of the people’s need for rock and roll could be seen in the East Berlin riots at the wall that would come during outdoor west berlin concerts by artists like Elton John, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Santana in 1987.
But while rock and roll took fifty years to gain acceptance by the communist leaders, and one could easily argue that it never did, rock and roll benefit concerts in the Soviet Union helped to raise money for such needy causes as Chernobyl. As a musician, I am still flabbergasted at the idea of a state run music program. I suppose I never understood the full ramifications of a cultural control policy, but music is not something anyone can naturally choose to make in a certain style, it is an amalgamation of influences and experiences that the sound represents, and I don’t understand how a government could expect a people to express themselves artistically in only one way. I suppose that is one of my vast misconceptions of communism. It’s not all free love and vodka.
Another interesting musical style in and of itself that rose out of political dissatisfaction in Europe was the punk rock movement in Great Britian that eventually moved to all the other European countries. Punk rock is an even more aggressive and offensive form of rock and roll, and with it’s inception bt the Sex Pistols in 76, it became the perfect form for a politically motivated speaker or band to get their message across without having to be gifted musicians. With it’s aggressive form, unfortunately, punk rock also lent itself to racism and hate as is well exemplified by the neo-nazi hardcore bands that populated east germany in the eighties.While a lot of bands spoke at length about problems in their own countries, bands like the Clash and David Bowie also make mention of the U.S.’s cultural imperialism in the respective songs “ I’m so sick of America” and “I’m afraid of Americans”. After reading into this subject a little, I may have to agree with them, but to use rock and roll to decry rock and roll seems a little trite.
Now, it is important to remember that after World War two, the world went through a general technological upgrade, and that included guitars. It might sound silly, but the electric guitar represents a strange sort of freedom and is definitely a symbol. Maybe it is because of the possible volume, or the fact that it rely’s on electricity and technology to work, that so many soviet towns found their telephones torn apart in the wake of beatlemania. “ July 1968 – Moscow police report that nearly every public telephone in the soviet capitol has been rendered inoperable by aspiring rock musicians who have pilfered the electronic parts to convert acoustic guitars into electric.” –Rock Around the Bloc – Timothy Ryback p241 I think that this exemplifies the symbolic value of the electric guitar in postwar europe, especially the communist states. People search for ways to express themselves individually, just as individuals. When you force a group of individuals to conform to one standard of norms, those individuals will search out ways to express themselves. In the electric guitar and the rebellion that it carried along with it, the politics of Europe were changed immensly. The impact that rock and roll had on a culturally starved public is truly immesurable, and if I were not so drunk on vodka and listening to the Sex Pistols right now I might not say this, but I think that rock and roll was the true hammer that crushed the communist’s wall, and the true voice of the people of Europe during the end of the last century and during a time when the people were not given a voice. In America, rock music has always been about entertainment first, but the European version became much less commodified and much more a communal effort to voice their opinions and concerns.
In the interest of brevity, I have left out several bands that deserve mention for bringing political awareness to European nations, U2 from ireland and the Scorpions from the U.S.S.R. are a couple that come instantly to mind, and also I have left out an enormous section on the influence of electricity and politics in a new genre of music born in the post ww2 era, electronic. Musique Concrete was the first of this atom age music to be made in france, and composers from germany and england quickly embraced this new form. But these are tangents that fly too far off course for this paper, so I’ll just remind myself that this is a onehundered level class and be satisfied with ending this paper
Music has always been a cathartic way for the public to deal with difficult realities. During the second half of the twentieth century, Europe had more difficult realities to face than there were hit records for. And during this time of tremendous turmoil, a very western form of music that mixed energy, rythym, politics,and rebellion found itself to be at the forefront of Europes artistic sword, rock and roll.
“ God save the Queen, The Fascist regime, they made you a moron, a potential H-Bomb.” – John Lydon – Sex Pistols “ God Save The Queen” 1977
If we look at this lyric from the proto-punk band the Sex Pistols, who changed the scene of music and politics in popular Eurpoean Culture forever, you can see references to two different political influences of the 20th century, Fascism and the H-Bomb.In a way, one could say that this type of music and certianly this lyric may not have come about without the help of the political climate in Europe during the cold war. England certianly had it’s fair share of rock and roll artists who commented on politics, John Lennon, The Clash, and Pink Floyd all come to mind, but Great Britian was not the only country in England that carried the flag of political reform in Europe after WWII. Germany, Ireland,and to a lesser extent Canada and Australia all have spawned artists or cultural movements based on the rebellious free speech of rock and roll. And of course, I would be extremely remiss to forget the importance of the rock and roll influence on The Soviet Union, whose most respected and admired politician,Gorbechev, was a self described “ Lennonist”.
