It's a pity that you paid so little attention to Yegor Letov and Siberian punk rock. Their unique dirty sound and complex lyrics are simply incredible, and Letov himself has become a cult figure among modern Russian youth. Thank you very much for your efforts!
Yegor was my bridge to russian music a while back. Started listening to random youtube russian doomer playlists, and there was this guy singing a very long song passionately. I felt a need to look it up and it was called "Russian field of experiments". From there i started listening to the rest of his content and fell in love with the russian music culture :D
I am surprised the video didn't mention Nautilus Pompilius who were probably the second most popular band after Kino. They became huge even earlier with their 1986 album "Разлука" which had a pack of bangers that you can hear on the radio till this day. But ill recommend you to listen to their more prog stuff from albums "Человек без имени" and "Наугад". Songs like Музыка на песке, Чёрные птицы, Падший ангел, Боксёр, Тихие игры
When talking about Nau, do not forget to mention "Скованные одной цепью". Razluka was great, but after that they just sounded awful by using cheesy-sounding electronic instruments. I definitely think the great lyrics were still there, but the arrangements don't fit them at all.
@@parasatc8183 I didn't because "Скованные" is one of the bangers from "Разлука" that I mentioned. And two albums I recommended are Nau's most guitar albums. There are no synths on "Наугад" at all and in terms of guitar playing, I think this is the best album in the entire history of Russian rock. I think in 89-91 Nautilus had their best sound. Reminds me of King Crimson's 80-s New-Wave period. The cheesy electronics you mentioned started after both guitar players left in 1993
@@SatEight I honestly think they started sounding cheesy starting with the release of Князь тишины in 1987 or 1988 if I'm not mistaken. I don't like the synth trumpets at all plus the bass doesn't sound dynamic
@@parasatc8183 That was their first official release on Мелодия. Of course, it had more pop sound. And already their next LP didn't sound like that. Does the song I linked "Музыка на песке" sound cheesy to you?
Victor Tsoi was extremely introverted individual and mostly sang about deep universal sadness (not his personal) especially in his latest songs. He was extremely sensitive man and would not sing much about external conditions including politics. "pack of cigarettes" has a similar mood as "song with unhappy end" or "sadness".
Especially Vopros, the question. "please tell me the world all over, be surprised by the number of years that passed, please tell me how you live as a shooting target, I have a question to you that you will never answer"
Thank you for this really well-researched and well-presented video on an era of music that is very dear to me (in spite of me having been born a little later). Just a few random nitpicks and comments: -The abbreviation GrOb is pronounced as one word, since that also happens to be the Russian word for "coffin". -Using the song Leto to represent Mike Naumenko and his band Zoopark might be a little misleading, since he specifically wrote that song as a friendly parody of Viktor Tsoi's early songs. The movie Leto adds to the confusion by implying that he wrote the song before getting introduced to Tsoi, even though the full title of the song has always been "Leto (a Song for Tsoi)". -Mashina Vremeni and DDT also still exist and perform, and both of their leaders are well known for being politically outspoken. As for Aquarium, it has long been largely viewed as a Grebenshchikov solo project, whether fairly or not.
I totally appreciate this! I figured there would be some nuances I'd miss without growing up in the culture, and without knowing the language. I'm surprised to hear that Leto was a parody song, but then again, that seems to happen a lot where the not-so-serious song ends up being the hit (thinking Creep by Radiohead...)
Leto is a wonderful movie in my opinion, but as it frequently admits to the viewer, many of the events depicted did not happen. In fact, as far as I know it was Boris of Akvarium who discovered Kino and helped them produce their first album, and not Mike. I think the film selected Mike because he also died young and was more similar in age to Tsoi, allowing for a love triangle plot.
@@Bandsplaining Leto is not quite a parody, rather a dedication to the friend. For a foreigner, you made an exceptionally good work, only it's a pity it's so short. If you want to learn more, I greatly recommend Alexey Pivovarov's documentary about Leningrad rock club (th-cam.com/video/VVfsaR97BUM/w-d-xo.html). And yes, Moscow and Sverdlovsk rock scenes of Soviet times deserve more attention, though most bands are already forgotten even in Russia.
11:00 Sudakov wasn't Letov's manager. "Manager" was Oleg's stage name. He played with Letov not only in Gr.Ob (which by the way is not pronounced like G.R.O.B. but like "Grob" - "Гроб", which in Russian stands for "coffin"), but also in many side projects like Коммунизм, Анархия, Армия Власова, Цыганята и Я с Ильича. Letov also had a great psychedelic garage rock band "Егор и Опизденевшие".
Ahhh thanks for the clarification. Егор и Опизденевшие sounds sick. Kinda reminds of the Elephant 6 bands, though I think this predates them by a couple years.
@@Bandsplaining This group existed from 1990 to 1993. In 1989, when ГрОб became super popular, and many rock groups began to make good money, Letov disbanded ГрОб in protest and thus prevented it from becoming part of rising show business. He created a new band, changed the style, and used an obscene word "Опизденевшие" in the name so that the band would never be broadcast on radio or television. But in 1993, shocked by the shooting of the White House, Letov gathered the ГрОб again to conduct communist propaganda and became the face of the National-Bolshevik Party.
@@Bandsplaining In addition, the word Manager (pronounced through [ʌ], by the way) is consonant with the word "managa" - hemp broth in milk. In our youth, we associated the stage name of Oleg Sudakov with this, and not with the word "manager" :) I don't know if we were right or not.
@@SatEight He wasn't exactly conducting communist activities after the events of 1993 - the primary purpose of Nazbol back then at least was to unite the Russian far-left and far-right against Yeltsin.
@@parasatc8183 well, he was. Letov was in the National Bolshevik Party because he believed that they were the only ones who could really do something. But his attitude towards the extreme left and extreme right is well known - he considered communism "the kingdom of God on earth," and called Barkashov and the other rightists degenerates. Just compare song like "Родина" which is full of USSR nostalgia to the song "Общество Память" where he openly mocked nationalists. His entire "nationalism" essentially consisted in the fact that he considered all Soviet people to be one nation. This is very far from the rightists' "Russia for Russians" bullshit. Limonov himself complained that Letov constantly criticizes him - "More red!" In fact, I would not really like to discuss Letov's political views, because they are not very interesting to me and they have changed over the years so we have to constantly clarify "Oh, that was in 1987, and in 1995 he thought like this"
To me personally, Pack of cigarettes is not the most depressing song of Tsoi, Good Night (Spokionaya Noch) is. Maybe not in the lyrics, but sound design.
You could have mentioned Yanka Dyagileva, a noise punk folkie who didn't last very long but has some evocative songs in her discography, from the one minute lo-fi My Sorrow Is Luminous to the epic 8 minute Priyot Voda.
I think a 3rd part would be really interesting since Russia in the 90's was a chaotic time, to say the least, and many musicians who were underground went through a lot of changes in the 90's (like Yegor Letov, who made a lot of his best known songs during the 90's and who also joined the National Bolshevik Party). A lot the time the story about Russia stops in 1991 when that couldn't be further from the truth.
@@tahaistheboss98 How the fuck could I forget Yanka. Many nights I've gone on walks through the city I live in, listening to her music. It's too fucking good.
Exactly. The constitutional crisis of 1993 was the primary inspiration for Grazhdanskaya Oborona's "Солнце переворот" released in 1996 if I'm not mistaken, with songs like "Родина", "Мёртвые", and "Забота у нас такая". They released another album in 1997 but both albums I mentioned were recorded in 1993 and they didn't record any original material until 2004 (they released an album in 2002 which just consisted of Soviet classic songs played in a psych rock + punk style). Letov wouldn't bother anymore with politics soon after however and he left the Nazbol party in 1999. Such was the case until his death.
Well, as a non russian speaker, I like this video and it's really helpful to me. But.. yeah, even so many comments already told about that, I hope you should put more about "Grazhdanskaya Oborona". That's my favorite Russian(soviet) rock band and I think they are important to Russian rock history. But also, Thank you to making these series!
This is the only channel where I can ask for some review on 60's, 70's and 80's argentinian rock scene, one of the most underated high quality music out there...
@@egorsurimov5996 I will name just 10 albums, but there are too many gems missing here, as we are talking of a 50 years period. "Artaud", Pescado Rabioso (1973) "Clics modernos", Charly García (1983) "Manal", Manal (1970) "Oktubre", Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota (1986) "Divididos por la felicidad", Sumo (1985) "Almendra", Almendra (1969) "La era de la boludez", Divididos (1993) "30 minutos de vida", Moris (1970) "Canción animal", Soda Stereo (1990) "Alta suciedad", Andres Calamaro (1997)
Also, Kino's Перемен! (15:15) for the last two months or so has been an unofficial hymn of Belarusian protests against Lukashenko (the guy, who's - totally fairly and legitimately - been the country's president for the past 26 years). There's quite a spike on Google trends and lastfm. If you search for it, you'll find videos of the song being sung by crowds of thousands protesters. People have literally been arrested for playing it.
