Bone Music

The Soviet Union’s censorship of western music in the 1950s caused music lovers to turn to bootleg methods of dissemination. One popular method of black market smuggling was the creation of roentgenizdat, or X-ray publishing, in the form of bone music. Bone music, also known as ribs, were music or sound recordings etched onto medical x-rays that were purchased from or removed from the trash of medical facilities. While the X-ray film was a cheap and discreet method of recording, the fragile nature of the material meant that the music could only be played on a record player about five to ten times before the recording was no longer discernible. Though music bans were relatively relaxed in the Soviet Union as the Cold War progressed, bone music was still a popular method of music sharing due to the aesthetic nature of the materials. The Wende holds a large collection of bone music that features artists including the Beatles, Elvis Presley, and David Bowie.