The Commies who ran Eastern Europe were terrified of rock’n’roll. Rebellion of any kind was not only to be discouraged but stamped out and killed with fire. Authorities reacted with everything from counterpropaganda to outright censorship. None of it worked, of course, and the music was able to filter its way from the Iron Curtain in Europe to the Pacific in the east.
The Stasi, the feared East German secret police, did their best to counter this cultural invasion with what, in retrospect, seems pretty bizarre. For example, to combat Western dance crazes, the East German state tried to manufacture its own dance craze called the Lipsi. They also tried to regulate how much Western music could be played at private parties. Some bands were crushed by having their members suddenly called up for compulsory military service. And then there was the Stasi’s network of informers who snitched on rock fans.
Of course, none of this work and the Wall came down anyway.
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