The Disobedient Children of the Empire
The
Soviet rock music: debunking its myths
Сергей
Курий
издание
(журнал "Твоё
Время" №1/2003,
Украина)
link to the
original: http://ytime.com.ua/ru/17/2009/21/49
Translation by
Dmitry Berger
The Translator’s Foreword
The accepted narrative of
Soviet history including the relatively brief history of its rock music is a
story of a blindly oppressive regime and the artists striving to change it and
greatly suffering for their attempts to change the status quo. For a long time
I wished to address this oversimplified misconception of events and personas in
order to put them into the context of their time and culture. But since the author
of this article, Sergei Kuriy has already done it, I thought it would be more
appropriate to translate it rather than writing a new one.
The only thing I would like
to add is that however the author denounces the soviet rock musicians for their
ideological follies, in the end, he himself falls into the ideological trap,
claiming that the only way to save rock music is to have more ideology.
The reason for that is the
fact the soviet rock music from its very beginning was never about fun and love
and sex. Nothing like “Girls, girls, girls” or “ Fight for your right to
party.” Everything had to be dead serious, and that is something the author
does not seem to see as a problem. But the article is well researched and
should be read by any fan of the soviet rock.
“I know, it’s only
rock’n’roll but I like it!” would never apply to it. It never was only rock’n’roll.
The Disobedient Children of the Empire
"The time of rock’n’roll began with the Great Illusions
and ended with the crush of those Great Illusions."
(Mike Naumenko)
It is doubtful that even the most ambitious of the soviet era rock musicians
could have guessed at the dawn of their activity that after 10-20 years they
would become the true rock legends, even if in a single country. The amateur
and semi-professional collectives, most often a bunch of friends, classmates
and drinking mates, a good half of whom did not have neither philological nor
musical education, gave birth in 1980-s to the last true and creative
phenomenon in the USSR, known as the Soviet rock.
What
is strange is that there is still a huge number of people, and not the worst
ones at it, who continue listening to this so-called retrograde rock.
Therefore, if they listen and still pay attention to its message, that must
mean that it had something more than a common entertainment for teens. The entire generation grew up with
the songs by AQUARIUM, DDT, NAUTILUS and KINO. For many, their song became a
part of their culture as well as the songs by Vysotsky, Block’s poetry, novels
by Dostoevsky.
But
how serious and valid are claims by our rock music to have its place in the
culture? How was reflected in its art the history of the last years of the
Soviet Empire? What role it played itself?
Mythology
"Eat chips, drink milk,
just don’t throw a hummer into the sky
There, like a star burns brightly Russian rock,
round and simple like a pizza pie."
(V. Butusov)
Today,
when the “soviet rock” music as a phenomenon has all but died out, its history
and significance (not without the help from its direct participants) are being
utterly mythologized. Although diffident in attitude, the prevailing myths, a
positive as well as a negative one are very similar in their essence.
That
is the sound of the positive spin:
“
Soviet (or Russian) rock music - the original cultural phenomenon, an
absolutely unique transformation of the western musical form on the native
ground. The ideological and poetical predecessor of our rock music is the bard
Vladimir Vysotsky. Unlike the Western rock music, the Soviet rock demonstrates
the prevalence of lyrics over music. They mostly reflect youth’s expectations
and protest against the Soviet system that suppresses individual freedoms. The
Soviet Authorities in many different ways oppressed rock-musicians, instigated
a slander campaign in the press and even persecuted them. In the years of
perestroika rock-music stood in the forefront of the movement against the
soviet regime and help bring it down. With the soviet system’s collapsed, the
usual subjects of criticism by rock music were also gone and it had lost its
actuality. As a result, the cultural void became filled with pop-groups that
entertained the people tired of politics. In 1997, the interest to rock music
was resurrected with the resurgence of the new wave (МУМИЙ-ТРОЛЛЬ, ЗЕМФИРА, БИ-2). It found its niche in the new Russian show
business with a sole function to entertain the youth.
The
negative myth often echoes the positive one, although with some aesthetic
deviations and the condescending depiction.
“The
Soviet rock music is a homemade, primitive and unsuccessful copying of the
western originals. It held its own mainly on the social lyrics. However, in
musical terms it is secondary and seems rather like a poor-quality counterfeit.
When social protest lost its actuality, our rock’n’roll pathos also got
deflated. Besides, already for a while rock music has not been in the vanguard
of the modern music that adopted more popular forms, such as hip-hop,
electronic, etc.”