Yeah, reminds me of that "X before/ X now" meme with X being dictator. I mean, really, to imprison people for playing a song? That guy's nuts. The song does not even call for a rebel or anything, just merely expresses a demand for a change and frustration with the lack of it. As far as I remember, the song's been somewhat of a hymn for Belarus' protests since much earlier with the song being, can't believe it, oficially banned in 2011. It's also very often played on russian anti-government rallies as well
@@0hn0haha I would say it is the most popular of their songs. Btw, I am also a huge fan of AuktsYon. "Girls Sing" album recored with western musician(mostly from the US, I guess) is a must-listen thing!
i came across a spotify playlist called russian post-punk like a year ago and have been obsessed since. i like to listen to music in languages i dont know while i do homework. it never occurred to me what a deep history this music id been mindlessly listening to had and what a privilege it was to be able to listen to it. great vid!
I w atched both Part 1 one and part 2 , I grew up in Moscow and was involved very heavily in punk rock scene since 1984. I think I can see myself in the audience at one of the shows )))). Good job, pretty accurate account of the scene, although there was more to it . Thanks !!
It is truly amazing and a bit sad, that I uncovered so much of my country bands history on this channel. Great story, exceptional work. I had goosebumps though out the whole video. Thank you
@@alanmt8819 others talked about the "saddest" being "спокойная ночь" or "пачка сигарет" but "дерево" is definitely the one that affects me the most, I still cry sometimes when I listen to it, you also need to understand its lyrics, a shame it isn't more known
Very well done piece of documentary of a scene that is mostly obscure for westerners, I was really looking forward for this vid since I came across the Part 1. I would relly love to see a continuation of this video up until the 2010's or even better a deep dive into the origins of this Russian/Bielorussian/soviet post punk/dark wave scene that is becoming so increasingly popular with bands such as Molchat Doma, Human Tetris, Motorama etc.
This is a look at the history of rock in the USSR from the St. Petersburg rock club. It is strange that at the same moment, the Soviet bandstand was not just "weighted down" but metallized. Groups like KRUIZ, Aria, Master, Black Coffie, First Aid - were allowed on the stage more often than the listed punk bands. Back then, almost every pop artist considered it their duty to release a metal album. For example, Sofia Rotaru, Alla Pugacheva and many others.
Probably had something to do with hair metal being popular in the West (after all, many western trends did come to the Soviet Union a few years late). I mean, Rotaru's and Pugacheova's metal albums were kinda watered down. 🤷🏻♂️
Thanks a lot for your videos on the Soviet Rock Scene. I was working in Russian in mid 90's and at that time purchased loads of music on CD. There are other great bands not mentioned like Nautilus Pompilius, Igor Talkov, Tschizj&Co and ChaiF to mention a few. What is mentioned in the video is something that is very unique to many Soviet/Russian bands, the lyrics. Sometimes political messages had to be wrapped in lyrics, which makes Viktor Tsoy's and Jura Schevchuk's songs very hard to decipher. However in late 80's came Igor Talkov and sang out loud what he thought of his country, its politics and life in Soviet Union. Many bands continue to this day like Time Machine, ChaiF and DDT, though the latter has been banned as its leader said the famous words - "Russia is a poor old woman selling potatoes at a railway station, not the president's @ss that you have to kiss and lick ...". And Maksim Pokrovskiy of the band Nogu Svelo! (Leg cramp) is more active than ever singing out his support for Ukraine. Soviet/Russian rock isn't for anyone but I love it a lot. Maybe it's the mix of the Russian culture that sort of adopts Western culture, spice it with DNA from Pushkin, Griboedov, Akhmatova, Gorkij and many others. That's why, in my mind, many bands don't bother to do a career in the West - "the music is for Russians only". But to add to the list - have a go at Agata Kristie, Little Tragedies, Sunchild, and the Ukrainian band Okean Elzi that is on the barrikades today supporting the heroes of Ukraine. Finally, two notes; the book I mentioned in my comment to part 1 is actually written by Artjem Troitski and I recently got hold of a 3CD-box with Strange Games. I was actively looking for them as the singer Nastya Poleva made a cover of one of their songs on her album Dance On The Toetips and found this album on Discogs.
My first introduction to Russain rock was S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Misery mod. I found that after playing COP and heard kino's blood type. I went down a rabbit hole but clearly It goes much further than I imagined.
A lot of people don’t realize that The Soviet Union had an illegal underground rock music scene long before the 70s and 80s with some of the earliest examples going all the way back to 1959 and probably even earlier than that. There’s actually a fun little movie about it that came out in the early 90s, it was a historical comedy drama called “Red Hot” th-cam.com/video/dLdn5azlNB0/w-d-xo.html Here’s the trailer
@@williamvonschenk2273 That was a really good video, I really enjoyed it. Thanks for that. It’s a powerful testament of the human spirit’s refusal to be censored. Not even the totalitarian monster of communism in Russia and the whole Iron Curtain of 20th century Eastern Europe combined could defeat the power of Rock ‘N’ Roll! As a way to return the favor to thank you properly for sending me your link, here’s a link to an album featuring a ton of bands from the Eastern Bloc underground music scene in the 1980s. The album goes for a full hour and 19 minutes th-cam.com/video/ZD8kJq51uFM/w-d-xo.html
@@thehedgehogsdilemma9478 Thank you! That is EXACTLY what inspired me to produce the song and video! There is 20/20 clarity in history that gets lost in contemporary politics. Feel free to leave such comments on the video like leaving a note at "The Berlin Wall"! :-)
Some of the best rock/metal music is done under pressure. Be it political, societal, mental or whatever. Estonia's punk scene was absolutely legendary before collapse of soviet union. After that they kind of didn't had any material to rebel against :) Thank you for this video. oh, and TSOI ZHIV! :D
There is many aspects of russian/soviet history that I, as a Russian, am not proud of. Music, however, is not one of them. Thank you for making these videos, sir. I bow deeply.
I’ll add my voice to those below who suggested the 3rd part of this series - for the most of those who’s familiar with the scene of ‘80-‘91 it would be a logical summary to finish this story with what the 90s has brought to the table eventually after the total freedom of expression truly came - from ‘91 to ‘00. some of the most definitive names from that time are: Zamfira, Bi-2, Splean, Pilot, Okean Elzy, etc; many of them are still performing to this day, but it really would make more sense to cover their output up until ‘00 in the framework of the particular subject of these 2 videos - as in general sense as well as considering further shift in songwriting approach and overall vibe for the most of the artists. up until 2000s the scene was by large still experiencing the transition period but not yet gone far enough from the Rock Club to make direct connections and, really, this resulted in a very distinctive and authentic high quality rock music (importantly - with a familiar modern level of sound recording and production), which is hard to characterise in words. so my strong suggestion is to dive a bit deeper into the subject for the host of the channel to have the full picture of the impact that the Rock Club has laid foundation for by the fact of its existence. (pop and electronic scenes were a fucking wiiiiild acid trip by their own rights btw as well loool) anyway - a great job on these two, man 👏🏼 appreciated!
Damn, that's a really well-researched and compiled video! It was nice to hear the overview of Russian rock movement from the outsider perspective. But for me,the biggest omission is the lack of mention of another big rock band in the 80s-90s Russian scene-Nautilus Pompilius. They had different lineups throughout the years,so the music was very different from period to period and their lyrics were among the best in Russian rock. Although they became extremely popular in the 90s,their 80s output was really popular too,so in my opinion their mention would be appropriate.
Viktor Tsoi of Kino was really the Cobain of russian rock. Even on the peak of his stardom and fame he was as raw and honest as ever, and died young as a bright star. I think his legacy would've been tampered by the producers and pop scene of the late 90's and 00's if he remained alive.
@@e.s.g.5997 This is not a museum. He had so much fans but there's still no museum in Moscow where he lived with Natalia his last three years. Just a shame.
Awesome documentary! It would be great to continue this topic by comparing and contrasting the Soviet Rock scene with the other countries of the "Eastern Block", like DDR, Poland, Czechoslovakia or Hungary.
Definitely a good idea to continue with the scenes in those countries. I think the GDR scene is interesting because there were also plenty of punk and new wave bands that emerged from there with the same objective of rebelling against the system. The PRL scene is also interesting but to a lesser degree IMO, even though there were perhaps better-sounding bands like Siekiera.
