The music mainstream in communism revisited: a corpus analysis of Czechoslovak pop lyrics (1962–1991)

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article presents a content analysis of Czechoslovak pop lyrics based on a survey of a representative corpus of the repertoire from 1962 to 1991 containing 271 commercially successful vocal–instrumental songs. Its aim is to capture the thematic development of song lyrics on a defined timeline with regard to the broader cultural and political context, especially in relation to political developments in Czechoslovakia after the occupation by Warsaw Pact troops in August 1968 and the subsequent phase of so-called “normalization”. In this sense, the article examines the concept of “normalization pop”, which appeared in Czech journalism immediately after the collapse of the communist regime and which gradually became part of the official interpretation of Czechoslovak popular music history. According to this view, the pop of the 1970s and 1980s, especially through its lyrics, fulfilled a primary propaganda function, thus fundamentally distinguishing itself from the authentic output of the previous decade. The article explores the extent to which such an interpretation corresponds to the real nature of pop of the period, and to what extent it is merely a construct of anti-communist tendencies seeking a vigorous rejection of the pre-1989 era and its official culture.