Therefore,
the difference between the two myths lies only in the recognition or the denial
of cultural originality of the soviet rock. Nonetheless, it is also an
important point of discussion. So happened that “ a poet in Russian is more
than a mere poet” The Soviet rock of the 1980-s, just like the western rock
music of the 60-s, was not simply a musical style, not just a lifestyle, not
even an unusual synthesis of words, music, rhythms and images. It was a true
ideology of youth. Even though our and their rock-revolutions happened under
the different circumstances, in both cases the main theme was the protest
against the hypocritical, stuffed and boring society. And in both cases the
revolutions suffered their crushing defeats, but in our case more atrocious and
disgraceful (however, it is a talk for later).
So, if we
acknowledge that our rock music has its own aesthetical and ethical ideology
than we must recognize that it is original and is different from its western
counterpart in the same way as the USSR differed from the USA and the Great
Britain. Moreover, the Soviet rock turned out to be the last fresh breezes of
spiritual creativity. Of course, before providing evidence for such
self-righteous declaration, I would like to stipulate that only a few of the
many rock groups, which particularly bred and multiplied during the
perestroika, stood the test of time. Yet, we do not intend to dig in the
garbage pile of one-day wonders and will talk only about the deserving
representatives of this movement.
The Guitar and the Word
"Spirit breaths where wishes and its voice
is heard,
yet is not know whence it comes and where it goes…"
(Gospel of John, 3, 8)
A
spiritual tradition does not just break off. The forms that the word assumes
can be unconventional, sometimes seemingly artificial and borrowed, but sooner
or later the true essence emerges through the exotic wrapper.
In
the soviet culture the word in its classical literary form sounded for the last
time in its full might during the times of Khrushev’s “thawing.” When the
voices of the 60-s quieted down – poetry began lacking. It somewhat faded out,
having found peace in the official writers’ unions, among the sketches of
nature and the monotonous references to the motherland.
Yet
the Word did not die. It resurrected in a new form of the bard, singer-songwriter’s
song, most fully expressed in the works of Vladimir Vysotsky. Soon, Vysotsky
himself began to loath the term bard. He longed to be perceived as poet, and
not be associated with the heroes of hitchhiking trails and the aesthetic of
amateur songs clubs. Even more so that those songs quickly degenerated into
ditties about, “isn’t great that we all got together today” and likeable but
shallow romanticism and satire.
Despite
the mentioned above, the word bards particularly was to the point characterizing
the main feature in the Word’s evolution – its return to the elements of
musical harmony and rhythm. However, in the bards’ art music played exclusively
a subordinate role. The main remained the voice and the lyrics.
The
attraction of this new form also lay in the fact that singing songs is a much
more natural way for people to express and relate to emotions than poetry
reading. Besides, reading poetry in a choir would seem a rather strange
exercise, meanwhile a collective performance of songs is a tradition sanctified
by millennia. Here, the shared emotional feeling has a communicative, bonding
(almost ritual) role. It is worth reminding that as early as in the 1970-s the
bards degenerated in such a marginal, self-devoured phenomenon, as the KSP (the
clubs of amateur songs), until these days resting peacefully in their tents.
Neither there is too much to say about the criminal, “blatnoy”, song that, for
some rare exceptions, had a very low artistic (forget about ideological) level.
And
yet, having began from the stylizations of the criminal songs, the art of
Vysotsky began its rapid evolution. In essence, the true word of the 1970-s was
embodied only by the raw and wild rattle and roar of this actor from Taganka
Theatre. The criminal lyrics were gone. Variety and versatility of Vysotsky’s
songs made the bigger part of the USSR’s population pay attention. The bard
achieve what no poet since Yesenin could, namely he became a true people’s
artist, in a sense the encyclopaedist of the era of stagnation.
Back in the USSR!
"Remember how it all began?"
(А.
Makarevich)
The
popular success of Vysotsky and the bards would be unthinkable without the
culture of tape-recorders, which, in effect, ushered in this success. The
tape-recorders infiltration also helped another new phenomenon penetrate the
Soviet vastness. Beside the reels of the bards there were appearing the
recordings of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Deep Purple, Pink Floyd… The
western rock music, this mash of illusions, artistic preferences and hopes of
the rebelling generation of the 1960-s, just them began to infuse our masses,
bewitching by its powerful energy, emotions and most importantly by the sense
of belonging to the life and the calamities behind the Iron Curtain. It was
something new, bright, not in the least stylish, a suitable alternative to the
dull reality of the stagnation, where “nothing ever happens.”
Naturally,
soon there popped out the domestic rock-heroes. Things went as expected: first
were covers of the western hits, next was the imitation in English and then… At
this point, the roads of the homegrown rockers split. Before long the least
principled and sweet-voiced ones turned into professional and silly VIA’s (the
vocal-instrumental ensembles, the official substitute for the seditious term
rock group), a kind of rock-stems implanted to the mighty tree of the Soviet
official entertainment. Those, whose attitude, professionalism (rather lack of
it) or style would prevent them from being accepted by the official culture, continued
on experimenting on the amateur stage, thus deprived of many conveniences but
retaining their creative freedom.
