During 1993-1994, a fundamentally new youth media culture was taking shape in Russia. Against the backdrop of the USSR's collapse and the painful transition to a market economy, the first glossy magazines aimed at young people appeared – young people searching for new forms of self-identification, different from Soviet models. These publications became not just sources of information about music and fashion, but conduits for Western club culture and the lifestyle tied to it.
The context of their emergence: why 1993-1994 specifically
By 1993, a unique situation had taken shape in Russia. The country had lived through the collapse of the Soviet Union, the August 1991 coup, the shelling of the White House in October 1993. The old ideological system had collapsed, and a new one had not yet formed. In this ideological vacuum, young people proved the most receptive to Western cultural influences.
Economic liberalization, which began in 1992, led to the emergence of the first entrepreneurs, including in the media industry. Paradoxically, it was precisely during the economic crisis that a market for glossy magazines – publications expensive to produce, requiring quality printing – began to take shape.
An important factor was the opening of the borders. Young editors and publishers gained the ability to travel to the West, bring back magazines, study their formats, and adapt them for a Russian audience. In the absence of the internet, it was precisely physical access to Western publications that determined whether something new could be created.
Background: Western models
Russian youth magazines of the mid-1990s did not appear out of nowhere. They deliberately modeled themselves on Western examples, which by that time already had established formats and aesthetics.
The British model: The Face
The British magazine The Face, founded in 1980, became a bible for the creators of Russian youth publications. It was not simply a music magazine – The Face documented club culture, street fashion, the art scene. The magazine became famous for its revolutionary design, unusual layout, and photography that was itself a work of art.
The Face covered the emerging rave culture of the late 1980s – early 1990s, when techno and house music emerged from the underground and began shaping a new youth identity. It was precisely this model – the magazine as a conduit for a particular lifestyle tied to club culture – that Russian publishers took as their foundation.
American counterparts
The American magazines Details and Project X represented an alternative approach. Details (founded in 1982) was a more masculine, ironic, cynical publication about fashion and lifestyle. Project X focused on alternative music and subcultures. Both publications stood out for their bold visual concepts and willingness to raise provocative topics.
These magazines created the feeling that the reader belonged to a select circle, to those who "got it." This was not mass culture, but something elitist, accessible only to the initiated. It was precisely this model of "clubbiness," of exclusivity, that was transplanted into the Russian context.
Ptyuch: the magazine as a manifesto of rave culture
Launch and concept
The magazine Ptyuch began publishing in September 1994 under editor-in-chief Igor Shulinsky. From the very first issue it was clear that this publication was fundamentally different from anything that existed in the Russian press. Ptyuch didn't just write about youth culture – it created it, shaped it, and promoted it.
The magazine's name (a distorted English word open to various interpretations) was itself already a provocation. It was incomprehensible to the general public, but recognizable to those who were "in the know" – club-goers, fans of electronic music, young people looking for an alternative to pop and rock.
Ties to club infrastructure
What made Ptyuch unique was that the magazine was from the start part of a broader project to promote club culture. This wasn't just an editorial staff putting out a magazine, but an entire ecosystem:
- The Ptyuch Club opened on December 24, 1994, in Moscow (5th Monetchikovsky Lane) and existed until 1997. It was a physical space where the magazine's protagonists and readers met, where the DJs the magazine wrote about played, where exactly the atmosphere the publication was trying to convey on paper actually reigned.
- Ptyuch Sound System – a promotion group founded in late 1994, organized club events, parties, and concerts. This was a commercial structure that earned money promoting electronic music and artists.
Thus, the magazine wasn't an isolated media product but a central element of cultural infrastructure. The club provided material for articles; the magazine advertised the club's and the promotion group's events. It was a closed loop, creating the sense of a cohesive subculture.
Techno, trance, and rave culture
From its very first issues, Ptyuch positioned itself as a publication about rave culture. In 1993-1994, rave was only just arriving in Russia. It was music (techno, trance, house) closely tied to a particular lifestyle:
- Night parties lasting until morning
- A distinct aesthetic – bright colors, acid tones, futuristic imagery
- Free-form dancing without the usual rock-and-roll or disco choreography
- An informal atmosphere where social boundaries blurred
- The use of psychoactive substances as an inseparable part of the culture
The magazine did not hide rave culture's ties to drugs. On the contrary, this was part of its positioning – Ptyuch was radical, provocative, it broke taboos. The magazine published articles that openly discussed substances, their effects, the experience of using them. This was a deliberate editorial choice – to show the reality of club culture without embellishment or prudishness.
Editorial policy and provocation
Most of the articles in Ptyuch were not signed with authors' names. This created a sense of a collective statement, the voice of a generation rather than individual journalists. But most importantly, it gave freedom. Anonymity made it possible to touch on subjects that would have been impossible under an open byline:
- Drugs and their effects
- Non-traditional sexuality
- Explicit photographs
- Profanity in headlines and text
The magazine printed provocative images that would have been unthinkable in other publications of that time. Ptyuch's visual language shocked, drew attention, repelled the conservative public, and attracted precisely that "advanced" youth searching for something radically different from Soviet aesthetics.
