It's insane to me that a war fought to "preserve Russian culture and values" can end up destroying so much Russian art. What a stupid war.

This is very much the same thing that happened to my country of China. The government wants to export Chinese culture but they can't stand the thought of modern Chinese artists getting inspired by the west. This is truly saddening to me and Chinese culture will continue fall behind her east Asian neighbors if this continues.

About cancelation: there is a russian term "phone law". It means that someone hireup call and demands something illegal but in line with party course. For example: regional police chief calls a venue owner and demands to cancel particular concert. If owner wouldn't comply, all his venues would be constantly harrased by endless audits, he would lose state contracts or even his leases would be terminated. There is nothing in writing, but everyone understands the magnitude of problems one could receive.

I just wanted to clarify something about the Bi-2 concert before the Russian Football Supercup game. It was the game between Spartak Moscow and Zenit Saint-Petersbourg, one of the biggest rivalry in the country. They were booed not because of their anti-war position but because Bi-2 were supporting Spartak Moscow. And it's clearly seen on the video that the blue-white crowd went mad out of the fact that Lyova - frontman of the band, was wearing Spartak's red-white scarf, which was a truly provocative thing to do on an away field. ukposts.info/have/v-deo/foOYeY1wg3x32Gw.html PS: Thank you for this great video!

Thank you very much for the mention. Love and peace to everyone in the world!

thank you for this video. everything is correctly reported. one minor comment: Aquarium and Kino are definitely not niche, but very popular among all groups of society. Kino is probably still the most important rock band on all of the post-soviet space.

I'm a big fan of Shortparis for about a couple years, pretty sure they would have been really huge internationally by now if it wasn't for the pandemic and then the war :(

I started listening to Russian rock in early 80s and even "attended" a famous cancelled show by Andrey Makarevich's band in Krasnoyarsk in 1984 (and another not so famous cancelled show by Voskresenie a bit earlier). There were some pretty memorable publications blasting musicians in the USSR but far less numerous and hateful than they are now. The current Russian authorities definitely pay much more attention to the musicians, although I can hardly remember any fan who started hating any band because they were proclaimed "traitors". Still there is some true hatred towards these people among the general public and Makarevich probably gets the largest share of it just because more people actually know him (due to the fact that he hosted a popular cooking show on the top Russian TV channel for many years).

Russian government be like: They cancel our culture on the west! Also Russian government: cancels it’s own culture. Thank you for this video! Russians have actually been protesting against all that shit that’s happening in our country. Hope the world could take it into account

Great! As a russian musician I really appreciate your work, it's unbelievably important for us!

I participated in a Sign Language group (singing in RSL) and we had Victor Choi’s “Change!” in our set list. And though the idea of our performance was about bringing justice into the social treatment of the disabled, we got questioning looks and suggestions to change our performance, because the song has become such a sensitive topic for the venues.

Getting canceled in America: “oh no anyone who doesn’t agree with my actions or beliefs doesn’t want to give me money anymore, but I now have an enormous and loyal reactionary fan base and I guess all I’d actually have to do to get my old fans back is just apologize, take accountability and maybe a short break from the limelight” Getting canceled in Russia: “would u like to try this not-poisonous sardine?”

watching this as a russian is blissful af. even though it hurts to see my motherland once again being perceived as one big prison, your content is a rare case of talking bout russian culture with respect these days. thank you!

Thank you for bringing light on those stories! But honestly, similar events on Russian hip-hop scene are also deserving some attention.

24:35 this guys calm and resourcefulness is what you would expect from a wise old man, who has seen and lived in a similar climate and is living it again.

Я пребываю в шоке от того, что многие музыканты стали вне закона, при чём, некоторые те же, что уже были вне закона 40 лет назад. 20 лет назад я был уверен на 100%, что такого больше никогда не будет, потому что это немыслимо в современном мире! Какое-то безумие!

You are one of my favorite youtube channels. Thank you for showcasing music, its cultural context, and the innumerable stories behind it from all around the world. It's a pleasure, seriously. Keep up the fantastic work!