Yet
the former and the letter were united in one wish to sing their songs in the
native tongue. The first noticeable starts became Alexander Gradsky (a radical
from the official culture) (А. Градский)
and the Time Machine (МАШИНА ВРЕМЕНИ)
(the conformists from the “amateur” culture.) And if the rock of Gradsky seemed
pretentious and “too far from the people” due to his musical education, the
songs by Makarevich and Co soon were sung by the entire country. The
significance of the Time Machine in popularization of the Soviet rock music
(and also as a good counter-argument to the opponents of Russification of rock)
was enormous, despite the fact that starting 1980-s Makarevich consistently
abandoned everything he preached earlier.
But
there is a paradox: even though for the Soviet people the rock music began
invariably with the Time Machine, its lyrics did not have anything new in
particular. Let’s take a look at Makarevich’s songs with the sound off. What do
they resemble? The well-done bard poetry. They have the morality of fables
("Вагонные споры",
"Костер"),
and the traditional satire ("Старый корабль",
"Марионетки"),
the familiar lyrical imagery ("Все очень просто"), and even the
upbeat heroism ("Поворот").
What is not present is the new quality that matches the new musical form. In a
word,
The
bard lyrics to the rock’n’roll rhythm, the old wine in the new skins. When
Vysotsky was alive the lyrics by Makarevich could not produce an effect of
surprise.
But
in 1980, the star of the Great Bard had burned out, having left a gaping black
hole in the country’s spiritual cosmos. And as if on cue, in the same year two
friends from Leningrad presented to the world a entirely new aesthetic. A
mathematician Boris Grebenshikov journeyed to the Spring Rhythms festival in
Tbilisy, Georgia, and Mikhail (Mike) Naumenko recorded in the Young Technicians
Place (an official club for young lovers of technology) his first decent single
“Sweet N and others.” In the poetical space of the USSR appeared a new language
and a new art form.
The New Language
" I started singing in my own tongue.
I’m sure it is no accident …"
(К. Kinchev)
The
festival in Tbilisy saw a triumph and a scandal. The triumph was quite
deservingly and logically achieved by the Time Machine, and after that it
solemnly went to the official organization of Rossconcert, thus ending up right
in the row of the same VIA’s to whom it just recently stood in such opposition.
The further fate of this group was woeful…
The
scandal happened to the totally unknown collective from Leningrad, AQUARIUM.
The boys, who saw the big stage for the first time, decided to use this
occasion for all 100%. In that time, when singers were allowed only to
pretentiously move their hand and swing just little, Boris Grebenshikov, a.k.a.
GB, and his buddies created on the stage a little real witches Sabbath. The
drive and looseness of their stage presence compensated by the incoherent
lyrics and the “bordello” style of performance, seriously scared the festival
jury comprised of the soviet composers. Grebenshikov’s behaviour was described
as “an imitation of a homosexual act” (how would they know that?); the
“imitator” himself was fired from his day job and expulsed from the Young
Communist League (however, he restored his membership soon). The true
rock’n’roll life had began for Boris.
The
rumours of the scandal made Grebenshikov’s image wildly know among the narrow
circles and in 1981 the recorder-preserver of the Soviet rock music A. Tropillo
had began recording the legendary serious of Aquarium’s albums.
Shortly
after that, no less scandalously was announced the arrival of Mike Naumenko’s
group ZOOPARK that managed to shock even Makarevich with its explicit lyrics.
The
shock caused by those performances meant that something new, unusual had
appeared. I think that not in the least what affected this creation of the new
rock-culture language was a simple… lack of everything. When BG and Mike were
starting on their artistic path in the 1970-s, no one could even dream of the
adequate electrical musical equipment. Therefore, they had to express their
rock passion in the acoustic from using anything they could get. Thus in our
rock bands arsenals were included a flute, a bassoon, a cello and other
inventory of a symphonic orchestra. It is clear that in this situation one
cannot impress the audiences with electronic gizmos and 10-minute solos. And so
the stress was places on the lyrics.
Come to think of it, how does
a rocker with a guitar differ from a bard? There is understandably no clear
dividing line. Grebenshikov loved to sing romances, Shevchuk – chastuchki, a
humorous folk style of simple songs often with indecent context, Mike did
parodies on A. Severny, a performer of semi-criminal songs. Yet, there the
harmony and rhythm of their songs were unlike the three chords of bards and
urban “chanson.” The texts were even more distinct. They bore the
characteristics of the spoken language of their circle of friends and as a
consequence often used the slang of the youth, tended to use unusual,
unexpected and sometime absurd metaphors and like the stylistic variety, even
within a single composition. And since BG and Mike were well-educated people
their songs were filled with diverse quotes and allusions.
