The day Sparks were banned from the Soviet Union for “neofascism” and “racism”
The power of music is something that continues to surprise people. That power is often viewed in a positive light, regardless of the message which is being portrayed. If it is one of love that unites people, that’s beautiful; if it’s one of rebellion that stirs people, that’s moving.
From the Sex Pistols to Celine Dion, the true power of music always remains.
Of course, there are times when the power behind music is viewed as too powerful; therefore, people need to step in. We are seeing this recently, as merely days ago, Mo Chara from the rap trio Kneecap appeared in London Magistrates Court for terrorist charges. He was charged with video footage dating back to November 2024, which shows the rapper waving a flag in support of Hamas and Hezbollah.
People showed up outside of the court to protest the charges, saying that art has always been political and that remains the case. Their lawyer spoke after the hearing, saying that the charges will not deter the band from making music. “The more they come after Kneecap, the louder they will get,” he said, “They will defend not only their rights, but the rights of artists and people all around the world.”
Kneecap aren’t the first band to have been thrown into contention because of the music they make and the comments they make on stage, and they won’t be the last. Another artist who is currently in the firing line is Bruce Springsteen, who hasn’t been worried about making his disdain towards Donald Trump known on his recent The Land of Hope and Dreams tour.
“In my home, they’re persecuting people for their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. That’s happening now,” said Springsteen during one of his shows. “In America, the richest men are taking satisfaction in abandoning the world’s poorest children to sickness and death. That’s happening now. In my country, they’re taking sadistic pleasure in the pain they inflict on loyal American workers.”
Trump has hit back at Springsteen. He called him “highly overrated” and said he is a “pushy, obnoxious jerk”. However, despite Trump’s comments, the president hasn’t gone so far as to ban Bruce Springsteen’s music just because he doesn’t like it. The same can’t be said for the Soviet Union.
A list was published in 1985 by the Komsomol, which a Soviet Youth Organisation, which consisted of 38 different bands from a variety of genres that needed to be excluded. Each band had a variety of reasons attached to them as to why their music wasn’t fit for the public’s ears, and some of them made sense, given they have also found themselves at the centre of controversy in other countries as well.
For instance, the Sex Pistols were banned because they advocated for punks and violence. The reaction the UK had to the band was similar, so much so that their song ‘Anarchy In The UK’ was banned from the radio. You also had heavy metal bands such as Black Sabbath, who were banned because of the strange satanic messages they included in their songs.
What might surprise you, though, is that there was only one band who were banned from the Soviet Union because of “neofascism” and “racism”, and that was the pop group from 1971, Sparks. Yes, the band who are responsible for tracks such as ‘The Number One Song in Heaven’ and ‘When I’m With You’ are banned from the Soviet Union for two of the most radical reasons you can imagine.
I’ll be honest, it’s unclear just how much of an impact this has had on Sparks career, as I’m not sure how much of a prospective audience they had in the Soviet Union. It is interesting, though, to see what is deemed offensive in some countries which others hardly bat an eye at.
The amount of bands who have been banned there just goes to show that authoritive people and places don’t ever intend on holding back on the power of music and will try to stop it whenever they can. From punk to disco to electronic music, opinions remain divided on what different music represents.
