An unexpected force penetrated the Iron Curtain that separated the Soviet Union from the West: rock and roll. In the 1950s, the genre originated in the U.S. as the rebellious voice of youth culture, combining musical traditions of primarily African American origin like blues, gospel and country. Though some of them never performed in Soviet countries, popular Western artists like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones found millions of devoted fans in Soviet youth, who acquired forbidden records through a thriving black market.

Not long after the Cold War began, the U.S. established radio stations in West Germany “with the explicit purpose of broadcasting information and entertainment into the USSR,” according to a Santa Clara University paper, in a subliminal display of soft power. Despite Soviet efforts to jam these stations, those with access to radios still found ways to consume Western news and rock music. 

Inspiring the regime’s youth with its ideals of self-expression and individuality, rock and roll sparked a cultural rebellion in the Soviet Union. For Soviet listeners, it humanized the mysterious, oft-antagonized West while fostering a sense of apathy toward Communist ideology.

“One mark of the Cold War was learning the lessons from World War II, which was a laboratory of what worked and didn’t work in propaganda,” Fauser said. “Rock and roll was the hip, cool genre, just as jazz was in the 1930s. It was associated with youth and often deliberately marketed that way. The U.S. portrayed rock and roll as this amazing, wonderful music and tried to get its values of freedom, youth and rebellion — all the elements they discouraged at home — into the Soviet Union.”