Would be cool, if you at least mentioned the Soviet heavy metal legends, bands like Aria (Ария), Master (Мастер) and most importantly Kruiz (Круиз), which even became famous in Europe at the end of 80-s, when they were signed by WEA. These bands paved the way for really heavy music in the USSR and post-soviet countries.
Good one, many thanks. I would encourage you to take a look at other eastern block scenes. There were awesome bands in Poland ( including only alternative/punk festival ), Yugoslavia and other countries.
Great words of respect and admiration from me and, i hope, all Russians for sharing the history of our country, its culture, its logic and life!✊🌝 From Russia with love.❤️🇷🇺 Thank you!
Wow, such a great work! I'm glad to see that our foreign friends learn our, russian underground music. Personally I suggest you to listen Yegor Letov's side project "Yegor And Opizdenevshie" (Егор И Опиздиневшие) and reggae band "Komitet Ohrany Tepla" (Комитет Охраны Тепла).
@@DeZ7Z Выбираешь английские (создано автоматически), после этого открываешь иконку субтитров снова и жмёшь "перевести", а там выбираешь Русский. Переводит немного коряво, но основной смысл можно понять. Не благодари.
I was in Leningrad in June 1987 and being a musician myself I performed one concert there with the Dutch band I was in. As I understood it Akvarium was the most revered underground band at the time, not Kino. Probably because Akvarium had been around a bit longer already. When I was there the Rock Club had organised a festival lasting several days featuring bands from Leningrad only. I saw Televisor playing live. DDT. Alissa. Strange Games. A couple more… Sadly I missed Akvarium but their bass player managed to get our band an unofficial slot in the program and so we played a short set (in the Palace Of The Youth where the festival was held), being in fact the only Western band to perform at the festival. The next year we were invited to do some concerts in Poland, as was Televisor. We all happened to stay at the same hotel (near Gdansk) and became friends. In 1989 Televisor toured my home country The Netherlands, we were their support act on one occasion. I have lots more stories to tell (seeing Pop Mechanika live was a big thrill)… Maybe another time… ;) Nice documentary. Thanks.
@@Bandsplaining My pleasure. :-) Well… One party has been particularly memorable for me because it got me my first hangover ever. Plus… that was a very nice beach party we had, our hotel being right next to the Baltic Sea. Party consisting of our band, Televisor and a couple of Polish mates. I remember singing Beatles songs together, oh and by the way, the previous year I had discovered how immensely loved The Beatles were in Soviet-Russia, John Lennon most of all. During one of Televisor’s concerts in Poland we joined them onstage to do a powerful rock version of Lennon’s “Give Peace A Chance”. Televisor were indeed a politically-driven band. I couldn’t understand their lyrics but lead singer Mikhael Barzykin once explained to me how he had to circumvent censorship by way of using metaphors. So the ‘fascist’ in “Your Daddy - Fascist” is meant to be quite the opposite. Equally lambasting the system was a song that stated that ‘the fish starts rotting at the head’. Using metaphors was a tactic that every Russian underground band had to employ, to some extent at least, to be able to perform or get records played. Such is my recollection. Concerning the 1987 festival I wrote about earlier… All the set lists, i.e. lyrics, from all the bands were subjected to mandatory screening and approval by a special board prior to the live performances. Strange days indeed.
Please upload more! you're without a doubt my favourite channel and I always check to see if you've uploaded. If you're taking any requests, I think exploring what lead to the sudden massive interest in American blues music over in the UK during the early '60s, which lead to the Stones, Cream, The Beatles, etc. Some people mention that soldiers stationed over there in the war left over some records, which then made their way into the hands of the youth. Anyway, should make for a good topic.
15:26 one of my all time eastern post punk songs. And Kino in generall is really good. I've always been interested of what happed behind the iron curtain, escpecially with music and this answers it all. Thank you so very much my friend
Listening to Kino was actually helping with my declining mental health. Even if I cant speak fluent russian, only a hanfull of phrases and words I could make sence of his songs. And they where 9/10 correct estimations. I dont know why or how but the song "close the door behind me, I'm leaving now" (dont have chryllic keyboard) taught me to just leave everything that hurts me behind and do things that do me good. A real eye opener, probably even saved my life. Anyway, when I heard the first strokes of "Pack of Ciggarettes" I shed a tear. Thank you again
Nice! Part 2 is great! I wonder if there is a better translation of "Братья по разуму". Like-minded brothers? Although 'Brothers of the Mind' sounds more interesting in this case :) 7:00 Гражданская оборона, ГРОБ for short. FYI гроб means coffin. The "zh" sound in Brezhnev, Grazhdanskaya, Zhenya is pronounced more like "genre" or "vision". 9:15 Joanna Stingray! Haha, I'm currently reading her book. She's from Cali. USA+CCCP=BFF =)
I think "Братья по разуму" is a pretty common phrase in Russian sci-fi about extraterrestrial lifeforms, where the most fitting translation is usually something like "fellow sentient beings".
The "you have to submit your music and lyrics before being approved to play", that same central planning was picked up in the 90s at Gilman Street Project in Berkeley.
Excellent video. I hope your next one is about New Russian Group (NRG) and/or Alliance, or Bioconstructor. I don't know if there's enough to make a video about them, but they're pretty great.
When you talk about labor camps, you need to clarify that these are not GULAGs. These are ordinary prisons that were located all over the country, not just in Siberia. Most often musicians were taken to the army or to a psychiatric clinic. The prison sentence was not for music, but for illegal commercial activities(ticket sale). But people were jailed for this very rarely.
One need to clarify that 1. GULAG is not a prison or a labour camp, but the wardens of such camp. So everytime someone says "he was sent to gulag" they say that he was sent to be a warden. 2. "GULAG" disappeared in 1954 and was replaced by "GUIN" ("FSIN" nowadays). 3. In 1980s soviet labour camps were more or less indistinguishable from any american prison with attached factory, the very same "corrective labour colony" can be found in any post-soviet country. The labour camps of 1930s-1940s changed into a proper penitentiary system by 1960s-1970s. What didn't change are the myths about gulag in the west.
@@Itoyokofan Wait for real - gulag doesn't even refer to the prison camp itself? And I guess I knew that the conditions and horror stories that fueled western propaganda about "gulags" didn't persist ubiquitously all the way to the SU's collapse (although it's kind of hard to really know for sure isn't it? given that the state never stopped the propaganda and censorship), but I did assume that per-capita prisoners was always much higher than in so-called "free" countries. How could it not be with such extensive laws and such a massive law enforcement bureaucracy? That said, I wouldn't be surprised if the US's current rate of imprisonment rivals that of the Soviet Union's in the 70s and 80s, if not surpassing it - the prison industrial complex is very real. None of that is an excuse though, regardless of how also-guilty western governments are of the things they were accusing the Soviets of - massively centralized political regimes ruling over the lives of millions arbitrarily through social engineering, propaganda, taxation, censorship, suppression, surveillance and violence is always morally repugnant and serves the privileged few at great cost to the many (and they'll typically work hard to pump out propaganda claiming the exact opposite - as they did in the SU and as we continue to see in "progressive social democracies" today - and I include the US under that banner because at this point they barely pay lip service to constitutional restraint, separation of powers and the republicam legislative process). All governments do it to some degree or another, US is nowhere near as wholesome and moral as they made themselves out to be during the cold war, but a lot of time in these youtube doc it seems people are apologizing for soviet communism. Could be they're just trying to correct exagerrated western propaganda, but I think there's no way around the fact that the Soviet Empire was at it's core a deeply immoral, manipulative, exploitative and dreadful scam, that the big lie of a state being "for the worker" is just that - a big lie. Propaganda. The marginal workers and poor are always made worse off by a more centralized and imposing government, and no amount of propaganda and 'social services' can make up for the deprivation of one's natural right to body and property (IMO). And I guess I just wonder if all these commenters that are (probably correctly) pointing out exagerrations and lies we were taught about soviet communism in the west agree with me on that, or if they think that the soviet system was fundamenrally good, (or good in theory, or actually good in practice on net). If it's the latter, I'd have to push back on that hard. Especially in these 2020 times as governments across the world have been re-implementing communist/fascist methods of control and subjugation, with a technocratic 21st century twist. Just the idea of imposing such a massive government and public sector onto a population is immorap and self serving (or completely delusional)
Thank You. I don't know if Bansplaining just didn't see it or he is deliperately being deceptive but he inaccurately frames "Censorship" and "Underground". As you say the majority of charges against musicians weren't for the content of the music but because they were operating as a private business by selling records or concert tickets. Likewise, bands weren't "underground" because they didn't sell records/tickets. It was the natural condition of music in USSR to be free, people were free to perform they just could make a profit from it. Finally he frames the "End of oppression" is hen musicians were allowed to sell records/concert tickets.
