| Can anyone explain to this confused westerner why "Все Могут Короли" would even need to be snuck past the censors via a "mistaken" airing? The theme doesn't seem to be very different from other pop music, such as https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw-9qu4gcWI . A mid-80's western report on the "vodka economy" suggests that in this case the bottle itself was meant more as a traditional component of a bribe/tip, and probably didn't contribute much to the pecuniary value. (Indeed, one suggestion in the paper is that, just as the dollar lost its gold standard, during the seventies the ruble also lost its vodka standard of 3 RUB = 1 L.) https://www.ucis.pitt.edu/nceeer/1985-Berk-Duke-Treml.pdf > "30. Krokodil [No. 14, 1970, 5] carried a cartoon showing a living room where every inch of space -- floor, window sills, furniture -- was filled with vodka bottles . The woman pictured amid these hundreds of bottles explained her predicament : "My husband is an excellent plumber, but he does not drink ...." > "38. Increases in vodka prices are important in yet another respect. Interest rates on savings accounts in the USSR are, on the average, about 2.5% per annum, and increases in vodka prices since the late 1950s have more than compensated the consumer who has kept his wealth in vodka rather than in savings accounts." |