Eclecticism and the absence of boundaries
Every issue of Ptyuch was maximally eclectic. Its pages could feature, side by side:
- Long-form pieces on underground music
- Essays on the influence of UFOs on fashion
- Frank accounts by schoolgirls of sex and drugs
- Anti-drug advertising (paradoxically sitting alongside material where drug use was described without condemnation)
- Interviews with DJs and young designers
- Reports from parties in Moscow and other cities
The texts often read like personal diaries, written as a stream of consciousness. The authors did not strive for journalistic objectivity – they shared experience, emotions, subjective impressions. This created a sense of intimacy, of confiding in the reader.
Playing with glossy codes
Paradoxically, Ptyuch, for all its underground, anti-glamour stance, actively used typical glossy-magazine devices:
- Photographs from the runways of the world's major fashion weeks
- Sample inserts – though not of perfume or cream, but of condoms
- Fashion shoots with professional models
- Quality printing and expensive paper
The magazine seemed to challenge the glossy format while itself being a glossy publication. This duality – mocking glossy standards while simultaneously using them – was part of the game it played with the reader, part of the irony that permeated the entire publication.
Design and layout
The first three issues were prepared for print by designers Dmitry Likin and Yevgeny Raitses (who later became art directors at Channel One). They created a nonstandard layout that deliberately made reading difficult. Text was placed at an angle, overlaid on photographs, printed in illegible fonts.
This was a deliberate decision. The magazine did not want to be convenient or mass-market. Its design said: "If you're not willing to work to read this text, then this publication isn't for you." Bright acid colors, futuristic fonts, chaotic composition – all of this was the visual equivalent of techno music and rave aesthetics.
The financial model
Creating and sustaining such a publication required significant investment. Quality printing, expensive paper, the work of professional designers and photographers – all of this cost money. In 1994, amid an economic crisis, finding financing for a youth magazine was no easy task.
The model worked like this: the magazine attracted advertisers who wanted to reach affluent young people. The club and the promotion group brought in additional income. But above all, the project was sustained by enthusiasts for whom this wasn't just a business, but a mission to promote a new culture.
OM: gentler, but no less influential
Concept and positioning
The magazine OM began publishing in November 1995 under Igor Grigoriev, who had previously edited the magazines Imperial and Amadeus. OM appeared a bit later than Ptyuch, but quickly carved out its own niche. If Ptyuch was radical and provocative, OM was more glamorous, more "scene"-oriented, more readable.
OM was also tied to club culture, but approached it differently. It was a magazine for those who wanted to stay abreast of fashion trends, visit the right places, listen to the right music, but weren't ready for Ptyuch's radicalism. OM shaped tastes, but did so more gently, more diplomatically.
"The voice of a generation"
Editor Andrei Bukharin recalled that "OM aspired to be 'the voice of a generation.'" The magazine addressed "thinking youth" who were looking for a new aesthetic, different from the Soviet one, but who also didn't want to slide into the "raspberry blazers" and "gold chains" of the New Russians.
In the mid-1990s, there was a chasm in Russia between two lifestyles: on one side – criminal romance, "made men," casinos, "Vladimirsky Tsentral" playing on karaoke; on the other – an alternative youth culture oriented toward the West, toward quality music, toward intellectualism. OM became the mouthpiece of the second group.
Musical priorities
Unlike Ptyuch, which promoted primarily electronic music, OM paid a great deal of attention to a new type of Russian pop music – "rock-pop." The magazine actively supported bands such as:
- Mumiy Troll
- Zemfira
- Bratya Grimm
- Bi-2
- Splean
- Tantsy Minus
These performers were connected to the club scene, but their music was more accessible than hardcore techno. OM helped bring underground musicians into the mainstream, made them stars. The magazine released four compilations of "the best music" according to the editors, which became important documents of the era.
Ties to clubs
Although OM didn't have its own club (unlike Ptyuch), the magazine was closely tied to Moscow's club infrastructure. It covered fashionable parties, the opening of new clubs, performances by DJs and bands. Being mentioned in OM meant becoming part of the "right" scene.
The magazine's own staff were themselves part of this scene – OM's journalists and designers were regulars at fashionable clubs, personally knew the protagonists of their articles, and were themselves shaping the very milieu they wrote about. The magazine did not observe the culture from the outside – it was an inseparable part of it.
Common features and differences between the two models
What united Ptyuch and OM
- Orientation toward the West: Both magazines were modeled on Western publications and transmitted Western cultural codes.
- Ties to clubs: Both publications were closely tied to club culture, though in different ways.
- Shaping tastes: The magazines didn't just inform, they actively shaped ideas about what was fashionable, correct, contemporary.
- Building community: Both publications created a sense of belonging to a select circle, to those who "got it."
- High quality: Expensive printing, professional photographers, quality design – these were not cheap publications.
