Banned in the USSR

A secret Cold War document has been revealed, listing bands the Soviet Union refused to allow to be heard in youth discos - and while the usual suspects are high in the ratings there's a few surprising entries too.

The Sex Pistols, Iron Maiden, Kiss, Judas Priest and AC/DC all appear, as might be expected. But alongside them are some surprising entries, including "punk violence" acts Madness and Blondie, and "neofascist" performers Julio Iglesias and 10cc.

The People's Cube has translated the paper into English, detailing the reasons why 38 acts were not to be heard in the USSR during the mid-1980s. The site editor explains: "We never saw it before because it was for internal use only, but we felt the invisible presence of such lists throughout life in the Motherland."

It's a stark illustration of the strict limits imposed on freedom in the Soviet Union of the 1980s, even though the era of change which would see the collapse of the USSR and and the end of the Cold War was only a year away.

The Soviet Komsomol, the Communist Party for young people, released the banning order in 1985, stating: "The following is a list of foreign music groups and artists whose repertoires contain ideologically harmful compositions.

"This information is recommended for the purpose of intensifying control over the activities of discotheques. This information must also be provided to all vocal-instrument ensembles [that's bands] in the region."

The list, approved by Head of the General Department of the Obkom of Komsomol, explains why each band is not to be publicised.

"Group Name and Type of Propaganda"

1. Sex Pistols - punk, violence

2. B-52s - punk, violence

3. Madness - punk, violence

4. Clash - punk, violence

5. Stranglers - punk, violence

6. Kiss - neofascism, punk, violence

7. Krokus - violence, cult of strong personality

8. Styx - violence, vandalism

9. Iron Maiden - violence, religious obscurantism

10. Judas Priest - anticommunism, racism

11. AC/DC - neofascism, violence

12. Sparks - neofascism, racism

13. Black Sabbath - violence, religious obscurantism

14. Alice Cooper - violence, vandalism

15. Nazareth - violence, religious mysticism

16. Scorpions - violence

17. Genghis Khan - anticommunism, nationalism

18. UFO - violenct

19. Pink Floyd - distortion of Soviet foreign policy ("Soviet agression in Afghanistan")

20. Talking Heads - myth of the Soviet military threat

21. Perron - eroticism

22. Bohannon - eroticism

23. Originals - sex

24. Donna Summer - eroticism

25. Tina Turner - sex

26. Junior English - sex

27. Canned Heat - homosexuality

28. Munich Machine - eroticism

29. Ramones - punk

30. Van Halen - anti-Soviet propaganda

31. Julio Iglesias - neofascism

32. Yazoo - punk, violence

33. Depeche Mode - punk, violence

34. Village People - violence

35. 10cc - neofascism

36. Stooges - violence

37. Boys - punk, violence

38. Blondie - punk, violence

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