Abstract
This paper deals with the issue of the so-called "music markets" in Czechoslovakia before 1989. During the 1970s and 1980s, many young people regularly attended these unofficial music markets in order to obtain precious western records.
The paper discusses the social conditions that determined the existence of such musical markets, particularly the ideological and economic constraints which affected the possibilities of obtaining western music; such as the scarce licensed records, foreign radio, and smuggled records from abroad. The music markets were a peculiar phenomenon deeply rooted in the everyday life of many music fans before the Velvet Revolution.
The essay discusses the specific milieu of these regular events, their organizationing principles, the variety of available goods and also the interaction between the buying, selling and bartering visitors. Equally important is the attitude of the state towards these events which changed over time from repression to partial tolerance.
This ambiguity demonstrates that the state-socialist Czechoslovak society should not be perceived simply as a dichotomy between the almighty state and the defenceless population without its own agenda.