Frequent
delving into the inner world, creating another reality invariably lead many
rock-poets into mysticism and religion. Yet symbols and allegories effortlessly
coexisted with the grounded, even vulgar portrayal of everyday life. The
grounded lyrics of Mike’s were at the same time touching and intense.
And
Grebenshikov’s high-minded romantics often appeared in the most homely
environment.
Add
to the above mentioned the refined self-irony and what is called “steb”,
deliberate mockery, and you have a cocktail of the rock lyrics circa 1980-s.
Little
wonder, as it so much contradicted the official culture’s aesthetic that there
was not a chance for such songs to be distributed as vinyl records or be
promoted on TV an radio.
The free spirit that made up the core of this genre and supplied its
authenticity did not let the same Grebenshikov, who never wished to “fight” or
Mike, who dreamed of becoming a rock-star, fit into the framework, follow the
rules, in simple terms, sold out. Not as much the people but the material
itself resisted the sale. In order to sold out they had to write on different
subjects and in a different way, something that our heroes often not only did
not want to do but simply had no skills for that.
And
in the closing let’s say a few words about the primacy of domestic rock lyrics
over music. With all its convincing reasoning such judgment can lead to a
mistake that in the Soviet rock its music is a secondary attachment to its
words. In reality, secondary in our rock music was instrumental technical
mastery of compositions. Yet even there enough examples to the contrary exist.
I
say it again, a rock song is not only lyrics and music, it is an entirely
specific complex that includes also energy or drive, and vocal and the stage
show, and the performer’s personality, anything that can produce an emotional
response in the audience! Naturally, every performer has different dominating
components, but the lyrics alone are unlikely to save any composition.
Take
for example Victor Tsoi. Most of his texts on paper look like a cute triteness,
music is not very sophisticated either, and yet, when embodied in a song they
bring out a new, qualitatively different reality.
If
read from the paper the best lyrics of АУКЦЫОН
(Auction) disintegrate into atoms and Mike’s descriptive intonations seem to be
some negligently rhymed prose. It does not mean that lyrics by our rock
musicians are devoid of talent. The respect for words, so intrinsic in Russian
culture, would not allow many rockers to lower themselves below a certain
level. Some rock-lyrics could justifiably be considered good poetry. ("Болота
Невы"
АКВАРИУМА, "В
Последнюю
Осень" ДДТ,
многие
тексты А. Башлачева).
But it does not matter. Rock-song simple cannot be taken apart to its
basic elements. The desire by the same Vysotsky or Shevchuk to identify
themselves as poets although commendable, as it attests to the seriousness of
their intentions, but belittles their role and place in art. The well and
sometimes superbly written lyrics by Vladimir Vysotsky combined with the
guitar’s rhythm and his original singing style transformed into works of the
true genius of our culture. Therefore, a genius bard or a rock-musician can be
a genius only as such. Only those whose eyes never saw true, “pure” poetry can
call the texts by our rock-heroes a high poetry. Or they cannot objectively
distract their minds form the effects that rock songs create on the whole and
not just with heir lyrics only.
It is all in the
specifics of the art of rock. No doubt, some rockers write their lyrics first
and then write music to it but such approach is often artificial and consequently
is rarely successful. On contrary, as confirmed by rock musicians themselves
writing of lyrics and music happens either simultaneously or musical harmony
precedes the text. Grebenshikov expressed the process of rock creativity most
precisely and tersely:
My work is
simple – I stare at the light
A melody
comes to me, I select the words
But every
night, when the star comes up
I hear the
splash of the waves that do not exist in here”
"Hey, you, how’re you doing there?
Yet we’re in the closet,
With a hole in the pocket
So very funny ..
(B.Grebenshikov)
The creative climax of the domestic rock music happened during the last decade of the Soviet regime’s existence, when “the country was dying like an ancient lizard with a new virus in its cells” (We can recall the similar literary explosion in Russia in 1905-1917) The phenomenon of the soviet rock in itself was one of the sign of the deadly disease. No longer children lived in the rhythm of the country, did not “measure themselves with each five-year plan.” Children set off to the spiritual underground, created for themselves a new shelter and there were certain reasons for that…
What were the Soviet system’s
ideals on the threshold of 1979-1980-s? The ideology that had not changed for a
long time resembled a suit of words, rules and rituals, which were executed
mechanically, whose meaning nobody could comprehend anymore, never mind
conscientiously living through them. The meanings of Labour, Motherland, Duty
after frequent repetitions either rightfully or inappropriately had been
castrated into some sort of obsessive fixations, having lost their sacred
significance. Hypocrisy and double standards ruled the society, when while at work
you draw your official factory newsletter, pronounce righteous speeches at the
meetings, but in the evening at home you giggle over the jokes about Brezhnev,
dream about American jeans and with disgust throw into the drawer another
diploma honouring your good work (“I’d rather take the money.”)
