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Your favorite punk band is as ‘underground’ as oatmeal: Soviet rock’s Perestroika-era emergence
08.26.2013
02:08 pm
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The term “underground” as regards fringe rock music in the West has always been somewhat problematic. I recall older relatives, who’d endured the Nazis’ concentration camps—one of whom had even been an actual member of the Czech Underground in that war—being baffled and a little annoyed when I referred to punk and college rock bands in the ‘80s as “underground music.” Why, I bought their records fearlessly and openly, without risk of arrest, in a store that was open to the public! Even bands that come closest to “illegal” like Black Flag, who were repeatedly harassed in concert and even in person by the LAPD, were not likely in real danger of long-term confinement simply for existing. In countries where official government censorship of music is not the norm, we use “underground” when we mean “cult” or “emerging” (I do it all the time too, I’m not judging), and I wonder if that trivializes the struggles of bands whose very existence must actually be kept hidden.

This is why I’ve always found tales of Soviet Bloc rock bands so compelling. Beyond the irresistible romanticism of imagining Vaclav Havel and the Plastic People Of The Universe plotting to change the course of history while huddled around portable stereos playing smuggled Velvet Underground records, and through the recent and ongoing furor over the current Russian government’s utterly despicable abuse of Pussy Riot, there’s something gripping and inspiring about the willingness of courageous and defiant Soviet artists to continue making art even in the face of punishment, loss of property, and loss of freedom. While the examples I cited above are well known, few stories of the impact of music during the Gorbachev era restructurings that led to the USSR’s end have made their way to me, until I ran across musician Vasily Shumov’s article in Russia Beyond the Headlines:

It was typical for the Soviet system in the 1970s and 1980s to link jail sentences not with ideology, but with illegal business practices or passport violations.

All of a sudden, though, everything changed from black to white for Soviet rock music. Soon after Gorbachev’s appointment, rock music was legalized in the Soviet Union, while previously underground bands were allowed to be played on the radio and appear in TV shows.

A flood of favorable articles about underground rock filled Soviet newspapers and magazines. Rock fans got a chance to purchase official tickets for concerts featuring their favorite bands for the first time in their lives.

The piece is deeply illuminating, chronicling not just the era’s bands impact on emerging social freedoms, but also the extreme difficulty of their transitions to public legitimacy:

Going from underground to mainstream was not an easy process for rock bands during perestroika. Musicians who had become accustomed to outsiders and the bohemian lifestyles suddenly received an opportunity that they could not have even dreamt of a few years earlier.

The majority of rock musicians were poor, even by Soviet standards of living. In addition, according to Soviet laws, all citizens had to have an official job; underground rock musicians were working as security guards, janitors and concierges.

It was not easy for underground musicians to adjust themselves to a mainstream lifestyle of radio stations, TV and movie studios. Regular touring was also something that they did not get used to.

Many musicians had no discipline or desire to deal with mainstream Soviet social circles that they did not like. Alcoholism was also an issue for some musicians, preventing them from becoming members of Soviet society.

The article is a treasure trove of performance videos, and a fine starting point for further exploration. Almost none of this music is in a style Westerners would consider remotely “underground,” it’s all pretty tame stuff. To underscore my original point, merely forming a band was a dangerous act; in a “classless” society, épater le bourgeois would just be redundant piling on, after all. Check out the laconic country rock of the pioneering and only recently disbanded Aquarium:
 

 
More Soviet rock after the jump…

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Posted by Ron Kretsch
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08.26.2013
02:08 pm
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