Banned by our Soviet friends in the 1980s
Julio Iglesias: neo-fascism in a tight red shirt and chest hair
One of my sons’ friends, from Ukraine, has found a Soviet official document from 1985 which lists 38 bands or musicians whose music was to be banned from ‘publicly organised discos’. Here’s part of the list:
1. The Sex Pistols – punk, violence
8. Stix – violence, vandalism
11. AC/DC – neo-fascism, violence
15. Nazareth – religious mysticism, sadism
16. Scorpions – violence (and to think that Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici’s lot used their Wind of Change as the 1992 election anthem…)
19. Pink Floyd – distortion of foreign policy of USSR
25. Tina Turner – sex
31. Julio Iglesias – neo-fascism
What were they left with? No, please don’t all rush at me at once: Gensna. Bayzo. Teksi Meri. All flown in from our friends in Malta on a giant reel-to-reel.
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No need to go to the Soviet Union. Here’s a bit of local history on stage censorship.
The censor took exception to the line in a revue: ” The virgin sturgeon needs no urgin’ “.
This had to be changed to ” The maiden sturgeon etc.”
In another play somebody asked for “a bloody Mary”. The censor objected to “bloody” so the drink was changed to “a horse’s neck”.
In the play “Daphne Laureola” the censor objected to the words ” it was like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden of Eden. Only that was an apple tree. This was a laburnum tree.” This was considered as “a comparison savouring of irreverence”
(I wonder what the censor would have made of Daphne’s Notebook).
And so on and so forth down to Stitching in 2009.
Film censorship, Sliema Salesian Domus style: wave a hand in front of the projector.
Book censorship – Jesuit style.
For my sins, I spent a year at St. Aloysius College, aged 9. We had a history book written by an English Jesuit for Catholic schools in which there was a sentence to the effect: “At that time there was a heretical monk called Martin Luther who was excommunicated.” That’s it. The whole Protestant revolution in one simple sentence. But the mere mention of this vile man was too much for the local Jesuits to handle, so they glued the offending page to the recto. My father heard about this and declared: “That book is mutilated, I’m not buying it for you.”
This caused me problems. If you turn up for class without your textbook, you line up at 10.30 with all the other little boys for a thrashing by the resident sadist called the Prefect of Discipline. That’s how he got his kicks.
This went on for a while. Eventually, after lengthy negotiations between my father and the rector (because all the books in the school shop were glued together) it was decided that a fresh unglued copy would be ordered specially for me from the publishers in England. When it arrived I was the flavour of the month. All the other boys fought for the privilege of peeking into this book in the loo as if it was some kind of Lady Chatterley’s Lover.
For one reason or another, for the duration of that year, I never seemed able to avoid that daily 10.30 appointment with the metal-studded-leather-strap-wielding fellow. I’ve been enamoured of Jesuits ever since.
Oh, for the memories …
Actually, what was allowed by an odd cultural agreement was Italian and, to a lesser degree, French pop music. One of the television highlights of the year in Soviet times was the broadcast of the San Remo festival – a fact that accounts for the abundance of Italian music LP compilations produced by the state-owned Melodiya record company in almost every other post-Soviet home. I think that 1985 would have been just about the last year that the list produced above would have existed; and even then it is uncertain that anyone was actually paying any attention to it. Copies of late Soviet re-issues of Pink Floyd albums are also extremely commons sights in the houses of people from a certain generation.
Indeed, if a friend of mine had had anything to do with the ban, he would have banned all recorded music from school discos. Prior to the LP becoming widely available, kids with musical skills and knowledge of Beatles and Rolling Stones songs could make a bit of money on the side performing for their friends at social functions. In addition to infecting Soviet pop with yet more dreary dross, the proliferation of San Remo compilations also put these budding musical entrepreneurs out of business.
