The Geopolitical Impact of Western Music on Capitalism and Language in The Czech Republic

In this special guest editorial, James Tanoos from Purdue University examines the geopolitical impact of Western music on capitalism and the adoption of the English language in the Czech Republic.

The Long and Winding Road

Rock and roll took a long, winding road to emerge and ultimately thrive in the Czech Republic.  The first hints of Western music, defined as what someone in the Czech Republic would consider popular, rock and roll-spirited US/UK songs with “beat” rhythms and English vocals, were first transmitted into Bohemia on July 4, 1943, via a faint, barely audible signal from Armed Forces Radio, an American station broadcasting from London to the Allied forces during World War II.

Later, Radio Luxembourg, transmitting for American GI’s serving in Germany, was an illicit but alluring signal for those living in Western Bohemia who sought out non-propaganda music and news.  These broadcasts were often the first exposure to not only Western music but also the English language for many Czechs.  Thereafter, Radio Free Europe, an American-funded, Munich-based signal that was intended to send information banned by communist governments, was more easily accessed in Bohemia (Radio Free Europe has been headquartered in Prague since 1995).

The Battle for Czech Radio

The infamous Battle for Czech Radio occurred during German wartime occupation when Czech resistance forces took over the airwaves and encouraged citizens to take action during the Prague Uprising at the end of World War II.  Czech Radio was nationalized in 1948 on behalf of the state’s communist party, and executives actively engaged in jamming Radio Free Europe to prevent non-propaganda information from coming into Bohemia in the 1950s.  In the 1960s, in characteristically technologically-innovative Czech fashion, Czech Radio began broadcasting an early FM-dial signal via the 60-MHz bandwidth.  Its organizational model of commissioning permanent foreign correspondents was groundbreaking.

No Western music existed on the airwaves in Bohemia during its origination and rise in the mid-to-late 1950s, but by 1960, radio stations across Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium were playing American rock and roll.  At the same time, the BBC rose to prominence as a leading Western political voice that was some of the only non-propaganda information available to those in East Germany and behind the iron curtain.  However, the BBC was usually too distant for Czechs to hear clearly.  Common Western music acts during that era included Little Richard, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, and Buddy Holly, as well as the Saturday Skiffle Club starting in ‘57.

Pete Seeger and the Birth of Bluegrass

The allure of forbidden Western music in Bohemia began to grow, and the pent-up curiosity translated to real consumer demand for American acts.  In 1964, American folk singer Pete Seeger played shows across the country but was only allowed to tour because a Czech friend he met in the US was able to convince the authorities that his populism-centred lyrics and everyman vibe was a protest against the American system of government and thus was not ideologically subversive.  His 5-stringed banjo was unfamiliar to Czechs, and he recorded a live double album of folksy bluegrass in Prague, inspiring generations of Czech musicians.  His tour was so successful and impactful that it is often credited with single-handedly launching a bluegrass craze that still exists today.

The success of Seeger’s tour prompted more thereafter.  American jazz legend Louis Armstrong successfully toured the region, and later the Beach Boys did as well.  As these Western acts found success, the English language and all its allure became sought after by young Czechs, who wanted to know the meaning of the lyrics; of course, the print on the bootleg albums was also in English.  As such, consumer demand for Western acts aligned with the Czechs’ willingness to learn English.  During this era, Czech-language lyrics would often be added to the instrumentation on the catchy tunes, and eventually Czech artists just performed covers of the real versions, with audiences quickly understanding the English lyrics performed by the Czech bands.

The Prague Spring

During the Prague Spring of 1968, amidst citizen protests for political liberalization, underground Beatles and other Western music gained a foothold into the Czech Republic’s music scene, ultimately spawning consumer demand for records that were illegally smuggled in.  The USSR responded by further suppressing media during the uprising via the Warsaw Pact invasion, when they more fully took over Czech radio and other smaller stations in attempts to exert tighter control over government and everyday life.  Although the USSR crushed the Prague Spring, Czech youth witnessed an inspired movement to loosen the strict state-run control of freedom with the goal of opening up media including the ability to buy Western music through underground means during the ‘70s, prompting a roadmap of rebellion that would eventually manifest itself.

Black Market Music and Lennonova Zed

The desire to access Western music has always been buoyed by Czech youth, who galvanized efforts to form black markets as a means of obtaining it.  The Forest of Krč, a park near Prague’s city centre, was a meeting spot for bazaars, where vendors illicitly sold Western music records.  In addition, St. Wenceslas Square was a common area where records were sold after being imported to the Port of Hamburg in Western Germany and smuggled into the country by road.

