Timothy Ryback, “Rock around the bloc”
- Name and discuss in 1-2 sentences each three features of pop music, and especially rock and roll, that made it such an important challenge to the Soviet system.
- Name three ways that late 1960s Soviet authorities tried to control access to what they deemed decadent forms of popular Western culture.
- Name three forms of resistance to official efforts to ban or clamp down on access to Western music/rock and roll in which Soviet citizens engaged during the late 1960s.
- Name three things about the Soviet rock scene of the 1970s that you found interesting, and discuss why.
- How did detente and the 1975 signing of the Helsinki Accords change the music scene in the USSR? Be specific!
- Ryback argues that the Soviet rock music scene changed in fundamental ways in the 1980s. Discuss 3 ways this happened in 1-2 sentences each.