Giving like even before watching it because I know for sure that the video is pure gold, thanks to all your research and efforts giving us all these amazing content from your channel. Kudos to you and please keep it up!
The most tragic part of the story was how changing political systems did very little in improving the quality of life for citizens of the Soviet Union. If i recall correctly, their average life spans actually plummeted. They merely changed one master for another. USA' whisperings of "freedom" only benefitted the oligarchy//bourgie
LOL The guy you all hate and fear, the big bad Putin turned things around long ago. The quality of life is just fine here, thanks for asking. It is in fact in may aspects way higher than in the so-called West, where I have also lived for long enough to know. Also how should the "freedom" help if it is only a curtain for a international oligarchy to strip the countries of their wealth?
Cool fact about Grazhdanskaya Oborona you haven't mentioned: In the year of 1987 Egor and his Band got a chance to play on a Novosibirsk Rock festival, so they had to write fake lyrics to their songs - it was the only way for the amateur band to get on a show. After passing the censorship control, they entered the stage under the name of "Adolf Hitler" and were singing about holocaust and third reich. The crowd gone wild, of course. They had plenty of time to play before their performance got stopped. Oleg Sudakov got his nickname "Manager" because he talked to the censors after the show so the band members weren't put a jail. Many people described the show as "the one and only time USSR had punk rock, that 30 minutes when GO was performing. Everything else was a post-punk". You can listen to the recording here: th-cam.com/video/vYOU6gd4nCI/w-d-xo.html
Paradoxically, the ‘80s ended up being the golden age of Russian rock. Sure, individual interesting bands continue to emerge. But many of the bands that did truly brilliant work during the ‘80s subsequently stopped living up to their own reputations. Case in point being the contemporary DDT and Akvarium, which have become little more than solo projects for Shevchuk and Grebenschikov. To a degree, being treated as morally authoritative because of their prior accomplishments has played a cruel joke on them. They go up and pontificate in front of the microphone when they have nothing original to say, simply because they are expected to say something profound. They are held hostage by the adage “a poet in Russia is more than a poet”.
An interesting fact is that Bruce Springsteen played a four hour concert in East Germany for half a million people that was broadcast on German television. Another is when I lived in Boston in the eighties and nineties Paul McCartney released an album of cover songs exclusively for the Soviet market. Copies flooded into major Americans cities as Russians used the vinyl album as currency. My buddy got one snd I had to have one too. It was very popular and eventually was released by Capitol Records worldwide including on that new format… the Compact Disc.
There's a lot of really exciting music coming out of modern Russia as well. Check out IC3PEAK, Shortparis, Husky, Utro, Dolphin, Ploho, etc. If you're willing to expand to the wider former Soviet Union, Molchat Doma out of Belarus is probably one of the most successful in the West
That's bullshit. Bob Dylan is original and at that appreciated all over the world. BG's works are mostly rip offs of western bands not widely known in the SU at that time.
don't use «GULAG» abbreviature as a synonim for jail. GULAG is the Main Administration of Camps. It's analogue for Federal Bureau of Prisons, for example. You can say «anoger trip to camps of GULAG», or maybe «another trip to camps»
Thanks so much for all this amazing footage and so many new bands to track down. I loved part one, was thrilled to see part two posted tonight even though it meant staying up too late, and eagerly await part three! :D This is just wonderful. Спасибо большое!
this really need part 3 exploring the 90s russian music
Here is a tune that lauds bands facing jail in 🎶 defiance:
th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
one word - АукцЫон
mumiy troll, korol i shut, nogu svelo and bi-2 should be mentioned if a part 3 is ever made
It's a pity that you paid so little attention to Yegor Letov and Siberian punk rock. Their unique dirty sound and complex lyrics are simply incredible, and Letov himself has become a cult figure among modern Russian youth.
Thank you very much for your efforts!
We celebrate such acts who risked it all to rock: th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
Yegor was my bridge to russian music a while back. Started listening to random youtube russian doomer playlists, and there was this guy singing a very long song passionately. I felt a need to look it up and it was called "Russian field of experiments". From there i started listening to the rest of his content and fell in love with the russian music culture :D
@@skillo6399 in fact Russian field of experiment is about Soviet union
yeah this is on point, also letovs other projects are super ahead of their time, especially his album satanism which sounds like no wave, but better
"yeeger leetov" lol
GROB means coffin in russian. That`s why they called it that.
GRazhdanskaya OBorona>>>> Gr.Ob
more about the work of Yegor Letov
th-cam.com/video/sfyhSJXcX7w/w-d-xo.html
don`t think it`s the main thing in this name. the abbriviation wasn`t given by Letov
GROB = Gr. Ob. = GRazhdanskaya OBorona = CIvil DEfense = CIDE
GROB = CIDE
Pun was intended.
It means grave, not coffin
I am surprised the video didn't mention Nautilus Pompilius who were probably the second most popular band after Kino. They became huge even earlier with their 1986 album "Разлука" which had a pack of bangers that you can hear on the radio till this day. But ill recommend you to listen to their more prog stuff from albums "Человек без имени" and "Наугад".
Songs like Музыка на песке, Чёрные птицы, Падший ангел, Боксёр, Тихие игры
th-cam.com/video/czAvAk0FIGM/w-d-xo.html
When talking about Nau, do not forget to mention "Скованные одной цепью".
Razluka was great, but after that they just sounded awful by using cheesy-sounding electronic instruments. I definitely think the great lyrics were still there, but the arrangements don't fit them at all.
@@parasatc8183 I didn't because "Скованные" is one of the bangers from "Разлука" that I mentioned.
And two albums I recommended are Nau's most guitar albums. There are no synths on "Наугад" at all and in terms of guitar playing, I think this is the best album in the entire history of Russian rock. I think in 89-91 Nautilus had their best sound. Reminds me of King Crimson's 80-s New-Wave period. The cheesy electronics you mentioned started after both guitar players left in 1993
@@SatEight I honestly think they started sounding cheesy starting with the release of Князь тишины in 1987 or 1988 if I'm not mistaken. I don't like the synth trumpets at all plus the bass doesn't sound dynamic
@@parasatc8183 That was their first official release on Мелодия. Of course, it had more pop sound. And already their next LP didn't sound like that. Does the song I linked "Музыка на песке" sound cheesy to you?
Victor Tsoi was extremely introverted individual and mostly sang about deep universal sadness (not his personal) especially in his latest songs. He was extremely sensitive man and would not sing much about external conditions including politics. "pack of cigarettes" has a similar mood as "song with unhappy end" or "sadness".
Especially Vopros, the question. "please tell me the world all over, be surprised by the number of years that passed, please tell me how you live as a shooting target, I have a question to you that you will never answer"
Oh i thought he was extroverted
Maybe not directly about politics but his songs often have strong political connotations
That's BS. He sang one of the most influencial political song named "Summer is ending"
Also "Peremen" aka "Change"
@@SenkaBandit Don't listen to him.
Thank you for this really well-researched and well-presented video on an era of music that is very dear to me (in spite of me having been born a little later). Just a few random nitpicks and comments:
-The abbreviation GrOb is pronounced as one word, since that also happens to be the Russian word for "coffin".
-Using the song Leto to represent Mike Naumenko and his band Zoopark might be a little misleading, since he specifically wrote that song as a friendly parody of Viktor Tsoi's early songs. The movie Leto adds to the confusion by implying that he wrote the song before getting introduced to Tsoi, even though the full title of the song has always been "Leto (a Song for Tsoi)".
-Mashina Vremeni and DDT also still exist and perform, and both of their leaders are well known for being politically outspoken. As for Aquarium, it has long been largely viewed as a Grebenshchikov solo project, whether fairly or not.
I totally appreciate this! I figured there would be some nuances I'd miss without growing up in the culture, and without knowing the language. I'm surprised to hear that Leto was a parody song, but then again, that seems to happen a lot where the not-so-serious song ends up being the hit (thinking Creep by Radiohead...)
Leto is a wonderful movie in my opinion, but as it frequently admits to the viewer, many of the events depicted did not happen. In fact, as far as I know it was Boris of Akvarium who discovered Kino and helped them produce their first album, and not Mike. I think the film selected Mike because he also died young and was more similar in age to Tsoi, allowing for a love triangle plot.
@@Bandsplaining Leto is not quite a parody, rather a dedication to the friend. For a foreigner, you made an exceptionally good work, only it's a pity it's so short. If you want to learn more, I greatly recommend Alexey Pivovarov's documentary about Leningrad rock club (th-cam.com/video/VVfsaR97BUM/w-d-xo.html). And yes, Moscow and Sverdlovsk rock scenes of Soviet times deserve more attention, though most bands are already forgotten even in Russia.
