Windows to the West: (Un)Covering Western Songs in Late Soviet Rock Performances

• In Event: Sounds from the West: American and European Music in Late Soviet Culture

Abstract

The emergence of a new generation of Soviet bands during the period of Glasnost, such as DDT, Kino, Akvarium, and others, was marked by the construction of a new, essentially ‘Russian’ iteration of rock music. However, as Russian rock and pop bands tried to find their “authentic” sounds and voices in the post-Soviet period, some used Russian-language covers of Western musical performances both as a means to introduce listeners to the once-suppressed Western rock idiom, as well as an opportunity to develop and define their own performative identities.

Author

• Thomas Jesús Garza, U of Texas at Austin