Rock music in Russia

The early 1960s: Local bard music and first western influences

Prior to the late sixties, music in the Soviet Union was divided into two groups: music published by state record company Melodiya, and everything else. Under this second group were the bards, underground folk singer–songwriters.

Bards such as Vladimir Vysotsky and Bulat Okudzhava were among the many artists who created the style which is referred to as "author's song" (авторская песня), 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 cinema and theatre actor and an iconic figure of the times.

Meanwhile, some Western music was either being smuggled across the border or released by Melodiya as part of what essentially was state-run media piracy, with The Beatles taking a firm place in Soviet popular culture, and artists such as The Rolling Stones and Deep Purple completing a somewhat distorted picture of Western music.

The first rock bands in the Soviet Union appeared on the scene in the early sixties in Moscow, and they were heavily influenced by The Beatles.

The late 1960s and 1970s: First signs

The live bands grew popular in spite of governmental restrictions. This continued into the 1980s, when native bands gained some success, but were still hampered by state regulators who would not allow them to be officially recorded, and placed restrictions on lyrical content.

Guitar-driven bands evolved during this time, including Leningrad-based Pojuschie Gitary (the singing guitars) and Belarusian Pesnyary. These bands started the VIA (Вокально-Инструментальный Ансамбль Vokal'no-Instrumental'nyy ansambl' -- Vocal-Instrumental Ensemble) movement, and were followed by others, such as Tcvety, Golubiye Gitary and Sinyaya Ptica. At the same time Mashina Vremeni in Moscow and Aquarium in Leningrad started as nominally amateur bands and soon became popular, performing underground concerts.

In the early 1970s Yuri Morozov invented a kind of Russian psychedelic rock, using elements of progressive rock and ethnic Russian music as well. His sound influenced DDT, Aquarium, Chizh & Co, and many others, while he worked with them as a sound engineer.

Another notable artist who started his activity at the same time is Alexander Gradsky, who fused bard music with rock. There was no protest against the Soviet government in the lyrics he sang, so he was able to release records through Melodiya and millions of them were sold all over the country.

The 1980s: "Classic" Russian rock

In the 1980s an underground scene of rock artists emerged that based their style on a mix of Western rock music (particularly those from the 1960s and 70s but also, increasingly, those that emerged from the Western punk rock and New Wave) and the Russian bard tradition. Bands such as Alisa, Agatha Christie, Autograph, Kino, Mashina Vremeni, Nautilus Pompilius, Aquarium, Krematorij, Grazhdanskaya Oborona, Voskreseniye, Secret, Piknik, and DDT were influential in the development of the genre, with the consequent artists influenced by their style.

Russian rock was also influenced by the Russian art group Mitki and the Western hippies.

In 1980 a big Rock festival was held in Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, named Spring Rhythms. Tbilisi-80. Almost all the performers and prize-winners at the festival were rock groups from the Russian SFSR. It was the first official rock festival in the Soviet Union.

The lyrics of the Soviet rock bands often dealt with the darkest sides of the 80s 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 father described in the song and an indictment of the escapist attitudes of state-run media) and crime, and often carried a hidden political message.

Soviet rock bands were consequently ignored by the mainstream radio and television, often reaching audiences only through word of mouth. The monopoly for the music publishing in the USSR belonged to Melodiya, the one and only Soviet record label, and Melodiya had a strict policy against publishing straightforward rock music or underground musicians. Some of the artists (Yuri Shevchuk, Yegor Letov and many others) even had problems with KGB due to their public activities. During the early 1980s Soviet authorities started a heavy pressure on amateur bands, Underground concerts were banned as a sort of illegal commercial activity, while some of music promoters and sound engineers were even imprisoned for earning money from underground concerts. At the same time, several rock clubs were established to allow amateur bands to perform legal concerts.

Many of the 1980s bands are still active and popular among Russian youth. The term Russian rock is often used to refer to the particular sound of these bands.

Various music scenes

In the early- to mid-1980s, several rock clubs were founded in Moscow, Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) and Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg). These three cities had their own rock music scene, with friendly collaborations between artists commonplace.

The Leningrad Rock Club was probably the biggest venue, featuring "classic Russian rock" by Aquarium, Kino, Zoopark, Piknik, Alisa, DDT, Televizor, N.E.P., etc. It also included the nascent Russian art rock movement, typified by bands such as Auktyon. The most important figure of Leningrad Rock Club was Sergey Kuryokhin, the well known piano/keyboard player of different music genres including rock and free-jazz, the leader of his ambitious multimedia project Pop Mekhanika, one of the first soviet underground musicians who released his albums in Europe and USA.

