Boney M. This is the undisputed legend of disco music. The band’s songs reigned on the charts from around the world at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s. At that time, the group, created by the German producer Frank Farianawas at the peak of her popularity. The musicians launched hits like “Daddy Cool”, “Belfast” Whether “Rivers of Babylon”and later also “Rasputin”which caused considerable controversy and meant that the authorities of the Polish People’s Republic banned the performance of Boney M. in Poland.
In the original composition of Boney M. there were: Liz Mitchell (former member Les humphries singers),, Marcia Barrett, Maizi Williams and Bobby Farrell. The team debuted in the 70s, but at the very beginning their albums did not sell in huge quantities. The group was not commercially successful, but regularly toured – especially in discos and intimate clubs.
The turning point in Boney M.’s career turned out to be their performance in the program Musikladen. The musicians then performed the song “Daddy Cool” and delighted the audience, thanks to which they gained publicity around the world. They gathered more and more fans overnight, and their third publishing house “Nightflight to Venus” made them secure a permanent position on the market.
“Rasputin” is one of the biggest disco hits. Caused a lot of controversy
The album “Nightflight to Venus” brought one of the biggest hits in disco history. Boney M. placed the song “Rasputin” on the album, which defined the group’s achievements, while becoming one of the most controversial compositions of that time.
The German band created a song about the character Rasputinawho was at the tsar’s court Nicholas II. Musicians from Boney M. created his image on Playboy and a political manipulator. They also included a premise about the alleged romance of the Russian preacher with Tsarina in the text Aleksandra Fyodorna.
The song was released on August 28, 1978 and quickly gained the name of an international hit. The band began to be invited to concerts in various parts of the world, including in Poland. Musicians from Boney M. were to appear on Festival in Sopot in 1979.although the state authorities set one condition at the time. They were not allowed to make their biggest hit.
The authorities of the Polish People’s Republic banned Boney M. singing the song “Rasputin” at the festival in Sopot. Television had to cut them!
Although the song “Rasputin” made Boney M. loud, in Poland the song was forbidden. The authorities of the Polish People’s Republic decided that it reconciled in the USSR. At the festival in Sopot, the German group was to sing other hits, but it soon turned out that the musicians were not very special bans of the rulers.
“Rasputin” sounded during a prestigious musical event, and what’s more – he was even broadcast live in the radio station. However, a television broadcast was different. Recordings from the festival were broadcast with a one -day slip, and the fragment itself with a controversial song was completely cut out.