Russian rock: Encyclopedia II - Russian rock - History

Russian rock - History

Russian rock - The early 60's

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.

Russian rock - The late 60's and 70's

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,Pyesnary 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.

Russian rock - The 80's and 90's

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. The lyrics 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.

Russian rock - 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), psychodelic Auktzion 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 80's 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.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "History", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki