music
Notes: 70
The Band "Chyorny Kofe" (Black Coffee)
"Cherny Kofe" ("Black Coffee") is one of the most significant bands of the Soviet and Russian rock scene, founded in 1979 by Dmitry Varshavsky.
"No Limit" and the Band 2 Unlimited
The 2 Unlimited Eurodance anthem thundering over the speakers, 1993's inescapable European club hit, months before it would conquer Russian airwaves…
"We Are Peaceful People, But Our Armored Train Stands Ready on a Side Track"
The story of the famous line "We are peaceful people, but our armored train stands ready on a side track," from a 1935 song by Svetlov and Dunaevsky…
The Irving Berlin Song "Puttin' On the Ritz"
Irving Berlin's top-hat-and-cane standard, and the image of dapper, high-society swagger the narrator borrows for his own head full of dollars and a…
"Sabre Dance" and "Flight of the Bumblebee"
"Sabre Dance" is a piece from Aram Khachaturian's ballet "Gayane," created in 1942. It is known for its breakneck tempo and vivid orchestration…
"Thanks for Being Alive": a Song by Vladimir Vysotsky
The phrase "say thanks you're alive," which the novel's protagonist hears, refers to one of the most poignant and autobiographical works by Vladimir…
The Student's Song (from the Goliards)
Tukhmanov's song "Iz Vagantov" ("Of the Wandering Scholars"), based on a medieval text, tells of a student setting off to study and bidding his…
"The Day's Over and You're Still Alive": an Anthem of 1990s Survival
Anatoly Germanovich Krupnov (1965-1997) was a Soviet and Russian musician, a virtuoso bassist, vocalist, composer, and poet. He was the founder and…
Alexandra Nikolayevna Pakhmutova (b. November 9, 1929) and Nikolai Nikolayevich Dobronravov (1928-2023)
Alexandra Nikolayevna Pakhmutova (b. November 9, 1929) and Nikolai Nikolayevich Dobronravov (1928-2023) were a legendary creative duo of Soviet and…
Alice in Chains: an American Grunge Band
The Seattle band at the commercial and critical peak of grunge in 1993, whose "Dirt" would go five-times platinum.
"And You're My Love, My Sweet, Sweet Love," from the 1991 Album "Auberge"
The closing track on Chris Rea's 1989 album "Auberge" — the song purring out of the tape deck as Roman rides in his new car.
The Song "Beyond the Clouds"
"Beyond the Clouds" is a famous Soviet song, written by composer Mark Fradkin to lyrics by poet Robert Rozhdestvensky.
Britpop at its 1996 peak
Britpop at its commercial and cultural peak in 1995-96, from the Blur-vs-Oasis chart battle to its odd usefulness as a pickup line at a Russian…
"Peremen!" ("Changes!") by Kino -- the Anthem of an Era
The song "I Want Changes!" (also known as "Changes!") by the Soviet rock band Kino became one of the most recognizable musical symbols of the…
Chris Rea, the British Singer-Songwriter
Chris Rea is a British singer and guitarist, popular in Europe and Russia. In the 1990s he reached the height of his fame with the albums "Road to…
"Eastern Song" by David Tukhmanov and Onegin Gadzhikasimov
"Eastern Song," the 1968 hit written by David Tukhmanov and Onegin Gadzhikasimov, made famous by Valery Obodzinsky.
Elektrichka: the Alyona Apina hit playing at Roman's New Year's party
The story behind Alyona Apina's 1997 hit "Elektrichka," one of the biggest Russian pop songs of the year.
Everything's Going According to Plan
Yegor Letov's deliberately misunderstood 1988 punk anthem, and how its bitter irony about a system in freefall took on a whole new life amid the…
The Singer Gilla and Her Song "Johnny"
Gilla (Gisela Wuchinger) is an Austrian disco singer known since the late 1970s. She worked with Frank Farian and recorded for Hansa Records. Her hit…
Go West: From Disco Anthem to Post-Soviet Irony
The song «Go West» was written in 1979 by the American disco group Village People and became one of the most recognizable hits of the disco era.
