The original picture discs that could get you thrown in a Soviet jail
Take out your
earpods for a sec – really – so I can tell you a crazy story. (Or smack you – you should be more aware of your surroundings.)
Music today is, of course, a commodity almost as readily available as water on tap – click a button or two and pretty much anything you can think of is yours to listen to.
In the Soviet Union during the 1950s and 60s, authorities allowed only state-approved music, banning genres they considered decadent.
Now imagine another place and time, the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 60s, where no music was allowed. (OK, I exaggerate: state-approved music was allowed but not even parents wanted to listen to that dreck – anything actually good was forbidden.
Western radio stations were jammed, rock music was banned, records were confiscated at the border.) The authorities tried to seal off all of that Western decadence outside the Iron Curtain.
But the pressure of rock 'n' roll was hard to contain, and inevitably the wall leaked. A lot. Especially in Leningrad (now St Petersburg), a Soviet port town dripping with incoming Western indulgence. Ships arrived with smuggled records (and worth-their-weight-in-gold Levi's jeans, as well as just about anything else cool from the West) in sailors' duffel bags and diplomatic pouches.
Beatles records, along with those of other Western artists, had to be smuggled into the Soviet Union. Photo: AP
Sooner or later you could find somebody who had smuggled in the latest Elvis or Beatles 45 record, and if you had enough roubles, and were willing to risk getting busted, that vinyl could be yours.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
2 days ago
- South China Morning Post
Coming full circle for the artistic director of Cirque du Soleil's Kooza
I WAS BORN IN St Petersburg, Florida, in 1984. My mum called me Mr Sparkles or Mr Showman. I was always putting on a show. I was always entertaining whoever was around. I definitely had something. That's why I think they encouraged me to go into theatre. There was just something a little different. They recognised something special. Advertisement NO ONE KNEW I could sing until I was probably nine or 10. When they heard me sing in the school choir, that was when it turned into 'put him in lessons and let's help facilitate that as much as we can'. Jamieson Lindenberg in his youth. Photo: courtesy Jamieson Lindenberg I STUDIED AT A performing-arts high school for theatre and dance. My core education and training vocally as an artist was in this conservatory as a young adult. That is where A performing-arts high school for theatre and dance. My core education and training vocally as an artist was in this conservatory as a young adult. That is where Cirque du Soleil came to recruit ushers. We did an interview and they offered me a position as an usher for a show called Quidam that was playing at the Tropicana Field (in St Petersburg). That was my first job. I was 15. I'D NEVER HEARD OF Cirque du Soleil, but I was absolutely blown away by what I was seeing. I was studying theatre, so it was quite a contrast to Broadway, which is what I went on to do. Jamieson Lindenberg (right) at a singing competition in Florida when he was 14. Photo: courtesy Jamieson Lindenberg I BROKE SOME OF the rules – I was very late to work as a 15-year-old high-school student is – and I was let go. I was disappointed, but didn't even think about Cirque or that I could ever perform or be involved in that capacity because I finished school for theatre.
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- South China Morning Post
The original picture discs that could get you thrown in a Soviet jail
Take out your earpods for a sec – really – so I can tell you a crazy story. (Or smack you – you should be more aware of your surroundings.) Music today is, of course, a commodity almost as readily available as water on tap – click a button or two and pretty much anything you can think of is yours to listen to. In the Soviet Union during the 1950s and 60s, authorities allowed only state-approved music, banning genres they considered decadent. Now imagine another place and time, the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 60s, where no music was allowed. (OK, I exaggerate: state-approved music was allowed but not even parents wanted to listen to that dreck – anything actually good was forbidden. Western radio stations were jammed, rock music was banned, records were confiscated at the border.) The authorities tried to seal off all of that Western decadence outside the Iron Curtain. But the pressure of rock 'n' roll was hard to contain, and inevitably the wall leaked. A lot. Especially in Leningrad (now St Petersburg), a Soviet port town dripping with incoming Western indulgence. Ships arrived with smuggled records (and worth-their-weight-in-gold Levi's jeans, as well as just about anything else cool from the West) in sailors' duffel bags and diplomatic pouches. Beatles records, along with those of other Western artists, had to be smuggled into the Soviet Union. Photo: AP Sooner or later you could find somebody who had smuggled in the latest Elvis or Beatles 45 record, and if you had enough roubles, and were willing to risk getting busted, that vinyl could be yours.
South China Morning Post
4 days ago
- South China Morning Post
Spotify CEO says AI is no threat to music industry, but a tool for creatives
Artificial intelligence will encourage more people to create music in the future and is not a threat to the industry, the founder and CEO of streaming giant Spotify said. Advertisement Artists using machine-learning tools to produce music have given rise to concerns about whether AI-generated music – even entirely fake artists – could one day replace human artists. 'I'm mostly optimistic and mostly very excited because we're just in the beginning of understanding this future of creativity that we're entering,' Daniel Ek said at an open house at the company's headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, this week. Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter and a recent book, Mood Machine, have accused Spotify of tasking a handful of producers to make thousands of songs under fake AI profiles, which the company allegedly pushed onto playlists – saving Spotify money by elbowing out real artists and their higher royalties. Spotify has been accused of filling playlists with AI-generated music. Photo: Reuters Spotify has denied the claims. Advertisement
