1 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:05,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:12,360 Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here. Creating your favorite music 3 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 1: these days is as easy as creating a playlist, But 4 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:19,480 Speaker 1: it wasn't always that simple. In the nineteen fifties, teenagers 5 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:22,200 Speaker 1: in the Soviet Union had to go to backbreaking lengths 6 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:26,200 Speaker 1: to listen to popular music, literally cutting records upon images 7 00:00:26,239 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: of a broken arm, leg or rib in the process. 8 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,920 Speaker 1: Let's unpack that. In the years after World War Two, 9 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:36,159 Speaker 1: the USSR took exception to music and art that seemed 10 00:00:36,200 --> 00:00:40,640 Speaker 1: too flagrantly individualized for its communist sensibilities, and this meant 11 00:00:40,680 --> 00:00:43,680 Speaker 1: that it was nearly impossible for Soviet teenagers to buy 12 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: the same vinyl records of Elvis or Ella Fitzgerald as 13 00:00:46,960 --> 00:00:50,400 Speaker 1: their counterparts in the United States and Western Europe. Aside 14 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:53,239 Speaker 1: from a few expensive copies on the black market, The 15 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 1: music craved by the still Yaggi or style hunters in 16 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: their teens and twenties was elusive, but as with other 17 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:03,600 Speaker 1: attempts at prohibition, a ban on music did not mean 18 00:01:03,640 --> 00:01:06,399 Speaker 1: that there wasn't a demand for it. The still Yagi 19 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: were particularly interested in rock and roll in jazz, though 20 00:01:10,040 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 1: it wasn't just Western music that caught the eye of 21 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,480 Speaker 1: the sensors, music that people had grown up with. Anything 22 00:01:15,560 --> 00:01:19,800 Speaker 1: considered subversive was subject to bands, and so when they 23 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:22,840 Speaker 1: wanted to share their beloved music with others, a few 24 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:28,160 Speaker 1: industrious teens pressed the records that they could access onto vinyl. However, 25 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:30,959 Speaker 1: vinyl was a scarcity, and that's when one of the 26 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:35,160 Speaker 1: ingenuities of a generation kicked in. The Still Yaggy scoured 27 00:01:35,240 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: hospital dumpsters for scrapped X rays and used these thin 28 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,919 Speaker 1: vinyl sheets to create bootleg records. Using a disc cutter, 29 00:01:43,080 --> 00:01:45,880 Speaker 1: they duplicate a recording onto the X ray, trim the 30 00:01:45,920 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 1: disc by hand, and burn a hole in the center 31 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:51,160 Speaker 1: with a cigarette. The same process was illustrated in the 32 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:53,960 Speaker 1: opening credits of the two thousand eight Russian film Still Yaggy. 33 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:59,320 Speaker 1: The recordings, imposed over X ray images of skulls, arms, legs, ribs, 34 00:01:59,320 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 1: and other bones quickly earned the nicknames bone records, bone music, 35 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,920 Speaker 1: and simply ribs, and spawned an entire cottage industry that 36 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 1: included distributors known as the x ray press. Today, the 37 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: records are so rare that they're curated into books and 38 00:02:14,560 --> 00:02:17,960 Speaker 1: exhibits displayed in museums and the very few copies still 39 00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:21,440 Speaker 1: being found are sold to private collectors for hundreds of dollars. 40 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: During the height of bone recordings popularity, Soviet authorities attempted 41 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,320 Speaker 1: to squash their distribution, going so far as to dispatch 42 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: informants posing as record buyers, and some bone records distributed 43 00:02:33,600 --> 00:02:37,399 Speaker 1: were undercover bait and switches supposedly created by the authorities, 44 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: containing only a few bars of music before stern voice 45 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:45,080 Speaker 1: would utter dire pro government warnings. By the nineteen sixties, however, 46 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,520 Speaker 1: the need for bone records waned because of loosened restrictions 47 00:02:48,680 --> 00:02:51,680 Speaker 1: and the advent of other recording devices like real to 48 00:02:51,760 --> 00:03:01,120 Speaker 1: real tape recorders. Today's episode was written by Laura L. 49 00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:03,639 Speaker 1: Dove and produced by Tyler clang Or. More on this 50 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:06,919 Speaker 1: and lots of other curious topics, visit how stuffworks dot com. 51 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:09,720 Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of iHeart Radio. For more podcasts 52 00:03:09,720 --> 00:03:12,680 Speaker 1: for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 53 00:03:12,760 --> 00:03:14,519 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.