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. «На краю» - 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.
2. «Качели»- Алиса
Alisa is considered one of the most influential banks in Russian rock. They formed in 1983 in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) and the group’s name is from Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland." The band's songs and lyrics started out as typical themes of rock and roll and social protest, but after lead singer Konstantin Kinchev's baptism into the Russian Orthodox Church in 1990, the band's lyrics began to take on the themes of Christianity and Slavic unity. This caused the group to lose some of its "hardcore" fan following but most of the "Alisa Army" (what their fans call themselves) have remained loyal.
3. «Мама» - Louna
This Russian alternative female-lead rock band was created in August 2008 and made its first public appearance on May 23, 2009 at the famous Moscow club “Tochka.” Their music incorporates a variety of styles and the lyrics dig into serious problems facing modern society. They immediately gained popularity and in the next 2 years Louna played some of the largest Russian and Ukrainian rock festivals. In 2009, the group received a RAMP (Russian Alternative Music Prize) award and was named a “Discovery of the Year.” The name of the group is, as you might suspect, taken from the Russian word for “moon” – or “луна.” However, they decided on use an unusual English transliteration so as to be more “unusual.”
4. «Напиши мне, напиши»- 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.
5. «Sky Whisky» - Сергей Шнуров
Sergei Shnurov, also known by his nickname Шнур (Shnur, a Russian word for “cord”), is a Russian singer and the frontman of such Russian punk bands such as the early pioneers of Russian punk, Ленинград, and Рубль. A controversial and outspoken character, his songs are often offensive - full of expletives and often about PG-13 or R-rated subjects. He has also succored controversy at concerts and in his music videos where he has appeared nude on a few occasions.