I was in Moscow in ’84. We were in a ‘night’ clubs – there is actually no ‘night’ in July; the sky turns a beautiful dark blue until dawn. The barman, seeing some foreigners, put on some western songs, mainly Beatles’ tapes. All went well until the song ‘Back in the USSR’ came on. Then the gentleman sitting not far from where we were had a quiet word with the barman and that was the end of that. Don’t know why as the song is appreciative of the USSR but the gentleman probably did not get the words and played safe.
That was the 1980s and they seemed to have moved on. Here in Malta on the other hand the censors are still very active.
Censorship mid-70s dear Daddy style: When I was 15 or 16 and totally immersed in rock music, I wanted Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland – the original release by Track Records who had produced a cover showing several nude ladies lounging in a rather debauched state (I was only interested in the music of course). No chance of finding it on the racks so I ordered it via D’Amato. When it arrived it was handed to me discreetly in a black bag. When my dear father (an absolutely great guy in all other respects) spotted it among my record collection, he didn’t say anything, but the following day I found it plastered with plain paper, loads of adhesive tape and his initials at every corner. It actually helped to keep it in mint condition. Still have that album (without the paperwork).
@ John Many leading luminaries of the PN were educated at St. Aloysius, hence all this religious fundamentalism rampant in Malta. I served my time there too, where I was hounded by the ‘sadist’ for smoking whilst same ‘sadist’ used to share his ciggies with his fawning sycophants.
@ DCG Glad to see ‘Nazareth’ on the list. I’ll be going to their concert on Tue, even though I must sacrifice the CL quarter-final, first leg, between the world champions and Porto.
who was the ‘sadist’ at the time.
Fr. Alfred Xuereb whose favourite appellation for me was ‘scum’
Nazareth for the Red Devils? Judas.
Leonard, my friend,
1) the concert was due to have been held on March 9th but got postponed due to illness
2) I have scores of opportunities to watch United every year but Nazareth on my doorstep is an extremely rare event
3) until we get rid of SAF and find a manager who can inspire the players to fight like lions (Wazza excepted), the damage to my heart and nervous system caused by watching United huff and puff can easily be dispensed with on this one occasion
Oh come on, Daphne!
Are you saying that Dolores Cristina, our Minister for Culture, is a throwback to 1980’s Soviet Union?
[Daphne – No, I’m not.]
I also did my time at San Alwigi, and was also hounded for “smoking”, but if memory serves me right, Alfred Xuereb didn’t smoke . Louis Piccinino did, Alla Jahfirlu. Alfred did have some choice words to describe me as well. “Village idiot ” was one of them. He then used to punish me for “answering back”…….
I wish they had hounded me more, I’m desperately trying to quit the habit nowadays and getting nowhere!
In all my time there, no one I knew encountered the dreaded ferlass, as the Jesuit whip was known. It had been outlawed for some time. The limit you could get was detention, or a Wednesday at school, or at most, a Sunday. I got that one time for bad behaviour, namely getting some WW II memorabilia to school, not being aware that the memorabilia was actually a live anti-personnel bomb (a small one, but lethal nonetheless) found at Hal Far airfield, where we used to go and play in that then deserted wilderness.
I also went to Moscow in 1987. At that time, a Pink Floyd cassette I had was as good as any currency, and my Russian friend made a fortune making copies and selling them to his friends. Marlboro cigarettes were also good. The country was experiencing Glasnost but life’s little luxuries were still missing, hence the high price. But a pack of Marlboro could get you anything, including entry to the Bolshoi.
Nothing could be more different now. Russians believe in cold hard cash. That’s it. And now we westerners hanker after their most expensive item, caviar. Nothing tastes like it and they know it. Hence the high price. And everything is allowed. Music, hedonism, whatever…
How times have changed!
Hi Tim – “until we get rid of SAF …”. That sounds like an atheist. Jesus, even the Pope has admitted to a couple of blips. Have faith, we’ll come good in the end. Enjoy the lads from Dunfermline.