Event description
Rock music that arrived in Lithuania from the Western world brought explosion, energy, movement with a shock, ideas of freedom, brotherhood, love, and rebellion. The innovation of the Beatles and Rolling Stones enchanted young hearts. Long-haired hippies in ripped jeans gathered on city streets, discussing and walking with portable radio receivers, recording music, and at night catching the waves of the "Voice of America." Led by the idea of "holy vandalism," they destroyed telephone apparatuses and cut strings from pianos to make electric guitars and amplifiers, sometimes losing their fingers in the process... "Losing a finger for a guitarist is a tragedy, but despite that, they continued their creative path," says the film director. Persecuted by Soviet ideology, they formed music groups, organized underground music festivals, and gathered gigantic crowds of fans. During that time, the rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar" by A.L. Webber, which demanded a huge sacrifice from its intellectual inspirer Kęstutis Antanėlis, saw the light of day. The event of Romas Kalanta self-immolating on the Freedom Alley strongly affected rock music— it became even more censored and persecuted by the Soviet regime, but that only strengthened the spirit of rock.