DEZERTER (SS-20)
Dezerter, founded as SS-20 in May 1981 in Warsaw, is one of the most popular punk bands from Poland. The band started regular rehearsals in the summer of 1981. With fast guitar riffs and intelligent lyrics written by drummer Krzysztof Grabowski, Dezerter’s concerts drew thousands of fans; and its LPs were very popular, especially in the late ’80s and early ’90s. The most famous Dezerter’s live appearance took place during the 1984 Jarocin Festival in Jarocin, Poland, and it was attended by some 20,000 people. Dezerter, however, is not widely known in other countries, perhaps because the band refrains from singing in the English language. (More from Wikipedia)
There are several rock bands that have this name, oddly enough. The SS-20 is what NATO called one of the Soviet Union’s intermediate-range nuclear missiles; why exactly this name became so popular in the punk rock world is hard to understand. Discogs lists a dozen bands named SS20, SS 20, or SS-20. One of these, which later took the name Dezerter, has a Wikipedia article that calls them one of the most popular punk rock bands in Poland.
(December 2017)