There is no more appropriate structure in all of central and eastern Europe to symbolize the impact of Western music than “Lennonova Zed”, the John Lennon Wall, only a few hundred meters away from the 14^th-century Charles Bridge.  After he died in 1980, local youths began painting the wall with Lennon-inspired artistry and Beatles lyrics.  It soon became a major irritant to the communist regime, particularly due to the spirit of revolution Lennon espoused during his life.

The Czechs who were honouring Lennon (and not Russia’s “Lenin”, to the annoyance of the regime) soon became a symbol of freedom and advocated for revolution, free speech and expression, and self-rule while at the same time seeking interpretation and knowledge through the same English language as Lennon’s.  Unclassified KGB documents indicate that the vigils for Lennon and the reverence shown towards him were interpreted as underground protests against the ruling establishment of Eastern Europe.  During this time, the Russian language was compulsory as a second language and any use of English was still seen as suspect to the regime and often repressed.  As such, the obligatory study of Russian naturally made the English language that much more appealing to those who were attracted to the revolutionary spirit of Western music.

The Sinatra of The East

In lieu of full access to Western music, many popular Czech musicians were permitted by the state to ply their trade in the ‘60s through the ‘80s, including Karel Gott, labelled “The Sinatra of the East”, one of the most popular Czech musicians, as well as pop artist Helena Vondráčková.  These artists were considered “safe” and not subversive.  As the ‘80s progressed, the inability to legally buy Western music continued to frustrate young Czechs during a time in which technological advances such as the transition from records to cassette tapes were facilitated by Western record labels, which the Czechs youths would have loved considering their techy nature.  Popular literature has pointed to consumer demand for cassette tapes of Western music as facilitating the fall of the Iron Curtain, as cassettes were much easier and cheaper to smuggle than the larger, more fragile vinyl records.

It’s Groovy!

However, while much literature has pointed to Western music’s role and influence in subverting the political order and advancing the collapse of the USSR, the English language did not become a preferred second language in Russia and many of the USSR’s former satellite countries.  Nevertheless, common English phrases and slang like “groovy” that were affiliated with the same Western music sought in the Czech Republic did permeate society as young Czechs associated Western music and English vernacular with being cool.  It is nearly impossible to quantify the direct correlation of cassette tapes of Western music and more specifically Beatles lyrics to the usage of the English language in the Czech Republic, but they are intrinsically intertwined in history.

The Velvet Revolution

Upon the fall of the Iron Curtain and the coinciding Velvet Revolution in 1989, some Czech singers who were prohibited by the state for being agents of Western propaganda or were deemed to be subversive for varied reasons were exonerated and allowed to tour.  For example, Marta Kubišová’s “subversive” music made her a symbol of national resistance after her 1968 song, “Prayer for Martha” was deemed to represent political resistance during the Prague Spring, and her records were subsequently banned.

The government even went so far as to create propaganda against her to rationalize prohibiting her from performing from 1970-1989.  The Plastic People of the Universe was a Czech band considered to be at the forefront of the underground movement.  They formed about a month after the Prague Spring and were inspired by the Velvet Underground, a subversive, counter-culture American act of the late ‘60s.  They endured state harassment and arrests, but during the Velvet Revolution and the transition of power, the floodgates finally opened for the legal buying and selling of recordings by these artists as well as Western acts.

The first Czech Republic president under capitalism and democracy, Václav Havel, was a big fan of the Plastic People of the Universe as well as the Velvet Underground.  His favourite band was the Rolling Stones, and he even asked American artist Frank Zappa to be the first Czech Minister of Culture.

The Pandemic and The Arts

The pandemic was a strong reminder of how a global phenomenon from outside of the Czech Republic’s borders can negatively affect the free flow of the Czech economy.  While the pandemic hurt the creative arts communities globally, it especially hurt the Czech Republic’s economic sectors associated with performing arts.  One study conducted immediately after the pandemic began noted that the cultural sector and more specifically local musicians were the most negatively impacted by the lockdowns (Brno News, 2020).  Another confirmed that performing artists in the Czech Republic were strongly negatively impacted (Grosman et al., 2022) with another key study noting that the “most sector impacted is music, with 46% loss of regular income in the first two months of the pandemic” (Salvador et al., 2021, p. 8).  The disruptions in Czech supply chains brought on by the pandemic prompted many bottlenecks, but COVID’s effect was peanuts compared to Cold War-era political restrictions, when border crossings including rail were strictly controlled.  A typical modern student perceives massive global trade barriers as something from a surreal dystopia, which is why curriculum based on free trade is paramount.

