# What was pop music in the Soviet Union like? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 15, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-pop-music-in-the-soviet-union-like/161601 "2003-03-15T14:41:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gjorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@Gjorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gjorp)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-pop-music-in-the-soviet-union-like/161601/1 "2003-03-15T14:41:18Z")
What bands were topping their charts? Did they even go the top thirty route? Did they have anything like rock and roll, or were they listening to old style music? ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-pop-music-in-the-soviet-union-like/161601/2 "2003-03-15T14:54:43Z")
I can’t wait for an answer on this… ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-pop-music-in-the-soviet-union-like/161601/3 "2003-03-15T15:04:04Z")
\*\* Jesus Christ Superstar \*\* was not allowed to be performed in the Soviet Union when it first came out in 1971. Someone took the music, re-wrote the lyrics for Soviet approval, and produced the show as “Rock and Roll At Dawn.” If I ever find ANYTHING from this obscure Andrew Lloyd Webber connection, I will die happy. Smuggled in copies of the cast LP (and other popular music LPS) use to go for the equivalent of $500. Tapes copies for around $50. There are still copies of the LP with classical covers taped over them, a device used to get them into the Soviet Union. Oddly, the original LP has been released in Russian in both LP and CD form (with a cool Russian lyric booklet). The show has also been done in Russian and released on CD. The Moscow production cut the title song. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-pop-music-in-the-soviet-union-like/161601/4 "2003-03-15T15:55:20Z")
Since this is about music, I’ll move this thread to Cafe Society. bibliophage moderator GQ ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-pop-music-in-the-soviet-union-like/161601/5 "2003-03-15T16:00:57Z")
Depends on what point in the Soviet era. I was there in '89, and there were a number of homegrown rock and pop bands and some heavy metal. Check out tunes by Kino, Mashina Vremeni (Time Machine), Nautilius Pompilius, Alisa, and the USSR’s answer to the Grateful Dead, Akvarium. An extremely important name in political/social commentary type music was Vladimir Vysotskii; he is a national icon, and died young (like many Russian artist types), some say through alcohol abuse and some say through government conspiracy. Most of the Top 40/pop type stuff was insanely cheesy; you wouldn’t believe the videos! They all looked like they’d been done in someone’s basement. Especially earlier into glasnost, a lot of music was transmitted in a semi-underground manner, with people passing copies to friends and with informal “concerts” taking place in people’s homes. I love Kino, though. I must have 6 of their albums. You can find guitar tab for modern Russian music at [www.akkords.ru](http://www.akkords.ru), if you can puzzle your way through the partially Cyrillic menus. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-pop-music-in-the-soviet-union-like/161601/6 "2003-03-15T16:03:05Z")
I believe the most popular underground band was Fuck You Yanke Blue Jeans with their big hit, “Do You Want To Making Fuck.” ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-pop-music-in-the-soviet-union-like/161601/7 "2003-03-15T16:19:36Z")
“In Soviet Russia, music pops _you_!” ---
**Author:** ![HalberMensch242](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecb155/32.png) [@HalberMensch242](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HalberMensch242)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-pop-music-in-the-soviet-union-like/161601/8 "2003-03-15T19:16:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > \*\*Since this is about music, I’ll move this thread to Cafe Society. > > bibliophage > moderator GQ \*\* I always thought that Viktor Tsoi from Kino…was the russian Kurt Kobain…just an amazing musician and lyricist… ---
**Author:** ![ElwoodCuse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/edb3f5/32.png) [@ElwoodCuse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElwoodCuse)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-pop-music-in-the-soviet-union-like/161601/9 "2003-03-15T20:46:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jack Batty \* > \*\*I believe the most popular underground band was Fuck You Yanke Blue Jeans with their big hit, “Do You Want To Making Fuck.” \*\* Olaf, metal! BERSERKER! Oh and let’s not forget Ill Mitch. [www.illmitch.com](http://www.illmitch.com) ---
**Author:** ![Badtz\_Maru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@Badtz\_Maru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Badtz_Maru)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-pop-music-in-the-soviet-union-like/161601/10 "2003-03-15T21:17:14Z")
Ill Mitch is dreamy. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2003, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-pop-music-in-the-soviet-union-like/161601/11 "2003-03-15T23:22:50Z")
In the Seventies, the government (which always finds _you_) was heavily promoting Pesniary, a Belarussian group described [here](http://www.allaboutjazz.com/reviews/r0101_045.htm) as “Eerie, cheesy, emotional, embarrassing…” I do have one of Pesniary’s albums, and, while it wasn’t _that_ bad, it wasn’t that good, either. It’s all either inoffensive old folk songs done to a rock beat, or simple schmaltzy pop (not inoffensive, but not political, either). Lead singer Leonid Bortkevich married gymnast Olga Korbut when both were at the height of their stardom in the USSR. They’re both in the “Whatever happened to …?” stage of former stars’ lives now. ---
**Author:** ![nitroglycerine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-pop-music-in-the-soviet-union-like/161601/12 "2003-03-16T00:56:16Z")
I can’t remember any specific bands, but I remember reading punk scene reports in MAXIMUMROCKANDROLL from the USSR and Soviet Bloc Countries. I have a few Russian punk LPs I got in the 80s from a mailorder distro (Subterranian maybe?) that are kind of like lo-fi indie fuzz rock but with stereotypical russian vocals (whatever that means) and more than a hint of traditional Russian musical influences. I have no idea what the name of the band, album, songs, or label its on since everything is written in Russian. Jon ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-pop-music-in-the-soviet-union-like/161601/13 "2003-03-16T01:38:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by HalberMensch242 \* > \*\*I always thought that Viktor Tsoi from Kino…was the russian Kurt Kobain…just an amazing musician and lyricist… \*\* Absolutely all that, and hot, too! Another amazing artist who met an untimely death…and of course, there were conspiracy theories about that, too. (He died in a car crash on the road between Leningrad and Riga.)