Musical History Tour: A Glance at Russian (With a Wink Toward American) Rock 'n Roll from the 1960's to Today.
By Kayt

Preface: I found myself wondering about how rock ‘n roll music evolved in Russia, as compared with its formation in the U.S. Obviously, we who grew up in America have enjoyed a level of freedom of expression that many parts of the world have not shared. We take this for granted, although it’s a major freedom for which we should be very thankful. Our main obstacles to enjoying new forms of music over the decades have been largely parental disapproval, not the dangerous governmental oppression that music lovers in various other countries have experienced. In light of what was going on with music in Communist countries until 1991, any American "teenage angst" in the musical area seems a little like whining. But, concerning the statements within this article, please forgive me for having absolutely no time to visit a library for extensive research on this subject; I instead utilized that Thing Which Dominates My Room, and some would say, my Life, the Internet. And on the Internet, without unlimited time to surf, I uncovered only a little information on Russian musical history of the past few decades. Maybe there just isn’t that much information out there, or maybe I didn’t have time to find it all, but what I did find was interesting, at least to me. I have never been to Russia, although would love to go someday, and I grew up in your average American city, listening, basically, to whatever I pleased. I can attest to the accuracy of the statements on American music during time I wrote about, but I don’t know for absolute certainty that every word concerning Russian music and attitudes in this article is exactly historically accurate, as I relied on a little research, common sense and hearsay. Only someone who grew up in Russia during the time covered would know exactly how the situation was, and at the moment, everyone I knew who fits that description is unavailable for comment. If anyone reading this has more or conflicting information, feel free to write about it for a future Red Pages article, and/or email me. Heck of a disclaimer, huh? And now…on with the show… -Kayt

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In researching this article, I came across this one line in a chronological list of Russian history:

"1636 – Patriarch orders all musical instruments burned."

Eek! I haven’t been able to unearth any more info about this event, but it must have been a sad day for owners of whatever type of musical instruments existed in 17^th century Russia. At any rate, over the centuries music, theatre and other forms of creative expression again became part of Russian life, giving us the beautiful music of Tchaichovsky and Shostakovich to name a couple of outstanding Russian composers. But rock ‘n roll is what we’re interested in here, so we will fast forward to that hot decade of musical flowering the world over - the 1960’s - to see what the past few decades have shaken loose.

The history of ex-USSR Rock music began in the Baltic States. In the early 1960's, some rock 'n roll and beat rock bands were born around an area not far from some of the European countries historically and geographically. In the U.S. in the 1950’s and early 1960’s we had Bill Haley and the Comets, the R&B of Ray Charles, Chuck Berry and Little Richard, rockabilly from Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, the legendary Buddy Holly and of course, hip-swiveling, sneering, cool rock ‘n roll like the world had never before seen from Elvis Presley. But Russian teenagers in general were not hip to this scene because western music and culture at that time, when the Cold War was hot and heavy, was not allowed in Russia. Still, although western rock music records were extremely hard-to-get commodities due to the conditions of the time, some did get through. At that time, western culture was a symbol of anti-sovietism that the USSR government and mass communication tried to ignore completely. In spite of that though, some artists and bands got started, nearly all of them copying American and British Rock music such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Elvis Presley and others as faithfully as possible, usually singing in English. Unlike the increasingly open "teenage rebellion" taking place in the United States at nearly the same time, there was a secret underground one beginning and growing in the USSR.

The 1970’s in America was a strange decade musically, with the Beatles still popular in the beginning and then drivel-ish pop songs by the mid-70’d playing incessantly on the radio, songs that few people today will even admit liking back then. The most notable exceptions to mediocrity being the rise of artists such as Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Carole King, Carly Simon and others whose catchy melodies and meaningful lyrics still send many of us to Nostalgiaville today. The latter part of the ‘70’s in America found disco to be the big new groove thing, as the Bee Gees, Donna Summer and others rose to dizzying heights and nearly everyone in America saw the film "Saturday Night Fever." It was a time of white suits, gold chains and hot moves on the dance floor. In larger metropolitan areas the British punk impact was felt, in the form of angry lyrics half sung and half screamed at crowds of people with spiky and/or multicolored hair wearing black clothing and safety pins. Women across the U.S. burned their bras in the name of feminism, while others just kept throwing them at musicians onstage, as American musical freedom continued. But over behind the Iron Curtain in the early 1970's, the ban on western culture continued, with anyone daring to play anything as radical as rock ‘n roll having to watch out for Militia raids and undercover KGB agents. Against this backdrop, the band Mashina Vremeni (Time Machine) formed in Moscow and became popular across the USSR, or as one article put it, "it won high popularity all over the USSR in an instant." Mashina Vremeni sang about subjects in their mother tongue that touched upon experiences in their own lives. The members of this band came to be regarded as spokesmen for young people, and as such they were often criticized. After Mashina Vremeni became the first nationwide popular band, original Russian songs became more popular that the western-copied ones had been. But no matter how many people actually listened to new music, popular artists and bands still could not release their albums. When they had a concert, receiving money for it was not permitted officially, which, aside from the recognition and applause, must have been a rather major disappointment for working musicians. I mean, let’s face it, playing for the sheer joy of making music is admirable, but doing it as a job one would naturally and rightfully like and expect some monetary compensation. One source of information put it this way:

"… only musicians who belonged to the music organization "Philharmonia" could be recognized as professionals, and of course the relevant authorities decided who could become a member. Only those chosen were permitted to receive funds by producing and distributing records and holding concerts. The rest of them could not go on a TV or radio program and they were attacked as ‘A HORRIBLE TREND GROWING AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE.’ Under such conditions they carried on handing out the tapes (at first open reels, later cassette tapes) produced by themselves, dubbing the master tape over and over and writing out the lyrics by hand. They spread these all over the USSR under the surface of the water."

