Nashe Radio plays popular music that isn't quite "pop." What's big in Russian-language rock, rap, punk, R&B, and alternative? Nashe Radio's all-Russian and eclectic play list can tell you. Once a month, SRAS provides a snapshot of what's at the top of their charts, with YouTube videos and additional commentary taken from the Russian Popular Music page of our Library.
1. «Песня о свободе» - ДДТ
DDT (or ДДТ in Cyrillic) is a popular Russian rock band founded by its lead singer, Yuri Shevchuk, in Ufa (Bashkirtostan) in south-western Russia in 1980. The band started its existence with cover-versions of songs by Rolling Stones, The Beatles and other Western rock-bands. For some time musicians even argued whether it was possible to play rock-music in Russian, unaware that many Russian rock groups were already finding success in Moscow and Leningrad (now St.Petersburg). After many changes in group’s lineup and eventual relocation to Leningrad, it became one of the most successful and prolific Russian musical groups of the 20th and 21st centuries.
2. «Шут» - Ляпис Трубецкой
This punk-rock band from Belarus was named after a character in the famous Russian satiric novel The Twelve Chairs. The group formed in 1990 and soon moved from the underground scene to wide popularity. Although known for their pop-culture parodies, their popularity has actually associated them now with the pop-star crowd. So they had to completely shed their image to come back to what everything started from – to a mix of biting satire and powerful chords. In 2011, the group was placed on an “unofficial” black list of artists and performers by Belarus government and currently all the scheduled concerts have been canceled in that country. However, their popularity remains strong.
3. «Счастье?»- Король и Шут
King and Jester is another veteran group, formed in 1988. Their style blends punk music with the epic stylings and black humor of their apparently vampire-obsessed lead singer Mikhail "Gorshok" (Jug) Gorshenev. ) The group’s songs often have horror story or fairy tale themes. The members cite many Western punk bands as influences and often perform wearing Misfits-style make-up onstage. The band holds a devoted cult following and their albums almost instantly top the charts after release.
4. «Google»- Ночные снайперы
Night Snipers formed in 1993 and quickly became favorites of the Saint Petersburg music clubs. Their early songs were an odd but pleasing mix of Rock, Jazz, Soviet, and Japanese influences. Their later releases are less distinctive, especially after they brought Zemfira's music engineer on board. Try listening to "Jazz" or the haunting repetitions of "На границе."
5. «Шальная жизнь»- Алексей Горшенев
Alexey Gorshenev, younger brother of Michael Gorshenev of punk-rock band Korol I Shut (King and Jester), and the former drummer of the same band. Later he founded his own band Kukryniksy and writes most music and lyrics for the band. The song “Wild Life” is from the album “Yesenin. The Poet’s Soul” (2011) based on the poetry of Sergey Yesenin, one of the most popular and well-known Russian poets of the 20th century.
