The Silent Exodus: How a Theocratic Revolution Silenced a Nation's Arts and Forged a New Cultural Capital in America

2. Suppression of Pop Music and Modern Genres: The ban hit Iranian pop music—a highly popular, often Western-influenced genre—especially hard. Singers and composers who had been national stars found their careers instantly obliterated, their records banned, and their very existence as artists criminalized. Many had embraced modern styles that were seen by the new regime as symbols of the Shah's Westernizing, secular policies, making them immediate targets for "cultural reconstruction."