Hey everyone,
this question has been with me for quite some time. But I was wondering, were Punk musicians (or people in punk subculture) persecuted for their political beliefs or appearance?
I imagine they would have been, due to the fact that they are mostly left wing and almost always are against the establishment.
I'm interested in the '80s in particular, since this was probably the time when punk music was at it's prime.
Thank you.
Punk was banned in the USSR until the early 80's. This is a quote from the Pravda:
The music and lyrics of punk rock provoke among the young fits of aimless rage, vandalism, and the urge to destroy everything they get their hands on. No matter how carefully they try to clean it up, it will remain the most reactionary offspring of the bourgeoisie mass culture.
Still, the late years of the USSR did turn up a punk underground subculture. You can hear them here and see pictures and more stories here.
Fun tidbit: owing to the near-impossibility of pressing vinyls, underground bands in Russia used old X-rays to produce gramophone records. These records were called "ribs".
There was a really interesting article in Mojo magazine on rock and post-punk in the Soviet Union. However, I can't find it.
But here's "Popular Culture and Revolutionary Theory: Understanding Punk Rock" from Theoretical Review No. 18, September-October 1980.
"Consider the following quote from the Young Communist League of the USSR: “The music and lyrics of punk rock provoke among the young fits of aimless rage, vandalism and the urge to destroy everything they get in their hands. No matter how carefully they try to clean it up, it will remain the most reactionary offspring of the bourgeois mass culture.” (Citation is a quote from an article in Rolling Stone, October 20, 1977).
I don't want to be too vague, or I'll run afoul of the stringent standards on this sub, but what I remember from that Mojo article was that punk/post-punk/new wave type bands in the Soviet Union were subjected to the same kinds of restrictions as rock musicians in general; lack of places to play, lack of opportunities to put out music, occasional sporadic censorship and general official disapproval, though perhaps not active persecution.
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