I’m pushing 50 and I use to have a VHS copy of the Moscow Music Peace Festival and it is sad to think how far we’ve slipped as a species since then. There was this glimmer of hope there in the late 80s and early 90s where some of us thought totalitarianism was ending….oh how naive of me! But you should do a video on that concert sometime because I think it was super influential at that time.

I'm so glad this episode came out! I guess our history is doomed to repeat but in new sophisticated forms. As always, brilliant work!

I want to call this video great, but it's also so frustrating and depressing. Anyway, I still would love to see a similar one about Belarus.

As a part of russian music scene we are sadly confirm that all that was said here is true. Full circle. Right on.

Спасибо за видео, в нём есть неточности ( би-2 освистали фанаты спортивной команды Зенит, потому что фронтмен вышел в шарфе противника), но я апплодирую вашему детальному разбору и погружению в российскую музыкальную культуру и её историю последних лет

Thank you for the video! I'm from Russia and i'm against war and Putin's regime. It's very important to feel support from abroad. You doing a great and very important job. Great channel! Other videos are great too. Regional scenes from different corners of the world should have more attention! And you telling stories about them with sincere respect and passion!

Didn't expect this vid to feature my favorite Hugo-Ugo song! They're a lesser known band even here in Russia. You truly are a man of culture, thanks for another great video!

thank you for talking about this, great vid!! its kinda insane how some of the best musicians we ever had get blacklisted twice in their timeline (obviously you couldnt expect anything new from a kgb officer in rule so..), absolutely absurd how now profs who curate classes in universities about russian underground culture of 80s have to be cautious with even mentioning names. though now its even easier to talk about music with people of older generations, like damn we do have even more in common now than before (calling tsoi russias most iconic punk is highly controversial tho i think not one rock/music/culture nerd from russia would agree on that considering 1) his continuous statements abt his songs being apolitical 2) a huge *actually* punk scene we had in siberia but thats another topic fr)

Funnily enough, Victor Tsoy said on multiple occasions that "Peremen" is NOT a political song or at least it wasn't intended to be one. It was a song about love and struggling relationships between people. The famous chorus line "Our hearts demand a change" was not referring to the political change but rather to the change on a personal level. It's a song about someone, who wants a change in relationship, yet fears it and by the end of the song they come to question this need. Basically, this line means "let's do something to stop our own melancholy, stagnation of our love". I mean, just look at the last verse: We can't brag about the wisdom of our eyes Or about our skillful gestures We don't need either to understand eachother Cigarettes in hand, the tea on the table, that's how the circle comes full And suddenly we are afraid to change anything. Does it sound more like a political speech, or a like an intimate confession to a loved one to you? The thing is, this song was quite misinterpreted by the general public because of the chorus and became basically an anthem of Perestroika. Tsoy wasn't very happy about how things turned out. I mean, I'm not blaming people, 'cuz the song 100% slaps, but still, I find it rather interesting tidbit of history, seeing how it is getting banned everywhere nowadays

I always wonder if Kino would've been Rammstein before Rammstein (in terms of international popularity rather than sound) had Tsoi lived longer. That music was truly transcendent & the momentum was growing.

Once again your video was great. Informative, interesting, well paced - an all around good job - and another deep dive into Spotify for new music to add to my world music playlists. Cheers

These musicians are pretty brave. And it’s tragic people live in countries where they have to fear for their lives if they have a different opinion.

Wow this makes me feel so lucky. I saw Both DDT and Mashina Vremeni in Russia 2018 and then, three years later, Akvarium in Ukraine, a few months before the war broke out. Amazing bands, amazing lyrics, too important to be banned or forgotten.

Thank you for sharing this side of our current situation. Hopefully it'll get people to understand Russians a bit better. Even tho I am not a musician myself, this perfectly illustrates how people are treated these days. People with following, money and connections are being silenced left and right so you can imagine how helpless us ordinary folks are rn. Never before in my life have I been so scared to openly express my opinions as I've seen my friends get fined, beaten up and even losing their jobs for speaking up against our government's actions.