Key differences
- Radicalism: Ptyuch was provocative, shocking, bordering on indecent. OM was softer, more glamorous, more "accommodating" (in one critic's phrase).
- Musical priorities: Ptyuch promoted techno and trance; OM promoted rock-pop and alternative pop music.
- Readability: Ptyuch deliberately made reading difficult with its nonstandard layout; OM was more convenient and accessible.
- Attitude toward the mainstream: Ptyuch remained underground to the end; OM sought to influence the mainstream and bring its heroes onto the big stage.
Economic reality and challenges
The financing problem
In 1993-1994, creating and sustaining a glossy magazine in Russia was extremely difficult. The economy was in crisis, the advertising market was only just taking shape, and the population's purchasing power was low. Youth magazines were a risky business.
Print runs were small compared to mass-market publications. The readership was narrow – urban youth from relatively well-off families, students, young professionals. In the regions the magazines were practically not sold at all; all of this life was concentrated in Moscow and, to a lesser extent, St. Petersburg.
Dependence on publishers
The editorial staffs of youth magazines were creative teams, but the financing came from publishers – businessmen who invested money in the projects. This created constant tension: creative people wanted freedom and experimentation, businessmen demanded profitability.
Ptyuch's history is telling: in 1996 the publishing rights were sold to the joint-stock company "Gertruda," which ultimately led to conflicts between the editorial staff and the new owners. The 1998 crisis made the situation worse. By 2000, financing had stopped, and the magazine effectively ceased to exist, though it officially closed only in 2003.
Cultural influence and legacy
Shaping a post-Soviet identity
The youth magazines of 1993-1994 played an enormous role in shaping a new post-Soviet identity. They showed young people that it was possible to live differently, that alternative models of behavior, dress, and leisure existed.
Amid an ideological vacuum, these magazines offered a new frame of reference. They said: you can be free, you can choose what to listen to and how to dress, you don't have to follow old Soviet models or copy the "New Russians" with their vulgarity.
Creating a language and an aesthetic
The magazines created a new language for describing reality. They introduced English borrowings tied to club culture into the Russian language: rave, techno, trance, DJ, promoter. They shaped a visual aesthetic that later became mainstream – bright colors, futuristic imagery, bold photography.
Documenting the era
OM's editor-in-chief Igor Grigoriev wrote in 1998: "I'm certain that OM will be studied when people research the recent history of our country." And he was right. These magazines became critically important documents of the era, capturing how the youth of the mid-1990s looked, thought, and felt.
Years later, the writer Sergei Minaev noted: "To say that OM did more for my generation, culturally speaking, than any other media would be rather banal, but it's true. It was the only magazine that instilled a taste for the right music, film, literature."
The fate of the publications
Maxim Semelyak, a former contributor to both magazines, gave a precise assessment of their fates: "OM was a forerunner of the era that arrived, whereas Ptyuch was a forerunner of nothing at all. Ptyuch went down with its heroes. OM brought its heroes into the mainstream, but wasn't itself needed by that mainstream."
Both magazines closed – Ptyuch in 2003, OM in 2006. Their time had passed. Club culture changed, the internet made print magazines less relevant, young people found new forms of self-expression. But their influence remains: they showed an entire generation that a life was possible beyond Soviet stereotypes and the criminal romance of the 1990s.
Conclusion: the magazine, the club, and the "lifestyle"
The phenomenon of the 1993-1994 youth magazines cannot be understood apart from club culture. These weren't simply publications about music and fashion – they were conduits for an entire lifestyle, of which nightclubs, electronic music, a particular aesthetic, and, inevitably, psychoactive substances as an element of rave culture were all a part.
The combination of "magazine + club + promotion group" (as in Ptyuch's case) was the ideal business model for promoting this culture. The magazine created an information field, the club provided a physical space for meetings and events, the promoters organized the events. All the elements worked synergistically, reinforcing one another.
For a novel set in 1993, it's important to understand: this was the moment of emergence. Western club culture was only just beginning to penetrate Russia. The first enthusiasts brought back magazines and records from abroad, tried to reproduce what they'd seen in Russian conditions. It was a time of experimentation, when it still wasn't clear whether any of it would take root, whether it would find an audience.
By 1994, when the first issue of Ptyuch came out, it became clear that there was an audience. Young people were ready for something new. They were looking for an alternative to both pop music and heavy rock, and to criminal-underworld romanticism. Rave, with its electronic rhythms, bright colors, and philosophy of "peace and love," turned out to be exactly what a generation raised in an era of upheaval needed.
But behind this bright wrapper lurked a dark side too. Rave culture was closely tied to drugs – above all to ecstasy (MDMA), which heightened empathy and allowed people to dance for hours on end. The magazines did not hide this connection; moreover, they normalized it, presented it as part of the lifestyle. This was risky and provocative, but it matched the reality of the club scene of the time.
For an entrepreneur like the novel's hero, Roman Peskov, investing in a youth magazine and club in 1993 would have been a risky but potentially promising venture. If you could find the right team (enthusiasts who understand