Grace Jones: Icon of Androgyny and the Avant-Garde
Grace Beverly Jones (born May 19, 1948, in Spanish Town, Jamaica) is a Jamaican singer, model, and actress who became one of the most recognizable…
Guitars, Bass, Hi-Hat, and Kick Drum
Music in restaurants lowers anxiety and encourages guests to linger longer. The protagonist perceives the sounds in a distorted way due to his…
Gustav Holst and "The Planets": a Musical Embodiment of Cosmic Forces
Gustav Holst and his revolutionary suite "The Planets" (1914-1917). The story of its creation, an analysis of "Mars, the Bringer of War," and its…
Harpsichord
The harpsichord is a stringed keyboard instrument of the Baroque era, in which sound is produced by plucking the strings. Its golden age ran from the…
"Ekh, Zagulyal": a Romani Camp Song
According to one version, the song was written by Pyotr Konstantinovich Leshchenko (June 2, 1898 – July 16, 1954), a Russian popular singer and…
Hoochie Coochie: from the American Carnival to Soviet Rock Culture
Zhorik's throwaway nickname, tracing a strange path from 19th-century carnival dancers through Muddy Waters' blues standard to a badge of musical…
House of Pain: an American Hip-Hop Group
The Irish-American hip-hop trio behind "Jump Around" — a 1992 crossover hit that, by 1993, was already an inescapable radio anthem worldwide, Russia…
Oleg Mityaev's Song "How Wonderful"
The song "How Wonderful" was written and first performed by Oleg Mityaev in 1978 at the Ilmen Festival of Author's Song.
In the Noisy Balagan: the Willy Tokarev song behind Roman's New York club-hopping
Willy Tokarev's 1981 album and its title metaphor for Soviet-emigre life in America, and the singer's own journey from the USSR to the streets of New…
INXS: an Australian Rock Legend of the Early 1990s
The Australian rock band, at the peak of their fame in 1993 with a fresh album ("Full Moon, Dirty Hearts") and a decade of international stardom…
John Alec Entwistle (October 9, 1944 -- June 27, 2002)
The Who's bassist, nicknamed "Thunderfingers," and why plucking at fabric like guitar strings became shorthand for a certain kind of nervous, showy…
John Mayall: the Godfather of British Blues
John Mayall, the "Godfather of British Blues," and the Bluesbreakers lineup that launched Clapton, Peter Green, and Mick Taylor.
Kenny G
How a Seattle saxophonist's smooth-jazz instrumentals became the sound of middle-class comfort and prosperity worldwide in the early-to-mid 1990s…
Natalya Vetlitskaya and the Hit "Look Into My Eyes"
Natalya Vetlitskaya's cult 1991 hit and its equally famous, script-free music video — a symbol of the new, uninhibited Russian pop scene that…
Marionettes and Puppet Theater
The history of marionettes from Ancient Egypt to the present day: puppet-theater traditions, control techniques, and the symbolic meaning of the…
Mezzo-Soprano, or Half-Soprano
Mezzo-soprano, the female voice type between soprano and contralto, with examples from opera and pop music.
Modern Talking and the Song "Brother Louie"
Modern Talking's popularity peaked in the mid-1980s. After their debut hit "You're My Heart, You're My Soul" (1984), they followed up with such…
The Rolling Stones Song "Paint It Black"
The Rolling Stones' 1966 hit, and the rare case of a Western rock single officially pressed by Soviet state label Melodiya.
Kai Metov's Song "Position No. 2"
"Position No. 2" is the song that had no music video in 1993.
Samantha Fox (born April 15, 1966)
Samantha Fox (born April 15, 1966) is a British pop singer and former glamour model who, in the mid-to-late 1980s, was one of the era's leading sex…
Unrecognized music: Domenico Scarlatti. Sonata in D minor, K.141
Domenico Scarlatti's Sonata in D minor, K.141 — a virtuosic harpsichord piece with characteristic rapid passages and an energetic rhythm, showcasing…
Shizgara ("Venus")
How Shocking Blue's "Venus" got mangled by Soviet ears into the nonsense word "Shizgara" — and became a symbol of Western freedom anyway.
Siouxsie and the Banshees: Enigmatic Post-Punk Pioneers
The pioneering British post-punk band, by 1993 elder statespeople of the alternative scene whose influence ran through goth, alt-rock, and much of…
"The Spinning Top": a Cult Hit of 1980s Soviet Rock
The line "the top is spinning, spinning, spinning wildly" that hooks itself into Roman's insomnia — a nod to the Soviet rock band Kruiz's best-known…
Sterva. Sterva. Sterva.