Personal favorite Mike Naumenko tune: th-cam.com/video/IyjlJsjmuGE/w-d-xo.html
Here is a song about the punks who stood up for their belief--
th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
Interesting fact: Vova Blue means Vova Drunk.
Blue is an euphemism of drunk in Russian
I've been looking for their music. Can't find it anywhere
Blue is a euphemism for being gay in Russian (голубой человек)
@@taylorstevenson5099 Try Rutracker. I doubt you can actually buy it somewhere.
@@sweettendercharles1556 Not in this case. Literal translation would be Vova Dark Blue.
@@Al1987ac Oh, I see - Вова Синий. Thanks!
11:00 Sudakov wasn't Letov's manager. "Manager" was Oleg's stage name. He played with Letov not only in Gr.Ob (which by the way is not pronounced like G.R.O.B. but like "Grob" - "Гроб", which in Russian stands for "coffin"), but also in many side projects like Коммунизм, Анархия, Армия Власова, Цыганята и Я с Ильича.
Letov also had a great psychedelic garage rock band "Егор и Опизденевшие".
Ahhh thanks for the clarification. Егор и Опизденевшие sounds sick. Kinda reminds of the Elephant 6 bands, though I think this predates them by a couple years.
@@Bandsplaining This group existed from 1990 to 1993. In 1989, when ГрОб became super popular, and many rock groups began to make good money, Letov disbanded ГрОб in protest and thus prevented it from becoming part of rising show business. He created a new band, changed the style, and used an obscene word "Опизденевшие" in the name so that the band would never be broadcast on radio or television. But in 1993, shocked by the shooting of the White House, Letov gathered the ГрОб again to conduct communist propaganda and became the face of the National-Bolshevik Party.
@@Bandsplaining In addition, the word Manager (pronounced through [ʌ], by the way) is consonant with the word "managa" - hemp broth in milk. In our youth, we associated the stage name of Oleg Sudakov with this, and not with the word "manager" :) I don't know if we were right or not.
@@SatEight He wasn't exactly conducting communist activities after the events of 1993 - the primary purpose of Nazbol back then at least was to unite the Russian far-left and far-right against Yeltsin.
@@parasatc8183 well, he was. Letov was in the National Bolshevik Party because he believed that they were the only ones who could really do something. But his attitude towards the extreme left and extreme right is well known - he considered communism "the kingdom of God on earth," and called Barkashov and the other rightists degenerates. Just compare song like "Родина" which is full of USSR nostalgia to the song "Общество Память" where he openly mocked nationalists. His entire "nationalism" essentially consisted in the fact that he considered all Soviet people to be one nation. This is very far from the rightists' "Russia for Russians" bullshit. Limonov himself complained that Letov constantly criticizes him - "More red!"
In fact, I would not really like to discuss Letov's political views, because they are not very interesting to me and they have changed over the years so we have to constantly clarify "Oh, that was in 1987, and in 1995 he thought like this"
To me personally, Pack of cigarettes is not the most depressing song of Tsoi, Good Night (Spokionaya Noch) is. Maybe not in the lyrics, but sound design.
Еще песня отличная у Цоя, называется "Вера", отличная с одноименного альбома
Liberator intense, нет у Цоя ни такого альбома, ни такой песни.
@@sunduk83 Не, ты вбей Вера с альбома Вера, и найдешь, хотя блин может там гугл, вбей по английски тогда Faith, найдешь наверное
@@ZeCrazymedic шутка про the cure, я так понимаю
listen to April by Kino, great song
Excellent work. Thank you for sharing.
Glad to see you here
Here's a song about Soviet punk bands risking life for 🎶
th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
You could have mentioned Yanka Dyagileva, a noise punk folkie who didn't last very long but has some evocative songs in her discography, from the one minute lo-fi My Sorrow Is Luminous to the epic 8 minute Priyot Voda.
I think a 3rd part would be really interesting since Russia in the 90's was a chaotic time, to say the least, and many musicians who were underground went through a lot of changes in the 90's (like Yegor Letov, who made a lot of his best known songs during the 90's and who also joined the National Bolshevik Party). A lot the time the story about Russia stops in 1991 when that couldn't be further from the truth.
WHAT ABOUT YANKA????
@@tahaistheboss98 How the fuck could I forget Yanka. Many nights I've gone on walks through the city I live in, listening to her music. It's too fucking good.
@@tahaistheboss98 по трамвайным рельсам янка ушла и не вернулась...
Exactly. The constitutional crisis of 1993 was the primary inspiration for Grazhdanskaya Oborona's "Солнце переворот" released in 1996 if I'm not mistaken, with songs like "Родина", "Мёртвые", and "Забота у нас такая". They released another album in 1997 but both albums I mentioned were recorded in 1993 and they didn't record any original material until 2004 (they released an album in 2002 which just consisted of Soviet classic songs played in a psych rock + punk style). Letov wouldn't bother anymore with politics soon after however and he left the Nazbol party in 1999. Such was the case until his death.
@@parasatc8183 АРМАГЕДДОН-ПОПС
Well, as a non russian speaker, I like this video and it's really helpful to me. But.. yeah, even so many comments already told about that, I hope you should put more about "Grazhdanskaya Oborona". That's my favorite Russian(soviet) rock band and I think they are important to Russian rock history. But also, Thank you to making these series!
This is the only channel where I can ask for some review on 60's, 70's and 80's argentinian rock scene, one of the most underated high quality music out there...
What in argentinian scene is wortth listenibg? Can u make a list?
@@egorsurimov5996
I will name just 10 albums, but there are too many gems missing here, as we are talking of a 50 years period.
"Artaud", Pescado Rabioso (1973)
"Clics modernos", Charly García (1983)
"Manal", Manal (1970)
"Oktubre", Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota (1986)
"Divididos por la felicidad", Sumo (1985)
"Almendra", Almendra (1969)
"La era de la boludez", Divididos (1993)
"30 minutos de vida", Moris (1970)
"Canción animal", Soda Stereo (1990)
"Alta suciedad", Andres Calamaro (1997)
@@elu8003 ty
@@egorsurimov5996 Please take a time to hear Gustavo Cerati's "Bocanada" album.
@@egorsurimov5996 listen to anything from Luis Alberto Spinetta, Almendra, Pescado, Invisible, etc
you really spoke not enough about Grazdanskaya Oborona, they was and still are the icon of russian punk and rock scene
true that
True, true…
Also, Kino's Перемен! (15:15) for the last two months or so has been an unofficial hymn of Belarusian protests against Lukashenko (the guy, who's - totally fairly and legitimately - been the country's president for the past 26 years). There's quite a spike on Google trends and lastfm. If you search for it, you'll find videos of the song being sung by crowds of thousands protesters. People have literally been arrested for playing it.
Yeah, reminds me of that "X before/ X now" meme with X being dictator.
I mean, really, to imprison people for playing a song? That guy's nuts. The song does not even call for a rebel or anything, just merely expresses a demand for a change and frustration with the lack of it.
As far as I remember, the song's been somewhat of a hymn for Belarus' protests since much earlier with the song being, can't believe it, oficially banned in 2011.
It's also very often played on russian anti-government rallies as well
Zhive Belarus \m/
@@Kirshach It's been a protest song for decades, even being reported to have been sung during the August coup in 1991.
The Cure moment
Well, if only Tsoy knew how people will corrupt his ideas and abuse his songs.
you should do a video on the Cambodian psychedelic rock scene during the late 60s and early 70s.
Type here "Vietnamese rock" 1968-1972
All your stuff is so high quality, it's clear you have a real passion for it. Thanks for making it!
Here is a R.E.M Clash like take on Soviet punk-- th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
АукцЫон is my favorite band that came out of ссср
ussia, they are still playing and have evolved to much higher level since their beginning
Doroga is just a classic
@@0hn0haha I would say it is the most popular of their songs. Btw, I am also a huge fan of AuktsYon. "Girls Sing" album recored with western musician(mostly from the US, I guess) is a must-listen thing!
Yegor letovs voice is absolutely beautiful
Yanka was the Sylvia Plath of the Siberian scene.
something like that, yeah.
Jeff McDonald Here is a fund about 80's Soviet protest punk:
th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
i came across a spotify playlist called russian post-punk like a year ago and have been obsessed since. i like to listen to music in languages i dont know while i do homework. it never occurred to me what a deep history this music id been mindlessly listening to had and what a privilege it was to be able to listen to it. great vid!
Made my day, I was waiting for this.