Oh damn. I sending this to ALL of my band buddies and music appreciators. Thank you for posting this. I'm so glad I just stumbled on this channel!! 💓

When you started saying the video is about the musicians and not politics, I figured it'd be impossible. I was right. The systematic destruction of both the culture (especially any progressive aspects of it) and relationships to some of the close neighbors is truly heartbreaking.

This is awesome. I have a LOT of respect for these artists who soldiered on despite the odds against them. That is the very definition of punk rock.

Fantastic journalism. Thank you for this.

The bands and musicians who made anti-war statements have been a beacon of hope to so many people since (and before) the war began. I find it fascinating how the band Shortparis, also based in St Petersburg, whose songs and especially videos follow the tradition of the bands in the video and deal with issues of police terror, militarisation & violence, poverty, protests, and now the war, etc, have decided to stay in Russia and continue to tour there with the aim on "grieving together", as they put it

amazing video. ive been learning russian for 2 years and fell in love with russian post punk from the 80s to today

Excellent video! I grew up in Russia on this exact music, these bands. Excellent job covering the horrific repeating of history. Thank you

your work is very special. nobody is talking about this. well done!

I find it rather ironic that you used NTV report at ~12:00. Because back in the old days it was one of the most prominent opposition channels, critiquing the government left and right. Which regretfully became basically state-led afterwards. Really common fate of the Russian media

Hell yea new Bandsplaining just in time for my lunch break!

Russian Lo Fi house is doing pretty well worldwide, they have that nailed down, Welofi is one of my favourite record labels right now.

I had the fortune and good timing to be able to see Mashina Vremini in concert in Atlanta. It was fucking 🔥, and there was a lot of support from the expat community for them.

Thank you so much for this video. I often catch myself thinking of how hopeless and desperate the future of my homeland is because of war and honestly it makes me want to cry, because I love my culture from the very bottom of my heart... But if the history went full circle then maybe we will actually find peace some day once again. Any culture shouldn't be violated and destroyed by it's own goverment.

The bands that meant everything to me growing up were Alisa, Nautilus Pompilius, Kino, Piknik, also Aria and Kipelov, Cherniy Kofe on the metal side. The lyrics in Russian rock hit you deep. Now some of our rockers don't support Putin. Some do and I can't see them the same way anymore, but I still go back in time to those old songs that I grew up listening to. I hope there will be a better, post-war era for our music. 💖🎸 Also, happy to see Slaughter to Prevail getting the recognition in the West! 🤘

Спасибо! Нет войне! Thanks! Stop a War!

In terms of these type of video's your channel is in the top 1%. Beautiful content. Doing great!

I have this really vivid memory of hearing Kino's Звезда по имени солнце last year after not sleeping because I saw the news of Ukraine situation when it all started. As a Latin American who had been appreciating Kino, DDT and other Russian music artists, and specially as someone who has always been interested in Eastern European and Russian culture, I felt really moved by the meaning that the song lyrics has and how it seems that nothing has changed that much since the last century. Btw, specially Kino music has been with me for a while and each time I hear any song of them, I feel more close to the impact of their message. Hope more people can hear them and appreciate the lessons they gave to us with each of their lyrics.

About concert cancellation, DDT actually has a song with these lyrics: "We play in the DDT, only it so happens that Literally a day or two prior, concerts get cancelled" This is from Chastushky, a song performed in Russian folk poetry style, and it was written back in the Soviet days, officially premiering in 1984. So yeah, nothing has changed in Russia since then, sadly.

I can not praise this video enough! Thank you so much :)

Not only did I learn a lot, but I discovered a lot of cool music from this video, including Postcolor. Many thanks!

Great doc as sad as it is. Yuri Schevchuk is a really bright guy, strikes me as both wise due to age, compassionate and still a romantic hero.

Когда артист или группа становятся не угодны политической линии, они просто не могут снять концертную площадку. Представте, вы снимаете зал, продаëте билеты на свой концерт, а затем за пару дней до концерта директору площадки звонят из ФСБ и говорят либо отменять концерт, либо к этой площадке придут с проверкой и "случайно" окажется, что на этой площадке нельзя организовывать концерты. Либо эта конкретная группа не будет у вас выступать, либо на вашей площадке никто не будет выступать.