And finally, the main thing
was boredom. Having fed, clothed, provided roofs over heads, free education and
healthcare, the Soviet society had concluded that it had done everything
necessary for its children. That meant that the system forgot that after
people’s hunger and thirst are satisfied they need entertainment, and little
“scare”, in a sense, to warn them what could happen if the foundation of the
society got loose and we would try to return into the capitalist “heaven.”
The youth, who unlike its older generations did not know destitution and
hardship, was particularly depressed by these grey workdays. It was bored of
its pointless existence in the measured, predetermined, frozen soviet time
continuum.
Rock music emerged as such “serious game”, lifestyle that painted the surrounding greyness into bright colours, turned it into some kind of fairy tale. There it was possible to be heroes, romantics, rebels, jesters, feel themselves talking on the even foot with the western rock idols and great poets. Why rock music? First of all, it was fashionable, in other words, required and actual. Secondly, rockers had always been a clan structure, and youngsters always liked to be the elite, different from others, even in such trifles as cloths, hairstyle, slang. Of course, a rock musician was in opposition, not important was it conscious or not, to the System, be it a particular state or the entire Universe.
But curious is that in its
core positions the ideals of the Soviet rock music in many aspects were in
harmony with… the official ideology. Hard to believe? Well… Realism? In the
first stage, namely the referenced to the realities of the life of the young
made rock music so intimate and clear. Texts by Mike and Tsoi were even
intentionally realistic.
As to the morals, even here
rock music rarely conflicted with the communal views. Riches, the kids of
powerful and wealthy called the “majors”, people whose life’s goal was material
well-being were subjected to the merciless hatred and satire.
Cruelty, envy, arrogance, bureaucracy were also denounced in any which way.
Even “free love” refracting through the Russian-Soviet subconscious, was
practically devoid of physiology. Rock music invariably claimed its stakes in
spirituality (either of the high variety, as with BG, or lower grounded kind
like with Mike.)
Usually the rockers themselves
did not aim to use their creativity to make money. They were ready to play for
pay or for free, wherever, whenever, on anything. They held jobs of night
guards or stokers, often not eating enough – in a word, they exhibited holy
unselfishness and true self–sacrifice for the sake of their labour of love,
just like communist heroes of the labour front.
Such essentially soviet
attitudes like internationalism and antimilitarism traditionally were adopted
by our rock music from the west. However, in contrast to the soviet propaganda,
these notions in the interpretation of Soviet rock music sounded more authentic
and to the point (often antimilitarism smoothly changed into pacifism).
As you can see, formally, there was no infamous “cognitive dissonance” between the ideology of our rock movement
and the mentality of the Soviet society. Yet, the society itself, as I already
wrote, already for a good while had not confused the reality of life with the
ideological directives. The honest,
open, independent rock music frightened and seemed dangerous. The State put it
into its steadfast sight.
Since the early 1980-s, it
became obvious to the authorities that the new “fad” was not simply the
“foolishness of youth” but a real subculture with its language, ideology, idols
and a small yet tight circle of followers. It clearly was trying to break out.
Not everyone could be enticed into the official concert mechanism like the Time
Machine. And in 1981, with the direct participation of the KGB, in Leningrad,
on Rubenshtein Street, was open the very first rock-club. Its goal was not that
noble to isolate, to ‘tame” and to control the strange, although not too
threatening, cultural phenomenon. Indeed, very soon the rock-club began holding
such painfully familiar meetings, even developed its own bureaucracy. To tell
the truth, the state was implementing its program of the taming of the shrew
not very consistently. There were reasons for that. Starting 1982, the USSR
lived though the rapid changes in the leadership. The society was unstable.
Strange things were happening in the rock-club. If someone made a request for a
performance by one of the groups, the police of the KGB often showed up instead
of the band. The same was going on in the press. Everyone got bitten there,
summarily, including even the Time Machine. In 1983-84-s began the actual
persecutions and repressions. The police raids routinely followed rock
concerts. Such harmless groups like Bravo (БРАВО) and Resurrection (ВОСКРЕСЕНЬЕ) ended up in court. Worth
noting, not because of some ideological motivations, but illegal concert
activities.) On the periphery, the things were even more out of hand: the local
KGB “worked” Shevchuk in Ufa and Letov in Omsk.
