After the 1979 Islamic Revolution pop music was identified as a symbol of Mohammad Reza Shah's dictatorship and completely disappeared from the scene in Iran. Pop music was branded as western, un-Islamic, un-Iranian etc. and was banned altogether. A short while later, a number of these musicians and singers who could no longer practice their art inside Iran migrated to Los Angeles. The LA style music was quickly welcomed and became popular with the public even though critics incessantly criticized its style. One of the most common complaints and criticisms from the critics was that the LA produced Iranian pop music was too western and extremely low on content. Some experts say that the reason LA's version of Iranian pop music was low on content was because they only wanted to do something and get something out there. The Iranian expatriate community living in exile was in no mood to produce great music back then. They were depressed and their minds were on more significant matters. But in any event, the public enthusiastically reacted to the music that came out of LA. During the last few years, and after a long hiatus, Iranian pop music made a comeback inside Iran. This was reaction to the exiled Iranian pop music even though a milder version in order not to offend the system. This trend was so successful that video and audiocassettes imported from LA experienced a 30 percent drop in sales and over 55% of people turned to domestically produced pop music (Source: IranChamber).
Modern Persian Music Before Islamic Revolution
