Russian rock
Rock and roll became known in the
Soviet Union in the 1960s and quickly broke free from its western roots.
The early '60s
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Bulat Okudjava, a pioneer of the bard genre |
Prior to the late sixties, music in the Soviet Union was divided into two groups: music published by the
Melodya, and everything else. Under this second group were the
bards, underground folk
singer-songwriters. Bards such as
Vladimir Vysotsky and
Bulat Okudzhava created the style that is referred to as "author's song" (avtorskaya pesnya), mostly played on unaccompanied acoustic guitar and characterized by a strong accent on lyrics that sometimes carried a subversive meaning. Their music was often suppressed by the government, and yet enjoyed massive popularity, with Vysotsky becoming a highly popular movie actor and an iconic figure of the times. Meanwhile, some Western music was either being smuggled across the border or released by Melodya as part of what essentially was state-run pirating of records, with
the Beatles taking a firm place in Soviet popular culture, and artists such as
Elton John,
T-Rex and
Deep Purple completing a somewhat distorted picture of Western music.
First rock bands in Soviet Union appeared on the scene in early -and mid sixties in Tallinn, Estonian Soviet Republic. First of them - Virmalised was formed by four highschool students, as a copy of the Beatels. Virmalised as the first and only one gained quickly large popularity despite the lack of official recognitsion. Rock music was seen - just like jazz in 30s - as evil thing from the west. Virmalised launched a huge amount of bands, most remaining unknown, some like Optimistid and Mikronid being known as the classics.
The late '60s and '70s
The first native bands appeared around
1966, and grew popular in spite of governmental restrictions. This continued into the
1980s, when amateur bands gained some success, but were still hampered by state regulators, who did not allow them to officially recorded. There were also restrictions on lyrical content. Underground bands evolved during this time, including
Pojuschie Gitary (
the singing guitars) and almost the same time
Mashina Vremeni and
Akvarium. This was the band that started the
VIA movement, and were followed by
Tcvety,
Golubiye Gitary,
Pesniary and
Sinyaya Ptica.
In the early
1970s, artists like
Yuri Morozov invented a kind of Russian
psychedelic rock, using elements of
progressive rock as well.
The '80s and '90s
In the
1980s an underground scene of rock artists emerged that based their style on a mix of Western rock music (in particular
the Beatles) and the Russian bard tradition. Such bands as
Agata Kristi,
Kino,
Mashina Vremeni,
Nautilus Pompilius,
Aquarium,
Krematorij,
Grazhdanskaya Oborona and
DDT were influential in the development of the genre, with the consequent artists copying their style.
In the early and middle 80-es several so-called "rock-clubs" were founded in
Moscow,
Leningrad (now
Saint Petersburg) and
Sverdlovsk (now
Yekaterinburg). These three cities had their own rock music scene, many artists were friends and collaborated with each other now and then. The
Leningrad scene was probably the biggest one, featuring "classic Russian rock" by
Aquarium,
Kino,
Zoopark. Bands from
Sverdlovsk, as
Nautilus Pompilius and
Agata Kristi, were more melodical with strong presence of keyboards and synthesizers in music. Moscow rock bands, such as
Center and
Zvuki Mu, were rather different from the others and sometimes more discreet.
Special rock music scene appeared in the 1980-es in
Siberia with such songwrtiers as
Egor Letov (
Grazhdanskaya Oborona,
Omsk) and
Yanka Dyagileva. Music varied from simple lo-fi punk to indie rock (sometimes unplugged), and the core of their songs were the lyrics. Many albums were first self-released and distributed among the fans via trading, then officially re-released years later. These siberian artists created siberian punk, with protest and punk's anarchistic spirit. The lyrics often featured obscene words. Musicians had major problems with the soviet administration and
KGB.
The lyrics of the soviet rock bands often dealt with the darker sides of Soviet life such as domestic violence, alcoholism (an infamous song by
Nautilus Pompilius contained the lines "
Alain Delon drinks a double bourbon/Alain Delon doesn't drink eau de cologne" as a sarcastic contrast to the alcoholic daughter-raping father described in the song and an indictement of the escapist attitudes of state-run media) and crime, and often carried a hidden political message. These bands were consequently ignored by the mainstream radio and television, often reaching audiences only through word of mouth. Many of the 80s bands are still active and popular among Russian youth. The term
Russian rock often refers to the particular sound of these bands.
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Akvarium, considered a classic Russian rock band |
During the
perestroika era many Russian rock bands toured for the first time in
Europe and
USA and also got an opportunity to record albums outside Soviet Union.
Present day
In the mid-late
1990s a more modern Western sound was introduced by Ilya Lagoutenko's
Mumiy Troll, who made their records in the UK under the guidance of UK producers. This less lyrically loaded and more energetic style, frequently referred to as
rockapops, became prevalent among the younger public, with acts such as
Zemfira,
Multfilmi and lately
Zveri following in the wake. A radiostation
Nashe Radio has been created to promote Russian rock artists, broadcasting in all major Russian cities.
The
alternative rock scene is quite small in comparison, although some
heavy metal (
Ariya),
punk rock (
Korol i Shut,
Naiv) and
ska punk (
Leningrad) bands have gained mainstream popularity. Fans of these and similar bands would frequently refer to most of the music on Russian MTV dismissively as "popsa", a dichotomy that appeared in the '80s when government controlled radio and TV stations would air only politically harmless music by performers such as
Alla Pugachova and
Valeriy Leontyev. The lines are still quite clearly drawn, with bands such as
Nogu Svelo - who recorded a song with pop-singer Nataliya Vetlickaya - being an anomaly.
Russian rock tends to be somewhat less rhythmical and bass-driven than Western rock (one would often speak of "drive" as something that Russian music lacks). Unconventional instruments have always been used in addition to the standard electric guitars and drums. Many songs of the most popular Russian rock bands would not even be classified as rock by Western listeners.
Considering its poetic roots, it is not a big surprise that lyrics play a far larger role in Russian rock than Western rock. Vocal melody is sometimes eschewed in favor of a more impassioned delivery (
Viktor Tsoi, the lead singer of
Kino, pioneered a characteristically strained, monotonous style of singing that has been imitated by many). The popular US genre of
Christian rock does not exist, but most bands have numerous religious songs, based on the
Orthodox faith.
*
List of Russian bands*
Russian Music on the Net: Site about Modern Russian music with lots of Rock bands (English)