This unintelligible semi-legal state of rejects utterly embittered rock musicians. Their art got conspicuously politicized. The perception of the Soviet regime as an unloved senile “daddy” became that of a sworn enemy…
The Ghost of Revolution or Rock Music in the Perestroika Rage
"In this world, what we want is
NOT!
We believe we are able to change it
YES!"
(Y. Shevshuk)
In 1985 the country happily
started moving. The word renewal had been spoken. The perestroika, the
rebuilding had begun. The view by the supporters of the changes on the soviet
rock music warmed up very much and not without a purpose. Naturally, AQUARIUM,
by then floating so high in such heavenly spheres that no one was scared of them,
became the most favourite subject of the freshly minted liberals. For a long time Grebenshikov became the
target of the jealous stubs by his colleague, although soon all of them were
trapped in the country’s informational field. For the majority of the population
the Soviet rock music was discovered right then in 1986. It popularity kept
growing immensely.
With the popularity its
courage also grew, which more than understandable. For example, the performance
by the group TELEVISION SET (ТЕЛЕВИЗОР) at the rock-festival in 1986
with the sharply socially critical songs “Get out of control” and “We’re
coming” ("Выйти из-под Контроля" и "Мы Идем") resulted only in a
temporary ban on concert performances. Such daring carried a certain risk of
course but now it made sense. A chance appeared to declare yourself loud enough
and if to die, at least to die “a martyr” and “a hero” and not to sink into
obscurity like a silent “stone”.
More evident was a case of Kinchev, who started his career in ALICE (АЛИСА) doing harmless although audacious in presentation songs, the likes of “We - together”, “Experimentator”, “Juicesqueezer” ("Мы — Вместе", "Экспериментатор", "Соковыжиматель.") As witnesses recall, initially Kinchev was quite cautious and even asked to turn the TV cameras off during one of his performances. And only when the leader of ALICE became fashionable and received the support of the hysterical crowd of fans, the so-called Alice army, he could afford more radical and daring actions.
I do not wish to accuse our rock idols in conscious
calculations of their actions, but subconsciously they clearly kept their noses
to the wind. Because of that, the clandestine confrontation by the rock music
in the early 1980-s if checked appeared much more honest and courageous than
the mass heroism of the perestroika era.
Sensibly, that main persona of the rock culture in the time of perestroika
became a tribune. The songs lyrics got filled with whipping slogans,
exhortations, declarations, the low, “shamanic”, “demonic” voices of Tsoi,
Kinchev, Letov became in vogue. At first, the slogans had generic, safer tone -
“We - together”, “We’re expecting
changes” ("Мы
- вместе",
"Мы ждем перемен")
– but later acquire the unmistakable orientation on perestroika: “Time to
change names”, “From now on we’re going to act!” ("Время менять имена",
"Дальше действовать будем мы")
To the front of perestroika step up TELEVISION SET, ALICE, DDT (ТЕЛЕВИЗОР,
АЛИСА,
ДДТ). Even
practically apolitical Grebenshikov and Mike gave birth to the songs about
actuality.
What was to say about the
radicals then?! The wave of politization so much drowned our rock that even
Kinchev’s song “If you trust me” by the time of its release was retiled “Wind
of changes”, which did not really reflect its context. All the rockers united
in wishing that “something has to be changed.” Being drunk on freedom and fame
for a short while united various groups into the united whole. This even
affected the music itself, as in 1987 the programs by TELEVISION, ALICE, KINO turned
out to be similar.
Of course, each chose a
certain role for himself: Borzykin led the idea of straggle between children
and parents, Kinchev propagated “pagan” lawlessness and maximum freedom, Tsoi
selected an image of a “lonely city wolf”, Shevchuk honestly tried to return to
the ideals of “equality, liberty and
brotherhood”, Letov called for anarchy and liberty in somewhat
philosophical-artistic sense. Those, who could not stand the image of a tribune
in their art, began reflecting the absurdity of surrounding reality, mocking
and fooling around. The best of them did it so well that it was scary.
Gradually, as the societal
basis was being demolished, the clearer became the visage of capitalism as some
angel the saviour of Russia. As perfectly sang Butusov, “We’ve been taught for
too long to be in love with your forbidden fruits.” Without any doubt, most of
rockers figured out that our new system would absorb all the advantages of
capitalism while retaining the customary benefits of socialism. However, the
reality turned out to be darker. The bourgeoisie counter-revolutions not only
destroyed the Soviet system but also undermined the fundament of the people’s
soul. Although our rockers did not wish for that to happen, it did not matter
in the end. The Great Swindle had
happened; the illusion of the new beautiful world had failed. If in the West
after the crash of its rock revolution in 1960-s, the bourgeoisie society
simply returned on its normal ways, in our case the failure of rock-revolution
coincided with the total social collapse in the entire country.
