Some Western music - mostly apolitical in nature - was officially available and released by the Soviet record label, Melodiya. Paul McCartney even released an album of classic-rock cover songs exclusively for the Soviet market. In the seventies and eighties some Western acts (including Boney M, Elton John and Billy Joel) were allowed to hold concerts in the USSR. One of Queen's most famous concerts was held in Budapest, Hungary in the mid-eighties.

The more troublesome stuff was widely bootlegged, especially after cassette recorders came on the scene. Even during the sixties, dedicated Soviet Beatles fans copied their albums onto discarded X-ray films, creating "bone records" that could be played on turntables.

Western TV and radio could be accessed by people in most of East Germany. (The Dresden area, where Western signals couldn't reach, was called "the Valley of the Clueless.") The DDR also produced occasional TV variety specials, "Ein Kessel Buntes," featuring some Western acts - usually well past their prime at home, but they did get ABBA during the seventies!