Was Back in the USSR controversial at the time it was released?

[twogurusindrag]

I was thinking this might not have been received very well. Was there any controversy over the release of the song?

[Lord Reith]

At the time there were elements in America that believed The Beatles were a Soviet conspiracy, so this played right into their hands. Not sure who was madder, them or Manson.

I think everyone else just saw it as what it is: a joyously funny take off on the Beach Boys and an old Chuck Berry song.

[zaval80]

There's an anthology of rock writing called "The Age of Rock" from 1970, I believe, and it has two pieces next to each other. One is by a guy who was some leading publicist of the American Right (not the Rev. David A. Nobel who authored "da book"), and the gist of his article (reprinted from some US right mag) is, The Beatles are "the Communist think-tank", or the front of that think-tank. Not a bad article, I'd say, and quite lengthy, many interesting (laughable) points. Next to it is a reprint from a Soviet newspaper by a Communist ideologue. This one is rather skimpy, as befitted the Communist press reports on the Western music.

[Kando]

I was in HS when it came out, and definitely thought it was at least a little odd for them to use such a reference, but eventually just sort of put it down to possibly referencing an older, somewhat more gentle, Russian time period. At least that is how I prefer to think of it. I certainly don't recall any talk about it at all by anyone I knew.

[zaval80]

Nah, the song's references were nothing but contemporary. After the Cuban crisis, Khruschev was ousted by Brezhnev, and Brezhnev was a WWII veteran, not interested in confrontation after witnessing the war in person. (Khruschev also was a man of note from the war period, but he did not serve in the army - was a CP functioner.) So the USSR of that time was more or less on the peace wavelength.

[Lord Reith]

I think they did it also to wind up the warmongers.