To begin with we will look at how music and culture from the west began to spread in communist bloc countries in the 1950’s. The first music to reach the ears of the culture hungry communists was Jazz from America. This is infinately amusing to me as jazz represents the total opposite of what I would consider a communist style of music to be. Jazz is centered around solo’s and is an extremely chaotic form of music. But, once the “Iron Curtian” fell, citizens were looking for any amusement and sign of existence from the outside world they could find. Until 1953, jazz was banned in the Soviet Union by then leader Stalin. When he died, the doors slowly opened for a gradual acceptence of western jazz music, but even though the American form was most popular with the public, the majority of opinion leaders were of the opinion that it was evil dance music, and even certain types of dancing were banned. And I thought a lot of American propaganda was made up, but illeagal to dance? Damn them dirty commies! But eventually because of the nature of a communist government and it’s concern for the interst of it’s peoples interest, it was decided that if the people want to dance to crazy american jazz music and it might help them be better comrades, so be it. In december 1954, a Radio station in Europe called Voice of America began a show called Music USA that featured American jazz artists like Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. The soviet jazz afficionados kept the show running for forty years. If the Soviets and the heads of state of other bloc countries could forsee the cultural impact the next form of lewd and mischevious western influence would bring, perhaps the wall would have fallen long before rock and roll could crack it.
The history of Rock and Roll in Soviet Bloc countries is fascinating. While many or I should say all, the names are foreign to me (rimshot please), the fact that a form of music became a serious tool for the people to voice their unhappiness with their government should not be viewed as mere coincidence or simple catchiness of the melodies. Rock and Roll was a battle ground that pitted the people against their leaders. The first fad to penetrate the bloc was the twist. In America and in the year 2005 it seems a little silly to regard the song as anything but a silly old pop tune, simple even. But the freedom of dance, and the fact that the song was banned, made this song one of the first symbols of the peoples rebellion against the cultural repression of the Communist rule. Next came Beatlemania, the outbreak of which came to the Soviet Union only three months after their appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, causeing fan riots similar to those in the states. This also caused the birth of several bloc beatles infuenced bands to spring up, to the chagrin of the party leaders. As time went on rock and roll music was banned and unbanned, musicians were jailed and kicked out of countries, and western bands began touring bloc countries. The best example of the people’s need for rock and roll could be seen in the East Berlin riots at the wall that would come during outdoor west berlin concerts by artists like Elton John, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Santana in 1987.
But while rock and roll took fifty years to gain acceptance by the communist leaders, and one could easily argue that it never did, rock and roll benefit concerts in the Soviet Union helped to raise money for such needy causes as Chernobyl. As a musician, I am still flabbergasted at the idea of a state run music program. I suppose I never understood the full ramifications of a cultural control policy, but music is not something anyone can naturally choose to make in a certain style, it is an amalgamation of influences and experiences that the sound represents, and I don’t understand how a government could expect a people to express themselves artistically in only one way. I suppose that is one of my vast misconceptions of communism. It’s not all free love and vodka.
Another interesting musical style in and of itself that rose out of political dissatisfaction in Europe was the punk rock movement in Great Britian that eventually moved to all the other European countries. Punk rock is an even more aggressive and offensive form of rock and roll, and with it’s inception bt the Sex Pistols in 76, it became the perfect form for a politically motivated speaker or band to get their message across without having to be gifted musicians. With it’s aggressive form, unfortunately, punk rock also lent itself to racism and hate as is well exemplified by the neo-nazi hardcore bands that populated east germany in the eighties.While a lot of bands spoke at length about problems in their own countries, bands like the Clash and David Bowie also make mention of the U.S.’s cultural imperialism in the respective songs “ I’m so sick of America” and “I’m afraid of Americans”. After reading into this subject a little, I may have to agree with them, but to use rock and roll to decry rock and roll seems a little trite.
Now, it is important to remember that after World War two, the world went through a general technological upgrade, and that included guitars. It might sound silly, but the electric guitar represents a strange sort of freedom and is definitely a symbol. Maybe it is because of the possible volume, or the fact that it rely’s on electricity and technology to work, that so many soviet towns found their telephones torn apart in the wake of beatlemania. “ July 1968 – Moscow police report that nearly every public telephone in the soviet capitol has been rendered inoperable by aspiring rock musicians who have pilfered the electronic parts to convert acoustic guitars into electric.” –Rock Around the Bloc – Timothy Ryback p241 I think that this exemplifies the symbolic value of the electric guitar in postwar europe, especially the communist states. People search for ways to express themselves individually, just as individuals. When you force a group of individuals to conform to one standard of norms, those individuals will search out ways to express themselves. In the electric guitar and the rebellion that it carried along with it, the politics of Europe were changed immensly. The impact that rock and roll had on a culturally starved public is truly immesurable, and if I were not so drunk on vodka and listening to the Sex Pistols right now I might not say this, but I think that rock and roll was the true hammer that crushed the communist’s wall, and the true voice of the people of Europe during the end of the last century and during a time when the people were not given a voice. In America, rock music has always been about entertainment first, but the European version became much less commodified and much more a communal effort to voice their opinions and concerns.
In the interest of brevity, I have left out several bands that deserve mention for bringing political awareness to European nations, U2 from ireland and the Scorpions from the U.S.S.R. are a couple that come instantly to mind, and also I have left out an enormous section on the influence of electricity and politics in a new genre of music born in the post ww2 era, electronic. Musique Concrete was the first of this atom age music to be made in france, and composers from germany and england quickly embraced this new form. But these are tangents that fly too far off course for this paper, so I’ll just remind myself that this is a onehundered level class and be satisfied with ending this paper
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