Bands from Sverdlovsk, such as Nautilus Pompilius, Chaif, and Agatha Christie, produced more melodic music making heavy use of keyboards and synthesizers.

Moscow rock bands, such as Aria, Mashina Vremeni, Voskreseniye, Center, Krematorij and Zvuki Mu, were rather different from the others and sometimes more discreet.

The Siberian rock scene began in the 1980s, with such songwriters as Egor Letov (Grazhdanskaya Oborona, Omsk), Kalinov most, Alexander Bashlachev and Yanka Dyagileva. Their music varied from simple lo-fi punk to indie rock (sometimes acoustic), 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. Lyrics were often obscene, and the musicians had major problems with the Soviet administration and KGB. Notable acts that were not members of any of the three Rock-Clubs but were highly popular are Rock N' Roll band Secret.

At that time the Russian Heavy metal scene was created thanks to bands like Aria, Chorny Kofe and Master (formed by a few ex-members of Aria).

The glam metal band Gorky Park reached high popularity in the west and was even aired on MTV.

Russian punk's unique style is generally accepted to be most idealized by Grazhdanskaya Oborona and Egor Letov's other projects. The music mixes equal parts Western punk and the traditional Russian influences, with gritty production and extremely charged and political lyrics.

Punk music movement

In the Soviet Union the punk rock culture started in the 80's, and was mostly a protest movement against the corruption of the regime and the sense there is "no future". It was different from the British punk culture as in the Soviet Union they did not have an upper class to protest against, so the result was Soviet punk was a protest against everything around them, without marking anything specific. The Soviet punks usually wore boots and coats found in military shops. Also, while in the UK punk was partly a protest against more established rock music genres like progressive rock or glam rock, in the Soviet Union all rock music was in the underground, which made a certain solidarity between punk rock fans and other rock fans in Russia.

Beside the traditional anarchist ideology, many Russian punks belong to the National Bolshevik movement, with its founder Eduard Limonov being a punk himself in his youth, and Yegor Letov, the godfather of Russian punk, belonging to the movement.

The godfather of Russian punk is considered to be Yegor Letov with his band Grazhdanskaya Oborona, which started performing in the early 1980s. During Soviet times, the band got in trouble with the authorities and all the members were at some point arrested for their activities.

In the late 1980s another band started operating in Russia, reaching a cult status, Sektor Gaza. They created a genre called "Kolkhoz Punk", which was mixing elements from Russian village life into punk music. However, while some called the band "original" and "true folk punk," others criticized the band's style. Mikhail Gorsheniov from Korol i Shut said: "Sektor Gaza were never a part of the punk rock wave! They have no idea in music at all".

Another cult band which started few years later was Korol i Shut, introducing horror punk, using costumes and lyrics in the form of tales and fables. Through sophisticated texts and themes not usually explored by punk, and through a sophisticated punk sound, Korol i Shut achieved the status of one of the most popular bands in Russia.

Russian punk achieved international attention when the members of the Pussy Riot band were sent to prison for singing a protest song against Putin in a church. However, in the Russian punk community the attitudes towards Pussy Riot as a punk band were mixed, as many don't define their music as punk.

Tatars

Some of the earliest Tatar rock bands were Soviet bands Saq-Soq and Bolgar, as well as Başqarma from Finland, bands active in the late 1980s. Today the most popular Tatar rock bands are Alqanat (since 2005) from Aqtanış and Xat (since 2001) from Sarman. Some other popular bands are: KGB, Yar band, İlsöyä Bädretdineva, İsmail, rhymes and 116.

Traditionally, Tatar rock music has been a Tatar language version of rock music in Russia. The lyrics and vocals have more importance than instrumental sounds.

Other pop-rock groups include Malaylar, Yarda and Ataqlı Radio Şäxeslär. Pop singer Alsou has sung, at times, in her native Tatar.

From underground to publicity

The late 1980s were the years of breakthrough for the soviet rock music artists to the wide public. Political and social changes in the country were very important for this process.

The censorship was still present, but not as rigid as it was in the 1970s or early 1980s. It took years for the first Soviet rock bands to enter the media, tour in major concert halls over the USSR, and to release their albums officially.

The rock music situation changed during the perestroika era. Many Russian rock bands were able to tour and record in Europe and United States for the first time. As a result, in 1989-1991 the situation was completely different from that of 1985. Moscow Music Peace Festival with western rock stars was held in Moscow, Gorbachev accepted Scorpions in Kremlin, and Brian Eno produced an album by Zvuki Mu and Dave Stewart (of Eurythmics fame) produced Radio Silence by Boris Grebenshchikov for the release in the western world.

