ABSTRACT
In an attempt to avoid the censorship administered by the Soviet regime, musicians and lyricists utilised musical and associated cultural forms imported from the West to influence and augment strategies of native struggle. Music is renowned for both celebrating established systems and applying pressure to popularise revolt from them. The sound of rock 'n' roll, typical of the music revolution in the West, reached a wide audience during the later part of the 1950s. Its association with rebelliousness in criticising the bourgeois establishment, both intrigued and disturbed the Soviet hierarchy. The spontaneity of rock, its improvisation, its rebelliousness, its concern with physical and psychological repression, proved a viable vehicle to raise an awareness of the paradoxes of everyday life. The content of rock music in the West throughout the 1970s abandoned its association with rebellion and struggles and capitulated to the medium of entertainment, dominated by celebrity.