Thank you for this video. As for a russian person, this is very important to me, to see this kind of topics discussed on the western side of YT.

Beautifully done. Even though I know well everything described here, I was really touched. Nyet voyne!

Interesting video! Thank you for this.

Fantastic video! I had no idea of the richness and size of the russian scene. I shared this on my facebook and i'm very curious of what will be the impression of my friends here in Brasil. Do you think brazilian undergroud scene would be a nice topic for the future?

Unlike the others, Lazarev has changed his mind completely - the guy in the right down corner at 29:09. I feel the same about the whole situation. Thank you for sharing this info about Russian musicians in English.

Thank you for your reporting. This was very illuminating. To all the artists and musicians of the world: Keep the peace and keep on creating for a better world.

Every now and then I need videos like these to get me so absorbed that I basically meditate where my state of nothingness is portrayed as your video and I am completely unaware of reality or even the toothache I have. Great content as always

I first learned of Aquarium and bands like them when I played Metro Exodus. One of the characters in game does a cover of the song with slightly altered lyrics while travelling across post-apocalyptic Russia on a train, no less lol. Great song.

Thank you very much for this video. I've uncovered many facts that I've been unaware of. When I was young I disregarded Russian rock, I thought it was all about lyrics and "meanings" and preferred more sophisticated progressive rock and metal genres. When the war broke out I suddenly realised how much these lyrics spoke out my own feelings. Besides, my compliments to your work. As a Russian I acknowledge that you contemplated the topic great and delivered a detailed, precise and factful story.

Thanks for making this video. Peace and love from Scotland

Sincerely, thank you so much for this video. Спасибо!

This is great, but I wish you had mentioned Igor Talkov. A man who very openly and directly criticized the USSR and paid with his life in the 1991. His song "Russia" is genius and I honestly think Shaman, an awful new singer, supported by Putin's state, sings a song called "I'm Russian" as a terrible version of Talkov's song. Except Talkov criticized the government, while Shaman praises it - that's the irony. I've heard several folks who buy into Russian state propaganda refer to Shaman as the new Talkov unironically. All of it is so devastating. The only hope is that with this war Putin has signed his own death sentence.

Yuri's words at the end of the video were so emotional

Kino is also very important for modern Belarus. Their song was a basis for arrest of DJs during our 2020 protests. I just hope during my lifetime I will hear it played loudly in the streets once again, when we are all free and there's peace....

It is a wonderful video that captures the moment very well.

Awesome video. Really enjoyed and will share. The bravery of these musicians is a miracle. “All things perish, art alone endures”

I'm new to your channel so I don't know if you do requests, but I'd love to see you discuss both the Siberian and Indonesian punk scenes.

I'm old enough to remember MTV adding Boris Grebenshikov's "Radio Silence" to the rotation on MTV in '89 (I think). Pretty sure "120 Minutes" did a brief bio on him, describing him as "the Bruce Springsteen of Russia." I had the album on vinyl. Good stuff. I have that track on my Spotify playlist to this day.

been to a show recently, it literally was shut down in the middle by officials

bring banned currently as an artist is a strange place to be in. I am an engineer at mmmesss records - i have my own space to be safe at, and record other artists. but as a performer and drummer of uvula band - i miss the time of seeing all the young kids having fun and dancing. they inspire me as much as i do them, i believe.

Neat. Glad i discovered this channel.

Impressive video, thank you very much.