Here is a tune about Soviet punks daring to tell it all:
th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
Amazing subject and footage. Much preciate it! Thnx a lot
как же я рад) обожаю наших Легенд и как же хорошо что их не забывают
I w atched both Part 1 one and part 2 , I grew up in Moscow and was involved very heavily in punk rock scene since 1984. I think I can see myself in the audience at one of the shows )))). Good job, pretty accurate account of the scene, although there was more to it . Thanks !!
It is truly amazing and a bit sad, that I uncovered so much of my country bands history on this channel. Great story, exceptional work. I had goosebumps though out the whole video. Thank you
Hey bro...here is a song that lauds Soviet era protest punk:
th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
Here is a song that lauds such Soviet era protest punk! th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
The saddest song of KINO is a "Легенда" (the legend).
Of course "saddest" is not the word
The saddest songs by Kino are on their last Black album. A feeling of early, premature and inevitable departure is in these songs.
Their song "The tree (Derevo)" from their first album "45" is way sadder...
@@alanmt8819 others talked about the "saddest" being "спокойная ночь" or "пачка сигарет" but "дерево" is definitely the one that affects me the most, I still cry sometimes when I listen to it, you also need to understand its lyrics, a shame it isn't more known
@@Praephyr So true! Another good one is "In the kitchen" (Na Kukhne), but "The Tree" is just an embodiment of depression.
Я думаю сюда больше подходят слова "уныние", "тоска" и "безысходность"
Very well done piece of documentary of a scene that is mostly obscure for westerners, I was really looking forward for this vid since I came across the Part 1. I would relly love to see a continuation of this video up until the 2010's or even better a deep dive into the origins of this Russian/Bielorussian/soviet post punk/dark wave scene that is becoming so increasingly popular with bands such as Molchat Doma, Human Tetris, Motorama etc.
Also izhevsk shoegaze scene in early 90's, or moskow abstract hip hop(Kunteynir, Рыночные Отношения, Черная Экономика)
Truth telling in dictatorships with a guitar and pen 🎶
th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
This is a look at the history of rock in the USSR from the St. Petersburg rock club. It is strange that at the same moment, the Soviet bandstand was not just "weighted down" but metallized. Groups like KRUIZ, Aria, Master, Black Coffie, First Aid - were allowed on the stage more often than the listed punk bands. Back then, almost every pop artist considered it their duty to release a metal album. For example, Sofia Rotaru, Alla Pugacheva and many others.
Probably had something to do with hair metal being popular in the West (after all, many western trends did come to the Soviet Union a few years late). I mean, Rotaru's and Pugacheova's metal albums were kinda watered down. 🤷🏻♂️
This is my favorite musical channel now, there is no going back
Thanks a lot for your videos on the Soviet Rock Scene.
I was working in Russian in mid 90's and at that time purchased loads of music on CD. There are other great bands not mentioned like Nautilus Pompilius, Igor Talkov, Tschizj&Co and ChaiF to mention a few.
What is mentioned in the video is something that is very unique to many Soviet/Russian bands, the lyrics. Sometimes political messages had to be wrapped in lyrics, which makes Viktor Tsoy's and Jura Schevchuk's songs very hard to decipher. However in late 80's came Igor Talkov and sang out loud what he thought of his country, its politics and life in Soviet Union.
Many bands continue to this day like Time Machine, ChaiF and DDT, though the latter has been banned as its leader said the famous words - "Russia is a poor old woman selling potatoes at a railway station, not the president's @ss that you have to kiss and lick ...". And Maksim Pokrovskiy of the band Nogu Svelo! (Leg cramp) is more active than ever singing out his support for Ukraine.
Soviet/Russian rock isn't for anyone but I love it a lot. Maybe it's the mix of the Russian culture that sort of adopts Western culture, spice it with DNA from Pushkin, Griboedov, Akhmatova, Gorkij and many others. That's why, in my mind, many bands don't bother to do a career in the West - "the music is for Russians only".
But to add to the list - have a go at Agata Kristie, Little Tragedies, Sunchild, and the Ukrainian band Okean Elzi that is on the barrikades today supporting the heroes of Ukraine.
Finally, two notes; the book I mentioned in my comment to part 1 is actually written by Artjem Troitski and I recently got hold of a 3CD-box with Strange Games. I was actively looking for them as the singer Nastya Poleva made a cover of one of their songs on her album Dance On The Toetips and found this album on Discogs.
Talkov is cheesy dogshit, and also a plagiarist. No need any kind of mentioning.
My first introduction to Russain rock was S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Misery mod. I found that after playing COP and heard kino's blood type. I went down a rabbit hole but clearly It goes much further than I imagined.
A lot of people don’t realize that The Soviet Union had an illegal underground rock music scene long before the 70s and 80s with some of the earliest examples going all the way back to 1959 and probably even earlier than that. There’s actually a fun little movie about it that came out in the early 90s, it was a historical comedy drama called “Red Hot”
th-cam.com/video/dLdn5azlNB0/w-d-xo.html
Here’s the trailer
Hey...here is music video film lthing on protest Soviet punk:
th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
@@williamvonschenk2273
That was a really good video, I really enjoyed it. Thanks for that. It’s a powerful testament of the human spirit’s refusal to be censored. Not even the totalitarian monster of communism in Russia and the whole Iron Curtain of 20th century Eastern Europe combined could defeat the power of Rock ‘N’ Roll!
As a way to return the favor to thank you properly for sending me your link, here’s a link to an album featuring a ton of bands from the Eastern Bloc underground music scene in the 1980s. The album goes for a full hour and 19 minutes
th-cam.com/video/ZD8kJq51uFM/w-d-xo.html
@@thehedgehogsdilemma9478 Thank you! That is EXACTLY what inspired me to produce the song and video! There is 20/20 clarity in history that gets lost in contemporary politics. Feel free to leave such comments on the video like leaving a note at "The Berlin Wall"! :-)
Some of the best rock/metal music is done under pressure. Be it political, societal, mental or whatever. Estonia's punk scene was absolutely legendary before collapse of soviet union. After that they kind of didn't had any material to rebel against :)
Thank you for this video.
oh, and
TSOI ZHIV! :D
Yegor Letov and his music sounds so awesome (especially song "Ophelia")
Yeah, tame impala's the less you know the better sounds like it
@@egorsurimov5996 wow, it sounds so similar
Thanks! Excellent. Brings it all back, with much I never knew.
There is many aspects of russian/soviet history that I, as a Russian, am not proud of. Music, however, is not one of them. Thank you for making these videos, sir. I bow deeply.
as the person who was born and lived there, I want to express a high appreciation for this amazing and accurate detailed work!
I’ll add my voice to those below who suggested the 3rd part of this series - for the most of those who’s familiar with the scene of ‘80-‘91 it would be a logical summary to finish this story with what the 90s has brought to the table eventually after the total freedom of expression truly came - from ‘91 to ‘00. some of the most definitive names from that time are: Zamfira, Bi-2, Splean, Pilot, Okean Elzy, etc;
many of them are still performing to this day, but it really would make more sense to cover their output up until ‘00 in the framework of the particular subject of these 2 videos - as in general sense as well as considering further shift in songwriting approach and overall vibe for the most of the artists. up until 2000s the scene was by large still experiencing the transition period but not yet gone far enough from the Rock Club to make direct connections and, really, this resulted in a very distinctive and authentic high quality rock music (importantly - with a familiar modern level of sound recording and production), which is hard to characterise in words. so my strong suggestion is to dive a bit deeper into the subject for the host of the channel to have the full picture of the impact that the Rock Club has laid foundation for by the fact of its existence.
(pop and electronic scenes were a fucking wiiiiild acid trip by their own rights btw as well loool)
anyway - a great job on these two, man 👏🏼 appreciated!
Never been so excited for a new TH-cam video
Damn, that's a really well-researched and compiled video! It was nice to hear the overview of Russian rock movement from the outsider perspective.
But for me,the biggest omission is the lack of mention of another big rock band in the 80s-90s Russian scene-Nautilus Pompilius. They had different lineups throughout the years,so the music was very different from period to period and their lyrics were among the best in Russian rock. Although they became extremely popular in the 90s,their 80s output was really popular too,so in my opinion their mention would be appropriate.
Thanks! A few other people have mentioned Nautilus Pompilius, so they're definitely on my list to check out.
Old school Sverdlovsk Rock was great. Another great band was Aprelskiy Marsh.
Thank you for posting that Forum song. I can't stop listening to it
Viktor Tsoi of Kino was really the Cobain of russian rock. Even on the peak of his stardom and fame he was as raw and honest as ever, and died young as a bright star. I think his legacy would've been tampered by the producers and pop scene of the late 90's and 00's if he remained alive.