With Joanna Stingray's initiative, in 1986 the Red Wave compilation was released in the United States. It was a double split album with four bands from Leningrad: Aquarium, Kino, Alisa, and Strannye Igry. One side of vinyl for each band. This compilation was the first official Russian rock release in the west.

Stingray sent copies of the release to Ronald Reagan and Gorbachev, supplied with a statement saying musicians already did what both presidents could not do diplomatically.

Melodiya's reaction was an official release of a record by Aquarium in order to create an illusion that recordings of the band are also widely released in the USSR.

Another important contributor for the breakthrough of Russian rock to the public in the 1980s were television and film. New musical television shows, such as Muzykalny Ring (Музыкальный ринг) and Programma A (Программа "А"), invited national rock artists for interviews and live shows. Several popular films were created in the second half of the 1980s, featuring Russian rock musicians as actors: Igla and Assa featuring Viktor Tsoi and music by Aquarium, Taxi Blues featuring Pyotr Mamonov. The Canadian filmmaker Peter Vronsky travelled to Moscow and Leningrad in February 1988 and shot a series of music videos with Televizor, Aquarium, Nebo i Zemlya, Zvuki Mu and other bands, tied together into a documentary film Russian Rock Underground which brought Russian Rock for the first time to MuchMusic television in Canada and to Italian television.

The 1990s: Post-Soviet era

The beginning of the 1990s are considered to be the end of the "classic" Russian rock era. The two events that mark its end are the death of Viktor Tsoi in 1990, and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Nevertheless, the Russian rock sound continued to live and the new Russian rock sound of the '90s was based on it. In 1996 the recording company Moroz started releasing the highly popular series Legends of Russian Rock.

In the mid-late 1990s the radio station Nashe Radio had been created to promote Russian rock artists, broadcasting in all major Russian cities. Nashe Radio notably influenced the auditory taste and helped many artists to gain popularity. The radiostation founded Nashestvie, the largest open-air rock festival of Russian rock music performed yearly since 1999 and always headlined with famous rock acts.

Often aired by Nashe Radio, bands like Splean, Nochniye Snaiperi, Smisloviye Galutzinatzii, Chicherina, and Bi-2 have created a refreshed Russian rock sound which adopted many elements from Alternative rock. Dolphin created a mixture between alternative rock, electronic music and rapcore.

In the late 1990s, numerous punk, pop-punk and grunge bands broke through. Sektor Gaza managed to establish a style they called "village punk". Sektor Gaza was first Russian band use of dirty words and dirty short story in its lyrics. The horror punk band Korol i Shut managed to achieve a cult status and mainstream success, using fairy-tale inspired lyrics. Other notable punk artists included Pilot, Lumen, Tarakany! and Nogu Svelo! who also gained major popularity. Many of them developed an original sound and involvement of unconventional instruments like violin.

Ska punk was brought to popularity mainly by the band Leningrad, notable of the extensive use of mat (Russian profanity) in its lyrics.

The Russian instrumental rock artist Victor Zinchuk reached international success with his solo career, and by that brought the Russian instrumental rock scene into a bigger audience.

The western Pop rock 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, which was also used by other notable musicians such as Zemfira, became prevalent among the younger public.

The 1997 Russian extremely popular films Brother, with its soundtrack featuring the classic Russian rock band Nautilus Pompilius, and its sequel Brother 2, whose soundtrack was compiled from music of many Russian rock artists, brought many young fans to Russian rock.

The 2000s: Further development

The 2000s in Russian Rock are marked by both a continuance of the '90s and something of a comeback of the classic 80s sound. In the years following the renaissance of Russian cinema and rock, rock in Russia seems to gain enough ground to differentiate widely in various genres. The 2005 Live 8 concert that took place in Moscow featured mainly Russian rock artists.

Alternative metal and metalcore gained wider popularity at that time. In mid-2000s bands like Amatory, Tracktor Bowling and Slot were established and soon arose in fame, being intensively promoted by A-One channel. The channel awarded many of them with Russian Alternative Music Prize.

Russian Heavy metal scene continued its development with power metal bands like Catharsis and Epidemia, founded in the 1990s, received more attention, and progressive metal band Orgia Pravednikov rising to prominence. In 2002 Valery Kipelov split from Aria, and with more ex-members of Aria he formed a new band called Kipelov, which soon compared itself to Aria in popularity.

