Soviet Beatles?
- Thread starter BlackWave
- Start date
Well, If band like Czerwone Gitary could emerge and grow big in communist Poland during 60s, I can imagine similar possibility in Soviet Union - though SU was probably much more distrustful towards 'decadent western music'.
Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave the west behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
They Georgia's always on my mind
Cheers,
Nigel.
Here's the track listing for the Soviet Beatles hit 1963 Album...
Please Please The Central Committee
I Saw Her Standing There (And Reported Her for Suspicious Behaviour)
Misery (Of Life Under The Iniquitous Capitalists of America)
Anna (Submit To The Supreme Authority Of Our Benevolent Leaders)
Chains (Of Capitalist Repression)
Comrades
Don’t Ask Anyone Why
Please Please The Central Committee
Love Me Do (Almost As Much As Our Great Leaders Love You)
P.S. I Love You (But Not As Much As I Love Our Workers Paradise)
Baby It’s You (I Want To Work With To Ensure The Continued Success Of Our Great Workers Paradise)
Do You Want To Know A Secret (There Are No Secrets In Our Socialist Republic)
There’s A Place (For Us Both On A Collective Farm)
Dance In An Orderly And Quiet Manner
Please Please The Central Committee
I Saw Her Standing There (And Reported Her for Suspicious Behaviour)
Misery (Of Life Under The Iniquitous Capitalists of America)
Anna (Submit To The Supreme Authority Of Our Benevolent Leaders)
Chains (Of Capitalist Repression)
Comrades
Don’t Ask Anyone Why
Please Please The Central Committee
Love Me Do (Almost As Much As Our Great Leaders Love You)
P.S. I Love You (But Not As Much As I Love Our Workers Paradise)
Baby It’s You (I Want To Work With To Ensure The Continued Success Of Our Great Workers Paradise)
Do You Want To Know A Secret (There Are No Secrets In Our Socialist Republic)
There’s A Place (For Us Both On A Collective Farm)
Dance In An Orderly And Quiet Manner
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Soviet Beatles?
'So you say you want a revolution well you know....'
WHOOPS, Gulag time
'So you say you want a revolution well you know....'
WHOOPS, Gulag time
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Robeson
Here is one candidate. Still, what we need is a different attitude towards the Soviets after WWII. One plausible variant is Roosevelt staying alive and prompting a more peaceful post-war world with increased cultural exchange.
Another musician that could be popular worldwide in this scenario would be Yuri Antonov and his "Singing Guitars" - a band which enjoyed Beatles-scale popularity in OTL Soviet Union.
Here is one candidate. Still, what we need is a different attitude towards the Soviets after WWII. One plausible variant is Roosevelt staying alive and prompting a more peaceful post-war world with increased cultural exchange.
Another musician that could be popular worldwide in this scenario would be Yuri Antonov and his "Singing Guitars" - a band which enjoyed Beatles-scale popularity in OTL Soviet Union.
Yes and no. The USSR would ever so often trot out Jazz or "Rock" combos to show Americans that Soviets were "just like us". These were officially sanctioned bands - probably actually paid by the State - that played and sang wholesome, folk-idiom rock music that could not possibly offend anyone. Think 3rd tier "Christian Rock" without the committment.
Didn't stop people from gobbling it up anyway, especially in the satellite states.
Commissar Pepper's Lonely Hearts Socialist Republic
1. Commissar Pepper's Lonely Hearts Socialist Republic/With a Little Help From My Comrades
2. Lucy in the Sky With Red Stars
3. Getting Better (For the Workers)
4. Fixing a Hole (In a T-54)
5. She's Leaving Home (To Fight for the Motherland)
6. Being for the Benefit of the Glorious Worker's Republic
7. Within You Without You (For the Glorious Revolution)
8. When I'm Sixty Four (I Shall Still Fight on for Socialist Republic)
9. Lovely Rita (KGB)
10. Good Morning Good Morning (It is Time Beat the Capitalist Pigs)
11. Commissar Pepper's Lonely Hearts Socialist Republic (Reprise)
12. A Day in the Life (Of the Great Premier)
If I can nerd out for a moment Kennedy-wise, in the film "Timequest", there was a band called "The Moscow Five" who filled the hole left by an unsuccessful Beatles.
The problem with USSR Beatles is Soviet censorship, which played a heavy role in music. The music that was marketed was "wholesome" and state approved drivel. That led to a big underground, but getting a globally marked band with the Beatles kinda vibe from there is hard. And, the Soviets weren't necessarily good at exporting culture.