Скорее уже Летов, только он еще долго не умирал, но роспуск обороны это был ход на уровне я считаю
He was more like russia's Ian Curtis. Cobain's style is completely different
I just wonder, if there is any fan Tsoi museum in Moscow?
@@RadioStreetsunited You could go to his Wall - it is located at the house №37, at the intersection of Arbat Street and Krivoarbatsky Lane
@@e.s.g.5997 This is not a museum. He had so much fans but there's still no museum in Moscow where he lived with Natalia his last three years. Just a shame.
This is very well-timed, as it's been 30 years since Tsoi's death, and I also happen to be revisiting Kino's discography on Spotify.
Господи, я так рад что, кто-то на западе рассказывает о нашей музыке!
Thanks man, was about time for an update 😄👍🥳😍
Awesome documentary!
It would be great to continue this topic by comparing and contrasting the Soviet Rock scene with the other countries of the "Eastern Block", like DDR, Poland, Czechoslovakia or Hungary.
Definitely a good idea to continue with the scenes in those countries. I think the GDR scene is interesting because there were also plenty of punk and new wave bands that emerged from there with the same objective of rebelling against the system. The PRL scene is also interesting but to a lesser degree IMO, even though there were perhaps better-sounding bands like Siekiera.
Here is a music film tribute to the Rsdtern block punk:
th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
This is a great video. Grate job. thank you!
Would be cool, if you at least mentioned the Soviet heavy metal legends, bands like Aria (Ария), Master (Мастер) and most importantly Kruiz (Круиз), which even became famous in Europe at the end of 80-s, when they were signed by WEA. These bands paved the way for really heavy music in the USSR and post-soviet countries.
Good one, many thanks. I would encourage you to take a look at other eastern block scenes. There were awesome bands in Poland ( including only alternative/punk festival ), Yugoslavia and other countries.
Great words of respect and admiration from me and, i hope, all Russians for sharing the history of our country, its culture, its logic and life!✊🌝
From Russia with love.❤️🇷🇺
Thank you!
Fantastic video. I'd been waiting for it and was not disappointed. I love your videos. I'm looking forward to more.
"Posledniy geroy" is the greatest song I have ever heard
Wow
One of my favorites !!!
Fantastic insight and very appreciated. Respect.
Be quite! By Vova Blue reminds me "Blue Monday" so much
Its sampled
Wow, such a great work! I'm glad to see that our foreign friends learn our, russian underground music. Personally I suggest you to listen Yegor Letov's side project "Yegor And Opizdenevshie" (Егор И Опиздиневшие) and reggae band "Komitet Ohrany Tepla" (Комитет Охраны Тепла).
Классный ролик, жаль, что ничего, кроме песен, не понял
есть субтитры с переводом
Нет русских субтитров
@@DeZ7Z Выбираешь английские (создано автоматически), после этого открываешь иконку субтитров снова и жмёшь "перевести", а там выбираешь Русский. Переводит немного коряво, но основной смысл можно понять. Не благодари.
Ребята, есть словари и переводчики
@@Barra-q5o Это долго
I was in Leningrad in June 1987 and being a musician myself I performed one concert there with the Dutch band I was in. As I understood it Akvarium was the most revered underground band at the time, not Kino. Probably because Akvarium had been around a bit longer already.
When I was there the Rock Club had organised a festival lasting several days featuring bands from Leningrad only. I saw Televisor playing live. DDT. Alissa. Strange Games. A couple more… Sadly I missed Akvarium but their bass player managed to get our band an unofficial slot in the program and so we played a short set (in the Palace Of The Youth where the festival was held), being in fact the only Western band to perform at the festival.
The next year we were invited to do some concerts in Poland, as was Televisor. We all happened to stay at the same hotel (near Gdansk) and became friends. In 1989 Televisor toured my home country The Netherlands, we were their support act on one occasion. I have lots more stories to tell (seeing Pop Mechanika live was a big thrill)… Maybe another time… ;)
Nice documentary. Thanks.
Great stories, thanks for sharing! How was it partying with the Leningrad bands?
@@Bandsplaining My pleasure. :-)
Well… One party has been particularly memorable for me because it got me my first hangover ever. Plus… that was a very nice beach party we had, our hotel being right next to the Baltic Sea. Party consisting of our band, Televisor and a couple of Polish mates. I remember singing Beatles songs together, oh and by the way, the previous year I had discovered how immensely loved The Beatles were in Soviet-Russia, John Lennon most of all. During one of Televisor’s concerts in Poland we joined them onstage to do a powerful rock version of Lennon’s “Give Peace A Chance”.
Televisor were indeed a politically-driven band. I couldn’t understand their lyrics but lead singer Mikhael Barzykin once explained to me how he had to circumvent censorship by way of using metaphors. So the ‘fascist’ in “Your Daddy - Fascist” is meant to be quite the opposite. Equally lambasting the system was a song that stated that ‘the fish starts rotting at the head’. Using metaphors was a tactic that every Russian underground band had to employ, to some extent at least, to be able to perform or get records played. Such is my recollection.
Concerning the 1987 festival I wrote about earlier… All the set lists, i.e. lyrics, from all the bands were subjected to mandatory screening and approval by a special board prior to the live performances. Strange days indeed.
Damn I just finished watching the first part and didn’t realize until the end of this video that it was posted only 20 minutes ago
Here is a anthem for disaffected Moscow rockers:
th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for always shining light on great music that is not often known to the public. Always able to find gems in your videos
Please upload more! you're without a doubt my favourite channel and I always check to see if you've uploaded. If you're taking any requests, I think exploring what lead to the sudden massive interest in American blues music over in the UK during the early '60s, which lead to the Stones, Cream, The Beatles, etc. Some people mention that soldiers stationed over there in the war left over some records, which then made their way into the hands of the youth. Anyway, should make for a good topic.
One thousand nine hundred sixty )) Long before the Beatles, the very first British Blues rock.
th-cam.com/video/n327ncoU_ZU/w-d-xo.html
Dude. I just finished part 1. And I am so excited to watch part 2. Thank you very much for the amazing effort and quality I'm your work. Top shelf
great video. I'd love seeing on this with the Polish rock/punk scene of the 80's, it has very similar lines with the soviet scene
Here is a tune about Eastern protest punk: th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
15:26 one of my all time eastern post punk songs. And Kino in generall is really good.
I've always been interested of what happed behind the iron curtain, escpecially with music and this answers it all.
Thank you so very much my friend
Listening to Kino was actually helping with my declining mental health. Even if I cant speak fluent russian, only a hanfull of phrases and words I could make sence of his songs. And they where 9/10 correct estimations. I dont know why or how but the song "close the door behind me, I'm leaving now" (dont have chryllic keyboard) taught me to just leave everything that hurts me behind and do things that do me good.
A real eye opener, probably even saved my life.
Anyway, when I heard the first strokes of "Pack of Ciggarettes" I shed a tear. Thank you again
Nice ! Цой жив !
I can't wait for the next stop. Thanks for this amazing journey!
Nice! Part 2 is great! I wonder if there is a better translation of "Братья по разуму". Like-minded brothers? Although 'Brothers of the Mind' sounds more interesting in this case :)
7:00 Гражданская оборона, ГРОБ for short. FYI гроб means coffin.
The "zh" sound in Brezhnev, Grazhdanskaya, Zhenya is pronounced more like "genre" or "vision".
9:15 Joanna Stingray! Haha, I'm currently reading her book. She's from Cali. USA+CCCP=BFF =)
I think "Братья по разуму" is a pretty common phrase in Russian sci-fi about extraterrestrial lifeforms, where the most fitting translation is usually something like "fellow sentient beings".
@@vonPeterhof that's a good one!
The "you have to submit your music and lyrics before being approved to play", that same central planning was picked up in the 90s at Gilman Street Project in Berkeley.
Excellent video. I hope your next one is about New Russian Group (NRG) and/or Alliance, or Bioconstructor. I don't know if there's enough to make a video about them, but they're pretty great.
Surprisingly detailed. I grew up around this and I know more now after watching your video.
When you talk about labor camps, you need to clarify that these are not GULAGs. These are ordinary prisons that were located all over the country, not just in Siberia. Most often musicians were taken to the army or to a psychiatric clinic. The prison sentence was not for music, but for illegal commercial activities(ticket sale). But people were jailed for this very rarely.
One need to clarify that 1. GULAG is not a prison or a labour camp, but the wardens of such camp. So everytime someone says "he was sent to gulag" they say that he was sent to be a warden. 2. "GULAG" disappeared in 1954 and was replaced by "GUIN" ("FSIN" nowadays). 3. In 1980s soviet labour camps were more or less
indistinguishable from any american prison with attached factory, the very same "corrective labour colony" can be found in any post-soviet country. The labour camps of 1930s-1940s changed into a proper penitentiary system by 1960s-1970s. What didn't change are the myths about gulag in the west.
