The Impact Of Rock And Roll On Western Culture
In a fit of patriotic zeal, American folk musician Woody Guthrie famously scrawled the words “this machine kills fascists” onto his acoustic guitar. It marked the beginning of an era where American rock & roll music would infiltrate politics and alter political realities both at home and abroad. Guthrie’s “machine” was a synecdoche for music, specifically, music’s ability to topple authoritarianism and rattle the political landscape. The epitaph foretold that sometimes a guitar, more than even armaments or peace treaties, had the capacity to reshape the world.
In the years that followed Stalin’s death, Western culture began to penetrate the Soviet Union. Khrushchev’s liberalization policies allowed for greater (albeit still severely restricted) …show more content…
Rather than being anti-Soviet however, it was distinctly un-Soviet. As opposed to state-sanctioned music, rock & roll overflowed with authenticity and feeling. Rock & roll was an experience of raw individuality, an explicit contrast to the collectivist emphasis of Soviet mass song. Pavel Palazchenko, chief English interperter for Mikhail Gorbachev described the subtle impact of Western rock …show more content…
But in the context of rock music in the 60’s and 70’s, it was clear to Soviet youth that the West had clear cultural dominance. Rock & Roll of course was forbidden, and Soviet youngsters collected the music surreptitiously. By the early 1980’s, the Soviet Union was spending over three billion dollars to block Western radio stations that played rock & roll. But in the midst of illicitly acquiring this music, they began to ask themselves, “what else could be wrong with this government that just won’t let me listen to the music I want to?” In the Brezhnev Era, a disconnect between the youth and the government appeared, the very youth that would find themselves in position of power in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Many of the reformers and liberal minds of the 1980’s were those most affected by the curtailment of liberties in the 60’s and 70’s. As Soviet historian Mikhail Safanov
In the years that followed Stalin’s death, Western culture began to penetrate the Soviet Union. Khrushchev’s liberalization policies allowed for greater (albeit still severely restricted) …show more content…
Rather than being anti-Soviet however, it was distinctly un-Soviet. As opposed to state-sanctioned music, rock & roll overflowed with authenticity and feeling. Rock & roll was an experience of raw individuality, an explicit contrast to the collectivist emphasis of Soviet mass song. Pavel Palazchenko, chief English interperter for Mikhail Gorbachev described the subtle impact of Western rock …show more content…
But in the context of rock music in the 60’s and 70’s, it was clear to Soviet youth that the West had clear cultural dominance. Rock & Roll of course was forbidden, and Soviet youngsters collected the music surreptitiously. By the early 1980’s, the Soviet Union was spending over three billion dollars to block Western radio stations that played rock & roll. But in the midst of illicitly acquiring this music, they began to ask themselves, “what else could be wrong with this government that just won’t let me listen to the music I want to?” In the Brezhnev Era, a disconnect between the youth and the government appeared, the very youth that would find themselves in position of power in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Many of the reformers and liberal minds of the 1980’s were those most affected by the curtailment of liberties in the 60’s and 70’s. As Soviet historian Mikhail Safanov