Posted on 06/04/2010 10:24:09 AM PDT by kristinn
Most (good) history books correctly portray the collapse of communism as due to the efforts of Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope John Paul II. But there were other subversive elements at work, not the least of which was rock and roll, which bled through the Iron Curtain at an unstoppable level. In Seven Events that Made America America, I examined rock’s part in not only providing a source of hope and optimism for those youth locked under communism’s grip, but also how it became a subversive force within the East Bloc. Through interviews with American rock and rollers of the “Golden Era” (1965-1990), I found an awareness on the part of the musicians of the oppressive nature of communism.
After I had sent the book off, Marc Leif, a documentary director and superb editor, and I got together to discuss a documentary film based on the rock chapter. As a professor, I’d never raised any money in my life, but now I had to raise a considerable sum to make a movie about rock and roll! We began filming in January 2010, with one of our first interviews being Leslie Mandoki, a Hungarian student leader who crawled through a sewer to escape communism. “We ALL wanted to be Americans!” he insisted. (Mandoki has become quite successful, not only in mainstream European rock, but as the music director for Audi and Volkswagen). As he thrived in the West, Mandoki soon traveled in circles with some well known people, including Bill Clinton and Mikhael Gorbachev, and was surprised to hear Gorby tell him that “we couldn’t keep out rock and roll.”
SNIP
Rockin’ the Wall will be out in August and the website/trailer can be seen here.
(Excerpt) Read more at bighollywood.breitbart.com ...
The trailer looks good! Good luck with the book and film!
Any movie that combines rock’n’roll with Reagan saying, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” is pretty cool!
Rock and roll is an insidious force. Just check out the Red Russian Army Choir and the Leningrad Cowboys doing ‘Sweet Home Alabama’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UuFJoexdlU
Had an immediate thought of 99 Luft Balloons & hairy armpits.
Thanks alot
love it!
Thanks.
That’s too much. No question who won the Cold War.
2 Many DJs actually did a mosh of 99 Luft Balloons and some rap song.
I know it’s only rock and roll....but I like it.
Yup...blue jeans and rock ‘n roll brought down an empire.
Unfortunately, once the wall fell, the quality of East European rock’n’roll fell with it, as the disco, techno, [c]rap mass producing hit factories from the West moved in.
Niemen's Enigmatic is simply one of the greatest albums ever made in any language, IMHO.
If I had heard the song without linking to it, I would never have know it was Russians singing it. I enjoyed it.
“...an awareness on the part of the musicians of the oppressive nature of communism.”
So why are so freakin’ many of them wandering around out there in left field?
In the film, we interviewed an East German woman who bartered a “Spooky Tooth” album for headphones and speakers (absolutely unavailable there) or the equivalent of a week’s wages. Another guy, a Romanian, told us that he sold albums for about $80 American dollars (1970s $$).
According to Measuring Worth - Seven Ways to Compute the Relative Value of a U.S. Dollar Amount, 1774 to Present
http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/
In 2009 (last year it will calculate), $80.00 from 1970 is worth:
$442.00 using the Consumer Price Index
$361.00 using the GDP deflator
$454.00 using the unskilled wage
$532.00 using the Production Worker Compensation
$733.00 using the nominal GDP per capita
$1,100.00 using the relative share of GDP
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