Russian rock
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| National anthem | Anthem of Russia |
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Rock and roll became known in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and quickly broke free from its western roots. According to many music critics, its "golden age" years were the 1980s (especially the era of perestroika), when the Soviet underground rock bands could release their records officially. The great majority of the bands perform in the Russian language.
Prior to the late sixties, music in the Soviet Union was divided into two groups: music published by state record company Melodiya, and everything else. Under this second group were the bards, underground folk singer–songwriters.
Bards such as Vladimir Vysotsky and Bulat Okudzhava were among the many artists who created the style which is referred to as "author's song" (авторская песня), mostly played on unaccompanied acoustic guitar and characterized by a strong accent on lyrics that sometimes carried a subversive meaning. Their music was often suppressed by the government, and yet enjoyed massive popularity, with Vysotsky becoming a highly popular cinema and theatre actor and an iconic figure of the times.
Meanwhile, some Western music was either being smuggled across the border or released by Melodiya as part of what essentially was state-run media piracy, with The Beatles taking a firm place in Soviet popular culture, and artists such as The Rolling Stones and Deep Purple completing a somewhat distorted picture of Western music.
The first rock bands in the Soviet Union appeared on the scene in the early sixties in Moscow, and they were heavily influenced by The Beatles.
The live bands grew popular in spite of governmental restrictions. This continued into the 1980s, when native bands gained some success, but were still hampered by state regulators who would not allow them to be officially recorded, and placed restrictions on lyrical content.
Guitar-driven bands evolved during this time, including Leningrad-based Pojuschie Gitary (the singing guitars) and Belarusian Pesnyary. These bands started the VIA (Вокально-Инструментальный Ансамбль Vokal'no-Instrumental'nyy ansambl' -- Vocal-Instrumental Ensemble) movement, and were followed by others, such as Tcvety, Golubiye Gitary and Sinyaya Ptica. At the same time Mashina Vremeni in Moscow and Aquarium in Leningrad started as nominally amateur bands and soon became popular, performing underground concerts.
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Wikipedia