HISTORY OF ROCK MUSIC IN RUSSIA Russian rock as a separate phenomenon Perestroika: rock rebels conforming to commerce Leningrad as the capital of rock music Far from the capitals Korol i Shoot/ King and Jester Leningrad Rock-n-roll came to the Soviet Union after the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957. In the early 1960s rock music here was underground, remaining an aesthetic dessert for advanced music gourmets that established personal contacts with the West and had an opportunity to get records of American rhythm-and-blues and British big-beat - mainly those of the Beatles and the Rollong Stones. In the mid 1960s there appeared the first Russian beat bands, actually the first rock groups, such as 'Slavyane', 'Stranniki', 'Mify' and 'Skomorokhi' in Moscow, 'Avangard' and 'Lesnye Bratya' in St.-Petersburg, and 'Pesnyary' in Minsk. To gain a legitimate status and access to public at large the first rock-groups had to disguise themselves as 'Soviet variety performers' - in this way there came to exist tens of 'vocal and instrumental ensembles' (VIA) ('Vesyelye Rebyata', 'Poyushchie Gitary') and quasi folklore ensembles ('Pesnyary'). At the same time rock-music permeated to this country through cultural exchange channels from the 'sister nations'of socialism.
In the late 1960s the love of the Soviet youth for English and American music (first and foremost for 'The Beatles' and 'The Rolling Stones') became epidemic. At schools, colleges and universities of big cities there spring up scores of amateurish rock-groups (mostly quartets: three guitars and the percussions) performing songs by "The Beatles', 'The Rolling Stones' and other English, American and European groups (for example, the super popular hit Venus by the Belgium rock group 'Shocking Blue')
The first rock festival in this country was held in 1971 in the Gorky city (Nizhni Novgorod).
Special success was Alexander Gradsky with his group 'Skomorokhi' from Moscow and 'Ariel' from Chelyabinsk. This was the time when rock-n-roll was represented on the official Soviet variety stage with its more superficial type, that is twist (Soviet variety hits of the mid 1960s, such as Chyorny Kot, Koroleva Krasoty, etc.) All through the 1970s rock remained an underground phenomenon of the Soviet music culture, along with the creativity of bards (Bulat Okoudjava, Alexander Galich, Yuly Kim and Vladimir Vysotsky). Rock-groups had to perform all but secretly, in flats (kvartirniki, or flat concerts, are a separate phenomenon) or in assembly halls of colleges and universities. New groups became very popular due to singing their cover versions of international hits in the English language, and rarely parforming songs of their own.
The 1970s saw another specific phenomenon, that of magnitizdat, or a whole net of making and distributing of do-it-yourself records of amateurish groups. Those 'magnitalbums' were distributed among hundreds of fans. Magnitizdat had a considerable impact on the development of Russian rock, in particluar it conditioned a certain disregard of intricate acoustic experiments among most Russian rock musicians. For a long time having no opportunity to use good prefessional instruments and up-to-date electronic equipment for recording and sound mixing, Russian rock musicians got accustomed to a peculiar minimalism in music. And so did the audience. Gutar and unpretentious percussion 'beat' - that was practically all to comprise the acoustic palette of Russian rock, which from the very beginning tended to attach the first importance to the lyrics and the message conveyed. That is why the songs by the leading rock musicians, from Grebenshchikov, Butusov and Tsoi to Butusov and Shevchuk are first of all verses of intense social-critical and emotional-moral essence. Acoustic experiments, such as those by Akvarium, for example (bringing in string and wind instruments, uncharacteristic of rock music) seemed awfully bold at that time. From the mid 1970s Western popular music (including rock-n-roll) finds its way into the USSR, quite an official way already. Melodia, the only sound house in the country starts releasing albums of the series 'Melodies and rhythms of foregin variety music', among which there happened to be also hits by western pop and rock stars, from Elvis Prestly to Tom Jones. In the late 1970s Kliff Richard, Elton Jones and Bony M performed on tour in the USSR. At the same time Baltic republics held rock festivals disguised as youth festivals of folk music. The spring of 1980 saw the 'Soviet Woodstock', the festival titled 'Spring Rhythms-80' in Tbilisi, with leading rock-groups from Moscow and Leningrad taking part in it.
The Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980, just like previously the Moscow Festival for Youth and Students became a powerful catalist for legitimization of rock-music in this country.
First rock clubs appear in Leningrad (St.- Petersburg) and Moscow in the early 1980s. It was the time of formation of the main trends of Soviet rock music: classical rock-n-roll (Zoopark and Bravo), lyrical folk-rock (Mashina Vremeni/Time Machine and Chaif), heavy metall (Aria, Cherny Kofe/Black Coffee, Cherny Obelisk/Black Obelisk, Korrozia Metalla/Metall Corrosion, etc.), punk-rock (Avotmaticheskie Udovletvoriteli/Automatic Satisfiers), hard 'new wave' (Televizor/TVset) and jazz-rock (Arsenal). Some groups came to use elements of post modern mockery (Krematory and Zvuki Mu) and sotsart (AVIA, Brigada S and Auktion).
Besides Moscow and Leningrad, there came to exist other regional 'schools' of rock music: the Ural rock represented first of all by groups Nautilus Pompilius, Chaif, Urfin Juice and Nastya from Sverdlovsk city (now Yekaterinburg), DDT from Ufa, Siberian rock (Kalinov Most) and Vladivostock rock (Mumii Troll).
It was also the time when leading rock groups recorded their best albums. It was the Red Wave album released in the USA in 1986 that played an important role in legalization of Russian rock and bringing it out into the world music scene. That double LP contained songs by four groups from Leningrad: Akvarium, Strannie Igry/Strange Games, Alisa and Kino. After the realease of this album Soviet rock musicians got an opportunity to tour abroad. Thus, Kino made a tour in France and Japan in 1988-1989. The band Zvuki Mu released its album (Zvuki Mu) in France in 1988 and then went on tour around England and the USA. Boris Grebenshchikov, the leader of Akvarium, recorded the album Radio Silence in the English language in the States in 1988. Getting out of the underground rock musicians become cult figures: Viktor Tsoi, the leader of Kino was ackonowledged the best Soviet cinema actor of the year for the main role in the film Igla/Needle. The Soviet movie Taxi Blues with Peter Mamonov, the soloist of Zvuki Mu, performing the main part, got the Gold Palm Branch at the Cannes Festival. Unlike rock music of other European countries, which generally remained in the English language (like in Holland or Skandinavia) Russian rock constitutes itself as the Russian music phenomenon. Rock poet and singer Alexander Bashlachev played an important role for Russian rock to advert to the roots of Russian music folklore. However, along with the interest in Russian folklore tradition (in particular, with such groups as Chaif and Kalinov Most), Russian rock induldges in manifest kitsch a-la-Rus (ear-flapped caps, balalaikas, accordions and Russian shirts of Brigada S band). Bent for transformation of 'Soviet variety' music was evident with such retro groups as beat quartet Secret, rockabilly band Mister Twister and especially Bravo with its charismatic female soloist Zhanna Aguzarova. Those groups were extremely popular in the 1980s. Heavy metal groups, such as Cherny Kofe/Black Coffee, Aria, Cherny Obelisk and Korrozia Metalla enjoyed a success among urban teenagers. Especially striking were performances by Korrozia Metalla, often going as far as sensational happenings not without elements of strip-tease show. Along with perestroika the late 1980s witnessed rock groups strangely transforming into commercial projects. It became feasible due to large-scale tours around the cities of the country, great stadium concerts and recording of 'legal' albums at the state sound studio Melodia. This regarded, first of all, the 'pioneers' of domestic rock music, such us Mashina Vremeni/Time Machine, Zoopark, Aquarium, Kino and Alisa. The concerts and records of these groups in the late 1980s gave rise to the pop-music industry of Western type in the USSR.