Bi-2 was booed by the crowd for wearing the guest football team scarf during performance, not for their position. It is obvious, since the crowd only started it once one of the bi-2 guys put the scarf on. The rest of the video is accurate

This is a very interesting and at the same time sad topic. Thanks for bringing it up. Rock music of the 70-90s was really protest, and was expressed in a radically different sound, freedom of thought, the protest could be expressed literally or in a veiled way, but it was. The new generation of rockers in its full sense is gone, rap has become protest music, which is not very close to me, but there are interesting works there too. Only the old guard remained, who are not afraid to speak out and have great respect for this. There are those who used to be engaged in such protest music, but are now on the sidelines for one reason or another (for example, Vyacheslav Butusov from the group Nautilus Pompilius). There are those who have never particularly expressed their views on this matter, but one way or another, through their work, one can trace the position "for peace." For example, the "Auktyon" group, the same old group as DDT, used to be more specific in their songs, but now they have moved to a more metaphysical level. The "Picnic" group has always been in this direction, which has always been distinguished by mysterious, mystical texts, the meaning of which could only be guessed at. There are many groups left that are not happy with the current situation, but not everyone dares to speak out, because, unfortunately, this leads to sad consequences. There are, of course, those who have joined the wrong side. But the most interesting thing is that such bands have never been attractive to me, and now they will not be. It is sad that such a situation is developing when "in the name of saving Russian culture" it is being destroyed. This is an endlessly stupid war, where there are victims on all sides. Rock music has always been on the side of the world, but it has failed to reach out to those who made these ugly decisions.

This was surprisingly accurate reporting, thank you! Well done

It is great work! I am very much grateful to authors of this vide. This is my life. I left Russia 29 years ago, I understood the future in 1993. Thank you so much!

seeing someone outside of russia talk about BG is so surreral. he is so important to all of us, even now

When i was a kid, my father sang Boris Grebensikov. Thanks a lot, it's a very atmosphere video for me. Now, a lot of great artists banned in Russia. A person could be fired from his job for supporting such musicians. This is how censorship works in Russia. P. S. : i am not good at English

Thank you so much for covering this topic. I grew up on all these artists, most of them have a palce in every important memory that I have. My heart is broken, because my country is sick with the plauge of ignorance and anger. It is broken because the culture that embodies my country - of persevierance, hope and resistance - is being uprooted, twisted and burned down. I wish for peace with all my heart. I wish for us to be human again

I was very surprised to see a video about russian music in english!! great content keep it up

So as insane ad it has gotten in the USA, and there certainly has and will be people harassed, oppressed, and silenced, its nothing close to Russia, people literally put their lives at risk by making jokes about the government much less outwardly criticizing it. And for those those that don't understand what its like to try and live life as an ordinary citizen there, this video, although about the music and musicians, really exemplifies the everyday political struggles there. A really good upload.

Such an underrated YT channel

Goood shit! I also watched your soviet underground videos a few years back, I always recommend them to friends.

this channel is a gold mine! Is the intro music from Miles Davis "in a silent way"?

I know it may be different from overall video's theme but my recent music discovery was russian artist "polnalubvi", her voice is magnificent

This is awesome content man. A cool video idea would be for you to cover music anywhere in Latin America. Very rich revolutionary history there👍

Thank you for this video :)

Is the organ background music that first appears at 2:58 from "Shhh / Peaceful" by Miles Davis? It keeps appearing and I keep expecting bass and hi-hats to abruptly jump in lol

Спасибо вам огромное.

As a russian, and I musician myself I should say - thank you for covering this topic

Much to learn, thanks for it...

Thank you. Thank you for shedding light onto the cultural disaster which is often left uncovered. It's heartbreaking to see the legends of the Russian music industry who have inspired and moved generations be ridiculed and canceled in such a dirty way. Though not much can be done to help, it brings some comfort to hear it being talked about. I never imagined I would have to whitness this madness, let it all be over.

That's a great video! And a sad one too. Well, if we're in a good timeline, these bands will eventually become Russia's pride

Thanks for sharing these specific figures, your approach on the subject was genius! Though be reaaaally careful when pointing political facts, on the soviet union part and the War on Ukraine part there are half truths. Unless you explicitly take sides on the subject. Either way, your channel is one of those truly amazing and unique on UKposts, never stop man

thank you for this video!

Thanks. Nice work! It's a pity you didn't mention Alla Pugacheva. She is certainly not a rocker, but worthy of mention, i think.

I'm jealous my Kazakh wife can understand Kino lyrics and I can't 🥲