ABSTRACT
Poland occupied a special niche in the range of the communist countries' approach to rock 'n' roll. Poland had opened the door a bit to Western ideas and through the backdoor came rock 'n' roll. In Poland, the big beat served as a euphemism for rock 'n' roll. The Polish deal between the rock community and the communist regime accounted for the richness and variety of the scene and for its ideological sterility compared to its neighbors in both the East and the West. By the 1970s, Polish rock was coming of age and Czeslaw Niemen had clearly emerged as the key figure and the most influential and significant artist of two decades of Polish rock. Niemen proved himself not only an outstanding singer with a strong voice but also an inventive composer, arranger, and instrumentalist. The revolutionary age may be over as Polish rock has found its liberation in the age of commodity rock.