A detailed analysis of the song "Sterva" ("Bitch") by Yuri Loza, from the 1985 cassette album "Toska" ("Longing"). The musician's biography, the…
Take That
The Manchester boy band that dominated the UK charts from 1993 to 1996, split amid teenage hysteria, and became a fixture of Russian discos chasing a…
The Band Dschinghis Khan and Their Song "Dschinghis Khan"
Dschinghis Khan - Germany 1979 - Eurovision songs live
The Brian Setzer Orchestra and «Switchblade 327»
A detailed article on the Brian Setzer Orchestra, their track Switchblade 327, the biography of Brian Setzer, the Stray Cats, and the rockabilly…
The Farewell Komsomol Song
"The Farewell Komsomol Song," also known by its opening line "The order has come: he goes west...", is one of the most poignant songs of the Soviet…
The Ghetto Blaster, or Boombox
The oversized, metal-bodied boombox that defined 1980s street culture in the West, arriving in Russia just as its golden age abroad was already…
"The Assemblers' March" ("We're No Stokers, No Carpenters")
The 1957 Soviet film song "We're Not Stokers, We're Not Carpenters," source of Zhorik's jab about Roman's taste in clothes.
The Stooges, the American Proto-Punk Band
The Stooges were an American rock band that became one of the founders of punk rock and proto-punk. The band formed in 1967 in Michigan, led by…
"The Buguruslan Tachanka, All Four Wheels": a Song Line
The Civil War-era cavalry song Roman hums, relocated as a joke to a real, unglamorous oil town in the Orenburg region.
The Walkman: a Revolution in Portable Music Listening
Sony's 1979 invention that turned music into something private and portable for the first time, selling over 400 million units and reshaping an…
The Wind Blew From the Sea: the Natali song with the most disputed authorship in Russian pop
The tangled authorship history of Natali's "The Wind Blew From the Sea," one of the most enduring Russian pop hits of the 1990s.
The Thompson Twins: a British New Wave Band
The British pop trio of "Hold Me Now" fame — by 1993 down to a duo recording under the name Babble, a footnote to their mid-80s MTV-era stardom.
"Titan Baikonur": the Rapper Bogdan Titomir
Bogdan Petrovich Titomir (born March 16, 1967) is a Soviet and Russian rap performer who became one of the most vivid figures in Russian pop music of…
"Twilight Zone" by Golden Earring
"Twilight Zone" is a cult song by the Dutch rock band Golden Earring, their best-known hit in the US and one of the emblematic videos of 1980s MTV.
"Two Little Pieces of Sausage" and the Band Kombinatsiya
Two Little Pieces of Sausage is a song released by the group Kombinatsiya in 1992, which became the band's first major hit after the departure of its…
Uriah Heep: British Rock Legends in the Russian Provinces
Uriah Heep is a British rock band formed in London in 1969, taking its name from a character in Charles Dickens's novel David Copperfield. In the…
Maxim Leonidov's Song "Videnie" ("A Vision")
The song "Videnie" ("A Vision"), popularly known as "The Girl-Vision," became one of the most recognizable hits of 1990s Russian popular music.
Vlad Stashevsky: the 1994 pop hit playing on TV as Roman broods alone
How producer Yuri Aizenshpis built pop star Vlad Stashevsky and his hit "Love No Longer Lives Here" from a bet with a rival.
We Will Rock You
The Queen anthem — built from nothing but stomps, claps, and a closing guitar solo — that Zhorik drums out on the steering wheel while waiting for a…
"We'll Live a New Way Now": the Debut Hit of the Band Lyube
The song "We'll Live a New Way Now" (also known as "Lyubertsy") became the debut hit of the Soviet, and later Russian, rock band Lyube, recorded in…
"Chto Takoye Osen" ("What Is Autumn") by DDT
The line "what will become of the Motherland, and of us" is a direct quote from one of the best-known songs by the Russian rock band DDT -- "Chto…
White Silence
Vysotsky's song "White Silence" (1972) was written for the film "Sannikov Land," but he was not approved for the role due to censorship. The song…
Who the Hell Needs This War
"Who the Hell Needs This War" is a 1994 anti-war song by Olga Arefyeva from the album "Batakakumba." The story behind the reggae-style track, its…
Yello: Swiss Pioneers of Electronic Music
Yello is a legendary Swiss electro-pop band from Zurich, founded in 1978 by three musicians: Boris Blank, Dieter Meier, and Carlos Peron.
Yellow-Eyed Night
The song "Yellow-Eyed Night" (Oshanin, Mazhukov), performed by Birute Petrikyte - a strange, groundbreaking, yet overlooked moment on Soviet…
The Song "Let's Wait"
A footnote on the Russian pop hit "Let's Wait," whose title Zhorik echoes verbatim while stalling in the courtyard.