Live Music

Live music in Prague is easily accessible because of the city’s public transportation system, and musicians are likely to add Prague to their world tours due to the ease of travel from neighbouring cities and regions with high populations.  Larger venues in Prague include the Dvořák Concert Hall, Forum Karlin, and the O2 Arena.  The O2 Arena in particular hosts a range of major Western music acts in 2024 including Rod Stewart, Travis Scott, the Smashing Pumpkins, and John Mayer and even hosted Black Sabbath’s last performance in the Czech Republic in 2016.  Although the music and clothing are indistinguishable from those at American concerts, the food available at these venues tends to be very Czech.  For example, klobása is a type of grilled sausage served with mustard and bread.

Rebellious genres of Western music such as heavy metal, punk rock, hip-hop, etc. continue to be popular.  Smaller venues often have no problem selling out for shows.  One such location, The Vagon, which commonly hosts Western music acts, is just a few minutes from St. Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí) in the city centre via the 3, 9, or 32 trams to the Národní třída stop.  Across the street are other small, thriving live music venues including the jazz club Reduta and Rock Café.  The schedule of upcoming live acts is called the calendar in the US, but it is called the “program” in central Europe.

The Vagon hosts bands and artists who play Western music styles such as Czech punk band Znouzectnost, who emerged in the underground during the ‘80s.  Their sound is reminiscent of similar 3-piece Western music standard bearers such as Cream and the Police, and they seem to be heavily influenced by The Clash.

The Decline of The Russian Language

After the fall of the Iron Curtain, there was an expected backlash towards the Russian language, and it is not generally in use in academics or public discourse today.  Only 12% of 35-49-year-old Czechs can speak Russian at a basic level, down from 31% just six years ago, while 37% of 50-59 year-old Czechs and 39% of 60-69 year-old Czechs are able to speak Russian.  By contrast, 45% Czechs speak some English and that increases for those living in Prague.  Among 18-24 year-old Czechs, 89% speak English, while only about a third of 50-59-year-olds and 19% of 60-69-year-olds speak English (however, that is up from 14% within the 60-69 age category from eight years prior).  As these trends show, the Russian language is disappearing and the English language is becoming more and more common.

Modern Music Genres

Modern musical genres such as electronic music flourish in the Czech Republic, as well as more traditional styles such as jazz, classical, and the Czech version of folk, inspired by Pete Seeger, which commonly includes Bohemian bagpipes, violin/fiddle, and accordion.  Music festivals such as the Masters of Rock thrive, and Radio City 93.7 is a popular online radio station.  Czech Radio became an independently-run station in 1991, and it now runs numerous regional stations and digital streaming channels serving different musical genres.

Cultural and Creative Champions

Today, the Czech economy continues to be stronger than most on the continent.  Consumer freedoms have long been a barometer of the health of the region, and today, a larger share of the economy is driven by creative industries and makes more from the arts than in neighbouring countries.  With the Czech Music Community and the Ministry of Culture as institutional advocates, total public cultural expenditure per sector in music nearly doubled between 2015 and 2020.

The Czech Republic continues to be in the top third of European countries in “Cultural and Creative Sectors” value-added by country, one of the top four countries in Europe for self-employed cultural/creative employment, and the third-highest ranked on the continent for performing arts share as a percentage of the economy.  Certainly, the ability to buy and sell as well as perform in English is critical to the Czech Republic’s regional and international economic success.  Western music continues to be an integral engine of the region, where its seamless access today facilitates both economic development and intercultural interactions in a booming, English-centric economy.  What would have happened to the English language in the Czech Republic and throughout Bohemia if Western music never existed?

About author James Tanoos

James Tanoos, Ph.D., is a Clinical Associate Professor at Purdue University.  He has worked in various roles in higher education for more than 20 years, earning his Bachelor’s degree from Purdue University, his Master’s degree from Indiana University, and his Doctorate from Purdue University.

He has published articles in more than forty-two international journals and has presented academic work at more than twenty-seven international academic conferences on a range of disciplines including international economics, supply chain management, educational pedagogy, operations management, and industrial technology, including the invited keynote presentation at five international conferences.

Lead Photo Credit. James Tanoos. Students from Purdue University visit The Lennon Wall.

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