Our rock’n’roll turned out to be an innocent and fanatical
baby born and brought up by the Soviet Motherland and as it was supposed to
rose up against it. In its destructive and candid dash while breaking off dried
and infested brunches, it unwittingly cut down the brunch that supported it.
Where the pressure failed sometimes, the virus worked effectively. The rock
culture fell into disarray and the press that recently praised it to the
heavens began spreading rumours that it was just a “naked king” whose nudity
like in a fairy tale began more visible as the veil of suppression was falling
off. What was to say to that if with
the peek of perestroika rock music actually started self-liquidating, sometimes
literally? There was some mysticism in that. Judge for yourself.
1988 – For unknown reasons a rock-bard A. Bashlachev (А. Башлачев) jumped out
the 6th floor window. Grebenshikov personally departs for the USA,
practically leaving AQUARIUM.
1989 – Smooched over by the Moscow “show business” the group Nautilus Pompilius (НАУТИЛУС ПОМПИЛИУС) breaks up, the rock music fades out from the popular attention taken over by the arrival of the pop group Gentle May (ЛАСКОВЫЙ МАЙ)
1990 – On the peek of popularity and creative block, V. Tsoi dies in a plane crash; afraid of become part of pop-entertainment, or “popsa”, Y. Letov disbands CIVIL DEFENCE (ГРАЖДАНСКАЯ ОБОРОНА) and for a long while disappears from the mass media’s view. The group VV ( VIDOPLIASOV’S SCREAMS) moves to Paris.
1991 – in may, in one of
Siberian rivers the body of Yanka Diagileva was found; In August, Mike Naumenko
dies in strange circumstances; in the fall the “golden” line-up of AQUARIUM
announces its “long awaited’ break up.
The Hangover
"The celebration’s over, my good people…"
(Y. Letov)
Actually, neither fame nor
money damaged our rock movement more than the transformation of the meanings of
what was virtuous. Suddenly, it became acceptable to be greedy, to love (!)
money, to separate the world not between the rednecks and the cool, but the
lucky ones and the losers, to exhibit contempt for your people and country much
more that anyone idolizing the western values ever could. It was considered
unethical to pose a question, what if something is wrong now? As a retort we
were shown Stalin’s portrait with an axe in his hands and were told something
about freedom and totalitarianism.
And as soon as rock music
fulfilled it purely utilitarian function of “fighting the Soviet system” it became
unnecessary to the authorities, along with its righteous ideals.
The rockers themselves behaved
rather strangely, although understandably from a physiological point of
view. Turned into zombies by the
perestroika psychosis, while observing the terrible chaos and decay reining
over the one sixth of the planet’s surface, they fell into some kind of a
creative catalepsy. Where only did the social sense of their songs go? The
villainies of the newborn capitalism that clearly outdid the villainies of the time
of stagnation, somehow were not touched by criticism, and whatever had been
criticized for a long time was considered the remainders of the “difficult
inheritance” of the tsarist.. er.., socialism. The cause for the catharsis was
the sincere bewilderment – “What’s with us? Got what we were fighting for and…
etc?” Not anyone is capable of recognizing own mistakes and ridding the mind of
illusions and false ideas. As a result of such social mix-up a part of rock
idols went into their inner sanctum and lyrics (albums “Actress Spring” by DDT,
“Hop-Jump” by Letov, “Smog-Fog” By Television Set). Some old rockers presented
a pathetic view. The always present on TV screen Makarevich had the nerve to
sing, “no need to bend over for the ever changing world, let it bend over for
us”, when it was hart to find anyone more bendable than that! CHAI-F (ЧАЙ-Ф), who always naively and
convincingly expressed the earning of the populace, apparently had decided that
that with the fall of the Soviet regime the people automatically entered heaven
and chose to lull them with the songs in the style of the Soviet VIA’s.
With the passage of time,
conscience started bugging the truly courageous rockers. And here is the
paradox: the most suffered under the soviet system Shevchuk and Letov were the
ones who were not afraid to kick at the “new order” as well. In 1993, DDT
releases the darkest program “Black Dog Petersburg”, in which the society’s
gloom was reflected most excellently. After the infamous shootings of the
Parliament in October of the same year, Shevchuk writes a a song “The Truth on
the Truth.” And although it still did not have the defined assessment of the
events, such a declaration by one of the perestroika’s heralds clearly baffled
those in the “democratic” camp.
