Recordings by both the Beatles and McCartney's now defunct 1970s band Wings were banned by authorities during the Soviet era. . . . Though the Beatles never performed in the Soviet Union, before their breakup in 1970 the band's enormous popularity coupled with its illicit status here spawned numerous rumors that a Moscow gig was in the offing. According to one such rumor popular in the early 1970s, the band had at one point traveled to the capital but was not allowed to leave the airport, where it was said to have given an impromptu show. Another rumor had the band playing a secret concert for a select audience of Soviet-era top brass.