The 1990s saw the Russian pop-music industry finally assuming its shape. Once imbued with powerful pathos of non-conformism and social or moral rebel against the established order, Russian rock movement turns into a bunch of more or less commercially successful enterprises. Commercialization of Russian rock brought about its inevitable dissolution in the mainstream of shallow pop-music (from Philipp Kirkorov and NaNa group to sweet-voiced ensembles, such as the Lyceum trio and the 'scandal girl' Zemfira, a commercial imitation of Zhanna Aguzarova). The rock club opened in Leningrad in 1982 not only united the rock groups that existed in the city at the time (Aquarium, Automatic Satisfiers, Zoopark, Tambourin, Myths, St. - Petersburg and others) but also gave an impetus for the generation of new bands, which later become the stars of Russian rock: Kino, Alisa, Strange Games, Televizor/TVset, Noll/Null, Object of Mockery, Auktion, Pop-Mechanics (Sergey Kuryokhin), etc. From 1983 Leningrad hosted annual rock festivals thus becoming the unnoficial capital of Soviet rock movement. If Leningrad was the capital of the Soviet rock music of the 1970s, in the 1980s, the time of perestroika, Moscow took the lead. Rock musicians of 'the first generation' of the late 1960s went on their activities here (for example Alexander Gradsky and Bari Alibasov) and the new generation rockers show up (among them Zvuki Mu, Brigada S, Dialog, Autograph, Forum, etc.). Amidst the first rock groups that appeared in Moscow in the late 1960s - early 1970s the most remarkable and influential was Mashina Vremeni/Time Machine. Far from the capitals rock music was also bubbling over. Rock clubs appeared in many big cities such as Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk and Vladivostok to unite student rock groups that spontaneously sprung up here and there. Some of the rock unions became real 'schools' of rock music.
After Moscow and Leningrad the industrial Ural centre, the Sverdlovsk city became the third significant centre of Russian rock, with such groups as Chaif, Urfin Juice, Nautilus Pompilius, Nastya, etc. AQUARIUM plays a special part in the history of Soviet rock music and stands out in its panorama. It was the activity of this group in the early 1980s that served as a catalyst for consolidation of the leading creative powers of the uncoordinated amateurish rock movement. It helped to enrich the rock language with many achievements of world music culture and attract the attention of multi-million Russian and foreign audience to the Russian language rock.
Aquarium initiated in 1972 by Boris Grebenshchikpov, then a student of the Leningrad State University and by dramatist Anatoly Gunitsky first reflected its participants' propensity for American rock-n-roll, Oriental philisiophy, bard song and the literature of absurd. The first public performances of the band in 1974 came as striking for the audience for their esoteric subjects rather than for professionalism. Aquarium gained a foothold as the most active participant of Leningrad amateurish rock stage. In 1974 Aquarium was awarded at the Tallin rock festival for 'the most versatile program' and a bit later it went on tour in Moscow. The opening of Leningrad rock club coincided with the release of the first studio record - Sinii Albom/Blue Album that enabled to give regular concerts. Following his principle that 'important is the essence rather than the form' Boris Grebenshchikov carried out numerous experiments on style.
Looking for its own language the band went through jazz-rock, punk-rock, new wave, reggay, folk baroque and even hard rock. Instrumental experiments made Aquarium a big-band with a great wind section, a rock group with up-to-date electronic equipment, an acoustic guitar and chello duet, etc. one after another. Under the influence of Sergey Kuryokhin Aquarium was for some time inclined to the free form music and Grebenshchikov himself took part in recording the music by Kuryokhin and his group Popular Mechanics. The success of the group with the general public was enabled by 'magnitizdat'. In 1984 Aquarium stopped its activities and its participants went into separate music projects. After the group's reunion in 1986 it gave a number of large-scale concerts in the Leningrad sport palace Yubileyniy, which came as an evidence of Aquarium's legalization and the first step towards removing the beto on rock music in Leningrad and the country in general. The rock group Alisa was created in 1983 on the initiative of Leningrad rock musician Svyatoslav Zaderia, whose nick-name became the title of the group. However the real story of the group starts only with the appearance of its soloist Konstantin Kinchev. In March of 1985 Alisa became the laureate of the 3rd festival of Leningrad rock club. The first album Energy was made in a hard new wave key with saxophone, flute, violin and chello. Energy became one of the first albums in Russian rock recorded at the state studio Melodia. The second album BlocAda was much harder than Energy and more complete and elaborate. Scandals in mass media and a short term arrest of Kinchev under framed-up charges only warmed up the interest of the public in the group.