Bu the real “backstabbing” the
newly made “democracy” received from the seemingly rabid “anti-communist” Yegor
Letov, who took the side not just of the red, but nationalist-Bolshevik forces.
Right after October of 1993, Letov organizes the movement “Russian break through”
and begin revolutionary singing songs about the Soviet Motherland, the
defenders of the White House (Russian Parliament) and about the
“still young” Lenin, thus having severely shaken up the stupefied brains of
rock audiences. After a while, such “treachery” was being perceived a little
differently. Borzykin (TELEVISION SET) did not want to abandon his
“individualist rebellion” yet still managed to safeguard his position of a
uncompromising and not money driven rocker. As a result he successfully fell
out from the show business and into oblivion.
With the rest it was even more
complicated. The image of BG divided between the merciless and true creator
(“Russian Album”, “The Navigator”, “Snow Lion”) and the quite well–to-do,
self-satisfied “rock star. ” Kinchev, having gone crazy with drugs, paganism
and heavy metal, appeared in the renewed, orthodox church image having replaced
one set of illusions with another one and having lose on the way all his
originality and energy. And so on, and
on, and on…
Rockapops and Others
"Behind the opened door lies emptiness
It means someone has come for you
It means that now for someone we are
Need-need-need-needed".
(Y. Letov)
In the 1990-s, only the rock
dinosaurs, who managed to surf the wave of perestroika and to take care of the
money they made, remained “alive” (you all know them.) DDT bought a studio; BG
actively used his connections in the West, Alice openly made money on anything
they could, while Nautilus timidly went from one producer to another. The young
generation of rockers led a miserable existence, deprived of mass media support
and means to break through in the “wild market”. And it was not the case that
pop music was in demand, which was actually a normal phenomenon. The numbers of
rock music lovers went down but still remained significant. And then, having
sensed the unfulfilled demand, the democrats and the businessmen waxing
nostalgic about “the follies of youth” decided to revive the interest to rock
music and, maybe, make a profit as an aside. As a consequence, we became
witnesses of such interesting manifestation as “rockapops”, although it would
be better to name it the democratic VIA.
Just like the soviet VIA’s,
the new Russian rock-groups properly looked almost like the real ones, but obediently
did not venture outside the framework prescribed by the show businesses. The
most distinct example of what can be made out of a fairly mediocre group with
help of money and advertisement is the group MUMIY TROLL (МУМИЙ ТРОЛЛЬ.) Say what you will, but the
mewing vocals and tong tied texts, despite all their originality, could not
find a popular success by themselves.
After all they were not Kirkorov or Lube. MUMIY TROLL’S achievement is
an case of how might the show technologies are, using the principle, “you like
it since there is not other choice.” From that point on things went swimmingly
“ ‘Our Radio” ( "Наше радио"), “Maxidromes” ("Максидромы").
Forget MUMIY TROLL. Most of the rest of new Russian bands
were just a parody on the rock of 1980-s. Just like the mannerists replaced the
titans of Renaissance. The ancestors’ accomplishments turned into the richly
dressed mummies. Even the best of them, like Spleen or Zemphira (СПЛИН, ЗЕМФИРА) are noted for
their secondary and limited art, even empty bravado. The mocking curses of LENINGRAD are just that, the mocking
curses, the lazy mannerism of MUMMIY TROLL expresses nothing but the lazy
mannerism, and the teenage “scary” things by KING AND JESTER are nothing more
that that. Rockapops is rockapops.
The situation became sad and hopeless. Even the talented groups and performers
in order to get a chance to face a wider audience had to play by the rules of
show business that like the biblical Moloch consumed their artistic
independence. The groups began developing only in one direction, not even
noticing it themselves, and were unable to rapidly change directions and to
experiment. And the most important was that their sometimes well-done songs had
lost their charisma, which used to be present in sometimes artistically
tasteless songs by Aquarium, Kino or Nautilus.
I am not Chernyshevsky to
indicate what to do. But I am sure that without the new “revelation,” the new
tactics in the changed circumstances, without the mutiny, the true
inconvenience, our rock music will have ultimately lost all acquired by blood,
sweat and tears and will become part of the youth entertainment. Struggle in
the present situation is difficult. A new system appeared, more cunning and
inhumane, but it can be undermined by the tried and true method: through belief
in your cause, through destruction of the hypnotic power of new illusions and
stereotypes, through working out the precise life position and… talent (how can
we do without it). The price of victory will be great, but the victory itself
will be great! I even if the “top” of our rock culture does not inspire bu I
hope that there are still the “roots” remain. Who knows what is going on in the
dark corner of the bourgeoisie underground?
Remember, rock’n’roll is dead
but we are not yet!
Sergei Kuriy