@@Itoyokofan yeah. thank you.
@@Itoyokofan Wait for real - gulag doesn't even refer to the prison camp itself?
And I guess I knew that the conditions and horror stories that fueled western propaganda about "gulags" didn't persist ubiquitously all the way to the SU's collapse (although it's kind of hard to really know for sure isn't it? given that the state never stopped the propaganda and censorship), but I did assume that per-capita prisoners was always much higher than in so-called "free" countries. How could it not be with such extensive laws and such a massive law enforcement bureaucracy?
That said, I wouldn't be surprised if the US's current rate of imprisonment rivals that of the Soviet Union's in the 70s and 80s, if not surpassing it - the prison industrial complex is very real.
None of that is an excuse though, regardless of how also-guilty western governments are of the things they were accusing the Soviets of - massively centralized political regimes ruling over the lives of millions arbitrarily through social engineering, propaganda, taxation, censorship, suppression, surveillance and violence is always morally repugnant and serves the privileged few at great cost to the many (and they'll typically work hard to pump out propaganda claiming the exact opposite - as they did in the SU and as we continue to see in "progressive social democracies" today - and I include the US under that banner because at this point they barely pay lip service to constitutional restraint, separation of powers and the republicam legislative process).
All governments do it to some degree or another, US is nowhere near as wholesome and moral as they made themselves out to be during the cold war, but a lot of time in these youtube doc it seems people are apologizing for soviet communism. Could be they're just trying to correct exagerrated western propaganda, but I think there's no way around the fact that the Soviet Empire was at it's core a deeply immoral, manipulative, exploitative and dreadful scam, that the big lie of a state being "for the worker" is just that - a big lie. Propaganda. The marginal workers and poor are always made worse off by a more centralized and imposing government, and no amount of propaganda and 'social services' can make up for the deprivation of one's natural right to body and property (IMO).
And I guess I just wonder if all these commenters that are (probably correctly) pointing out exagerrations and lies we were taught about soviet communism in the west agree with me on that, or if they think that the soviet system was fundamenrally good, (or good in theory, or actually good in practice on net). If it's the latter, I'd have to push back on that hard. Especially in these 2020 times as governments across the world have been re-implementing communist/fascist methods of control and subjugation, with a technocratic 21st century twist. Just the idea of imposing such a massive government and public sector onto a population is immorap and self serving (or completely delusional)
Here is a tribute to such
Soviet punk bands-- th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
Thank You. I don't know if Bansplaining just didn't see it or he is deliperately being deceptive but he inaccurately frames "Censorship" and "Underground". As you say the majority of charges against musicians weren't for the content of the music but because they were operating as a private business by selling records or concert tickets. Likewise, bands weren't "underground" because they didn't sell records/tickets. It was the natural condition of music in USSR to be free, people were free to perform they just could make a profit from it.
Finally he frames the "End of oppression" is hen musicians were allowed to sell records/concert tickets.
Giving like even before watching it because I know for sure that the video is pure gold, thanks to all your research and efforts giving us all these amazing content from your channel. Kudos to you and please keep it up!
The most tragic part of the story was how changing political systems did very little in improving the quality of life for citizens of the Soviet Union. If i recall correctly, their average life spans actually plummeted. They merely changed one master for another. USA' whisperings of "freedom" only benefitted the oligarchy//bourgie
LOL The guy you all hate and fear, the big bad Putin turned things around long ago. The quality of life is just fine here, thanks for asking. It is in fact in may aspects way higher than in the so-called West, where I have also lived for long enough to know. Also how should the "freedom" help if it is only a curtain for a international oligarchy to strip the countries of their wealth?
i was born in USSR(1968). life in the USSR was much worse than in Russia now
Great video! Thank you so much!!!
Pronounciation of all the names and places is so funny))
I just love the way this guy said "Леонид Брежнев"... Sounded something like "Lenoid" X)
СПУКИ МУ
thankyou so much. this was enlightening, and makes me not forget to take for granted the artistic freedoms we have in Australia.
I love КИНО, Это не любовь is my favorite album
These are fantastic Documentaries!! Keep it up. 😎
"Time machine" (Машина времени) was not underground at all. "Time machine" was officially the member of the Soviet music organisation.
Макароныч всегда приспосабливался.
You have my deepest gratitude for introducing me to this bands and their history. Please, keep it up!
Please, do a video on the punk scene in eastern Germany. There's an amazing book called Burning down the haus.
Felipe Mendoza second this, I want to know more about GDR music too
Die Vision is a good start
How does this creator only have 98k followers? This is great content, and are very much appreciated.
Cool fact about Grazhdanskaya Oborona you haven't mentioned: In the year of 1987 Egor and his Band got a chance to play on a Novosibirsk Rock festival, so they had to write fake lyrics to their songs - it was the only way for the amateur band to get on a show. After passing the censorship control, they entered the stage under the name of "Adolf Hitler" and were singing about holocaust and third reich. The crowd gone wild, of course. They had plenty of time to play before their performance got stopped. Oleg Sudakov got his nickname "Manager" because he talked to the censors after the show so the band members weren't put a jail. Many people described the show as "the one and only time USSR had punk rock, that 30 minutes when GO was performing. Everything else was a post-punk". You can listen to the recording here: th-cam.com/video/vYOU6gd4nCI/w-d-xo.html
It's always so nice when foreigners try to explain and popularize our classic rock!!! Great video! The first part too
Paradoxically, the ‘80s ended up being the golden age of Russian rock. Sure, individual interesting bands continue to emerge. But many of the bands that did truly brilliant work during the ‘80s subsequently stopped living up to their own reputations. Case in point being the contemporary DDT and Akvarium, which have become little more than solo projects for Shevchuk and Grebenschikov. To a degree, being treated as morally authoritative because of their prior accomplishments has played a cruel joke on them. They go up and pontificate in front of the microphone when they have nothing original to say, simply because they are expected to say something profound. They are held hostage by the adage “a poet in Russia is more than a poet”.
I think the honor should go to those who risked lives to 🎶 th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
Russian Culture has a habit of flourishing despite insane amounts of state repression.
Sadly, i have to agree, much as i respect Shevciuk.
An interesting fact is that Bruce Springsteen played a four hour concert in East Germany for half a million people that was broadcast on German television.
Another is when I lived in Boston in the eighties and nineties Paul McCartney released an album of cover songs exclusively for the Soviet market. Copies flooded into major Americans cities as Russians used the vinyl album as currency. My buddy got one snd I had to have one too. It was very popular and eventually was released by Capitol Records worldwide including on that new format… the Compact Disc.
I love the list of music used, could you also add a list of citations and references. It'd be useful for reading more on the topics mentioned.
I don't know why TH-cam forgot I am subscribed to you. All of your videos are outstanding and I am glad I came back to your channel.
There's a lot of really exciting music coming out of modern Russia as well. Check out IC3PEAK, Shortparis, Husky, Utro, Dolphin, Ploho, etc. If you're willing to expand to the wider former Soviet Union, Molchat Doma out of Belarus is probably one of the most successful in the West
Totally underrated channel! Always awesome videos!
Thank you for making these videos, this period of russian music deserves to get more attention from the west
Here is an REM/Clash type tune about Moscow punk:
th-cam.com/video/8bLjItp-vyU/w-d-xo.html
Been waitinggg🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
А где упоминание Сергея Курёхина? Он же один из тех, кто действительно стоял у истоков...
Тоже очень удивилась что его не упомянули.
БГ Boris Grebenshikov could not make in America cuz "Aquarium" is absolutely russian like Bob Dylan is absolutely american.
That's bullshit. Bob Dylan is original and at that appreciated all over the world. BG's works are mostly rip offs of western bands not widely known in the SU at that time.
insane content, thank you soo much for your work
You should check out Vse Idet Po Planu (Everything's As Planned) by GrOb, it's an amazing "fuck you" to the soviets, still rings true to this day
Gotta say you have some of the best music history content of all time! So professional so educational, keep up the incredible work
don't use «GULAG» abbreviature as a synonim for jail. GULAG is the Main Administration of Camps. It's analogue for Federal Bureau of Prisons, for example. You can say «anoger trip to camps of GULAG», or maybe «another trip to camps»
Thanks so much for all this amazing footage and so many new bands to track down. I loved part one, was thrilled to see part two posted tonight even though it meant staying up too late, and eagerly await part three! :D
This is just wonderful. Спасибо большое!