Rock music in Estonia

The Estonian rock music scene saw its beginnings in the mid-1960s during Khrushchev Thaw in the Soviet Union and the rise of British bands all over the world. The first Estonian rock-groups were primarily high school bands playing cover versions of the current UK Top 10. Despite the lack of official support from Soviet authorities (rock music was seen as undesirable Western influence) some of these groups, posing as dance music bands in various clubs, gained a large underground following. Some groups managed to make proper studio recordings and appear a couple of times on television. The most notable groups of the 1960s were Juuniorid (the first, formed in 1963), Optimistid, Mikronid, Kontrastid and Virmalised. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, as both rock and roll and the young Estonian musicians aged, the music became much more complex. Progressive rock, with hard rock influences, began to become more prevalent in Estonia. Musicians from the sixties, who continued their musical career either became established pop-stars or became interested in progressive rock. So called progressive or intellectual rock could be an indulgence, a way to prove the Soviet authorities that rock