Alisa adheres to the theme of romantic and social protest (esepcially obvious in albums Moe Pokolenie/My Generation and My Vmeste/We are Together) with tints of aggressive stylistics typical of heavy metal (albums Shabash/Sabbath and Chyornaya Metka/Black Mark). Kino is a typical example of a rock group, the existence of which was completely conditioned by the charismatic figure of its leader (just the case with the English group Queen and Freddy Mercury). Viktor Tsoi, the soloist of Kino and the author of all its repertoir, was its heart and soul. He created the mythology of social and moral protest so much in accord with the feelings and frames of minds of the youth in the transitional epoch in the history of the USSR. This is most expressive in the albums first recorded by 'magnitizdat': Planeta po Imeni Solntse/Planet named Sun, Gruppa Krovi/Blood Group and Natchalnik Kamchatki/Chief of Kamchatka. 'Changes! We want changes!' - the famous refrain symbolically conveying the spirit of that time still reverberate in memory of people. After the tragic death of Viktor Tsoy in a car accident the group ceased existing. One of the oldest Russian rock groups Mashina Vremeni/Time Machine emerged at the crest of 'beatlomania' among Moscow students in 1968. A.Kutikov who joined the group in 1971 brought with him daring rock-n-roll drive into the group's repertoir. It was also in that year when the first concert was given. By the middle 1970s the group developed its own unique style conditioned by the tastes of its musicians - from bard songs with romantic protest (Marionetky/Puppets) to lyrical and nostalgic folk (Svecha/Candle) to blues and rock-n-roll. The fame of the group was mainly enabled by semi-underground concerts and 'magnitizdat' records (albums Malenky Printz/Little Prince and Chuzhie sredi Chuzhikh /Aliens among Aliens). The hit Povorot/New Turn was acknowledged the rock song of the year 1981. In the mid 1980s the group firmly established itself as the 'monster' of Russian rock and became one of the first commercial rock groups with official records, tours and participation in cinema shooting. All the official albums of the group (from Reki i Mosty/Rivers and Bridges to the recent final Antology) have become 'golden'. The production project of Aria with its heavy metal music patterned on Iron Maiden quickly gained its audience in this country and became very famous in the 1980s, after the release of its album The Hero of Asphalt. The long-haired rockers resort to the lyrics by Margarita Pushkina. The group has recently changed its vocalist and has recorded music till date. One of the brightest rock groups on Sverdlovsk stage, Chaif was created in 1985 by Vladimir Shakhrin and at once attracted the attention of the audience with its interesting lyrics and vivid rock-n-role and blues stylistics. Laureate of numerous rock festivals, Chaif has established its reputation of a highly professional rock music group and gained popularity and commercial success. They still give concerts and record new albums. Nautilus Pompilius rushed like a shot onto the Russian rock scene in 1987 beating records in popularity. This is when the group recorded its famous hits Good Buy, America!, Ya Khochu Bytt s Toboi/ I Want to Be With You, Skovannie Odnoi Tsepiu/Bound with One Chain, etc. The triumph of the group started with a Moscow concert in 1987 but was not to last long. In 1990 the audience claimed the group 'disapointment of the year'. Soon Nautilus Pompilius ceased being. This group from Vladivostok city was the first to play knowingly for teenage public. The success of the group has been mostly due to the peculair charm of its soloist Ilia Lagutenko. In the mid 1990s the group adapts still more for the masses to become very popular. It is an original pop-punk-rock group with the repertoir full of dreadfull tales for kids. The cunning and absurd grimace of the vocalist nick-named Gorshok/Pot is the face of the group. 'Knyaz'/Prince, the second vocalist of the group and the author of majority of songs is also a good artist. Null was one of the most interesting groups in Russian rock music. The vocalist and accordeonist Fyodor Chistyakov used to write striking songs exposing most disturbing themes. In the mid 1990s Chistyakov finds himself in the hospital with a mental insanity. The group breaks apart. Soon Fyodor Chistyakov joins the sect of Jehovah and leaves his former nervousness behind. He goes on with recording and releasing his solo albums. Sergey Chigrakov, also known as Chizh brought lively rhythm-n-blues sounding (reminding that of Eric Clapton) into the Russian rock music. The group's fame resounded through the country in the mid 1990s. Obvious is the group's emulation of Tom Waits and the Null group. The fame of Leningrad is mainly due to their image of rakish fellows always drunk and wild. The present vocalist Shnur is a talanted and bright person. Some people might get confused with the embarassing lyrics of Leningrad.
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Rock music in Russia