Okay, we can presume the writer/translator didn’t mean "under the surface of the water" literally, but meant they were spreading their music this way in an extremely underground fashion. But speaking of water, the next popular band to form, in what is now St. Petersburg, was called Aquarium. It won nationwide high popularity from the late 1970's to the early 1980's (the band’s leader, Boris Grebenshukov released his solo album with CBS Records in the U.S., produced by Dave Stewart in 1989). In those days each main city had its own popular band, and rock festivals were attempted at times, bringing musical artists and fans together from different cities and complete with government authorities quick to interrupt, suppress and forbid such activities, regardless of the unauthorized music’s popularity with growing numbers of people. Meanwhile, we in the U.S. continued on with the remnants of disco, the quick flash of "Power Pop" (think The Knack and the B-52s) and the first warblings of Madonna, Cyndi Lauper and Boy George.

There were artists and bands in Russia at the time who played by the rules, became members of Philharmonia and released their records with the backing of the only national record company, Melodiya. But rock ‘n roll music not authorized by that organization was not considered official and was unrecognized at the time, no matter how many people actually listened to it and enjoyed it. So, in the spirit of governmental control everywhere, there were crackdowns on rock music as an illegal thing. The very elements that make rock ‘n roll great are also those most threatening to government officials who spend their days trying to shield the citizens from western and any other independent thoughts and ideas. The originality of Russian rock music, its rich melodies, and honest lyrics that were eaten up by young people, often reflecting Russian social conditions, the country’s strict weather and other less-than-positive subjects, was what inspired the most stringent attempts at governmental control. But, as all governments find out sooner or later, you can’t keep the truth from people indefinitely, and music reflects life.

In the 1980’s things began to change, and American music in particular improved drastically as we rediscovered dancing. It was the most fun we’d had since the disco days, continuing until later in the decade when "alternative" started becoming mainstream. The social and political situation in the USSR was going through changes as well. In 1985 Gorbachev became the USSR’s leader, and words like "Perestroika" and "Glasnost" entered the world’s consciousness representing new attitudes of openness and goodwill. Musically, change began when some "mild taste" rock bands which were considered less "aggressive" than others were allowed to release their records on "Melodiya." Some of the regulations were dropped for concerts and large-scale stadium concerts could then be held legally. Bands such as Aria, Moscow and Arracks formed, and in 1987 several former members of those bands joined together, along with a newly-found lead singer, to form the first Russian rock band to travel to and find success in a western country. That band was called Gorky Park. Thanks to Perestroika and with some help from the late American music celebrity Frank Zappa, Gorky Park was able to not only come and play in the U.S., but released an album in 1989 that received a 5-star rating from "Billboard" magazine. By 1989 things had changed so much in the USSR that Gorky Park and famous harder rocking American bands such as Bon Jovi (on whose tour Gorky Park opened), Cinderella and Motley Crue performed there in The Moscow Peace Festival of 1989.

After the fall of Communism in 1991, while the U.S. was dealing with Seattle Grunge rock, all remaining Russian regulations against rock music were abolished, including the Philharmonia, the organization that had previously decided who could make a living as a musician and who could not. Countless new artists and bands began to express whatever they liked. According to one information source, written in 1995:

"…ten years after Gorbachev appeared, the young people who do not know about the times of Communism without freedom and did not have any serious experiences then do not need to get worked up about Russian or USSR rock music. They only play music they want to and in any way they like. They have listened to music beyond the border and don't want to divide music according to types. Now, we can say that Russian rock music has become contemporary with rock music in Japan and many other countries…"

So from these roots the U.S. in the 1990’s welcomed three extremely talented Russians, two of whom were, at first, half of the very entertaining Russian folk band Limpopo, which still exists with different members. And, as we all know, those amazing two, Oleg and Igor, teamed up with phenomenal lead guitarist Zhenya five years ago as well as with the equally extremely talented and always upbeat American drummer, Avi, to give us Red Elvises. They may have come to us from a country where musical freedom was oppressed, but they obviously paid rapt attention to all the early western influences they could get, combining those with their own rich national musical heritage. The mix of all that with the finest drumming talent and everything all four Red Elvises have learned since beginning their careers is unbeatable. In general, Things Musical have progressed considerably since 1636 when instruments were ordered burned, and have certainly progressed an incredible amount since the beginnings of modern rock ‘n roll in the 1950’s (for America) and 1960’s (for Russia), with Red Elvises the world’s first band (that I know of) to have Russian and American members working together to achieve rock ‘n roll excellence.