Here is a document , discovered by Alexei Yurchak, listing Western bands banned in the Soviet Union because their 'work contains ideologically and morally harmful product' - meaning their lyrics one assumes. Until recently it was classified "For Official Use Only." It was recommended that "to strengthen the fight against the influence of bourgeois ideology' the work of these groups was prohibited for playback and for sale on "LPs, CDs, cassettes, videos, books, posters and other products"
It includes: The B-52s for 'militarism', Blondie for ‘violence’, Depeche Mode for being apolitical, The Scorpions for ‘violence’, Donna Summer for eroticism, Culture Club for homosexuality, Madonna for sex, Michael Jackson for horror, Madness for ‘violence’too, Village people also for violence (surely a translation error?) Motorhead for moral turpitude (fair enough), Black Sabbath for ‘religious obscurantism’, Pink Floyd for a 'perversion of Soviet foreign policy' (huh?), Rod Stewart for eroticism (really?) and the list goes on: Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Prince, The Corgis (surely not?), Van Halen, Ike Turner. The strangest is possibly Julio Iglesias. Many of us would like to never hear his music again - but surely not for ‘neo-fascism’?
It is listed as being published by the 'Ministry of Culture. October 1, 1984'. Obviously that is a lot later than the x-ray bootleg record period but it shows how pervasive was the ideological position developed in the post war era with regard to foreign music.
It’s Kafa-esque, quite comical and was possibly not taken that seriously by the Komsomol youth organisations it was aimed at, but it speaks to the authorities’ fear of rock and pop music, not just for ideological cold war reasons, but for the emotional impact it could have on younger people.
Kolya Vasin told me that once he heard the music of the Beatles, he realised he had been lied to about them. And if he had been lied to about them, what else had he been lied to about? He became ‘an exile inside’. So we see how rock music could contribute to the changes that came about later, first by changing hearts, then by changing (or unchaining) minds.
Thanks to Kass Bay and Grimnir 74