Folk rock music had a revival following Pelageya's and Melnitsa's rise from underground acts to constantly radio-aired bands, and the attention pagan metal bands like Arkona received.

Though the Russian Progressive rock scene had existed since the 1970s, it was the 2000s when it entered the public eye of Russian rock fans, with bands like Little Tragedies and The Gourishankar being its most obvious representatives. Since 2001 a prog-music festival named InProg was held almost yearly in Moscow. Its popularity constantly grew and in 2005 it turned from a local festival into an international one. The Russian instrumental rock scene with bands like EXIT project, Disen Gage, Dvar and Kostarev Group also received more recognition at that time.

The 2010s - Decline of rock music?

Despite the fact many bands from previous decades are still active, like DDT, Korol i Shut and Splean, due to the lack of new bands gaining significant attention there is a common view that Russian rock is in decline. Ilya Chert from the band Pilot said: "I can see the decline of Russian rock. We are going back to the times, when those who are really talanted and wise are operating in basements and clubs with the capacity of 50 people, as they don't commercialize themselves and no one commercializes them". Artemy Troitsky, the famous Russian rock critic, wrote an article called "Rock died a long time ago, but the funeral was impressive", where he brought up the lack of new faces in the Russian rock scene, and accused bands like Mashina Vremeni and Garik Sukachev for "selling out" and not protesting against the current government. Already in 2008 MTV Russia cancelled the nomination "Best Rock Project", with the resulting headlines being "MTV Recognized the Death of Russian Rock".

Rock musicians divided by the Crimean Crisis

The annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014 divided the Russian rock community to supporters and opposition to the move. Former Aria leader and current leader of the band Kipelov, Valery Kipelov, expressed support of the annexation, and stated that it should've been done in 1991. He performed at music festivals celebrating the event in Crimea.

Konstantin Kinchev and his band Alisa, considered to be among the pioneers of Russian rock, expressed support of the move, and cancelled all of his concerts in Ukraine. Kinchev had already expressed views supporting the return of Crimea to Russia in 2008.

Among the other prominent figures in Russian rock who expressed support of the move included Chaif, Chicherina, Alexander F. Sklyar, and Vadim Samoylov (ex-Agatha Christie).

On the other hand, Andrey Makarevich was one of the organisers of the 2014 anti-war protests in Russia, and harshly criticised the annexation Another prominent figure to criticise the annexation was the legendary leader of the band DDT Yuri Shevchuk Singer Zemfira expressed her opposition by wrapping herself in a Ukrainian flag when on stage.

Among the musicians who didn't criticise the annexation, however, spoke against war in general and called for peace between the peoples were such prominent figures as Boris Grebenshchikov (Aquarium) and Vyacheslav Butusov (Nautilus Pompilius).

Characteristics

Fans of Russian Rock would frequently refer to most of the music on MTV Russia 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 Philipp Kirkorov. The lines are still quite clearly drawn, with bands such as Nogu Svelo! - who recorded a song with pop-singer Nataliya Vetlitskaya - being an anomaly.

In contrast to Western rock, Russian rock is often said to have less drive; it is characterized by different rhythms, instruments and more involved lyrics. Unconventional instruments have often been used in addition to the standard electric guitars and drums (very often violin and wind instruments).

Another characteristic of Russian Rock is being partly Folk rock. Very often Russian Rock songs, especially those of the classic 80s bands, talk about national themes and feature elements from Russian folk music. Aquarium, DDT and Yuri Morozov could be used as examples for that.

Considering its poetic roots (Russian literature, bard music), 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).

Russia has always been facing both East and West with its double-headed Eagle on the coat-of-arms. The Eastern derivative in the Russian rock came with soundtracks from movies like Day Watch that had Tamerlan's legend of the Chalk of Destiny at its roots. Russian rock expressively used and integrated elements from culture, as well as Western and Eastern (especially countries of the USSR).

Yngvar Bordrewich Steinholt (University of Tromsø, Norway) has written a PhD thesis in English that was printed by The Mass Media Music Scholars Press titled "Rock in the Reservation" (2004) about the Leningrad Rock Club. It also touched upon the history of rock in Russia and its counter-cultural tendencies.

Wordplay

In Russian, the original meaning of word "рок" is "fate" or "doom". The word is used almost exclusively in fiction, especially poetry (more widely used synonym is "судьба"). These correlate with the poetic roots of Russian rock and its attention to "serious" topics.

The wordplay is used in the song "This is Fate" (Russian: Это рок) from Aria's debut album Mania Velichia.