Early Russian punk/ post punk (contextual/ conceptual research)

What was the ideology behind the punk movement in Russia?

The rise of punk in Russia stemmed from trends in the west with the likes of the Sex Pistols, etc. Items like leather jackets and punk albums were sold in black markets, as Russia caught on to the punk movement. Soviet teens had grown tires of the peace and love movements of the 1960's, so punk served as a breath of 'fresh air', according to Russia Beyond.

The russian punk ideology was centres around rebellion, and contrasted with disco, as disco became the mainstream in Russian pop culture. One of the main mottos of Russian punk was "no future"; punk was an obvious choice for soviet kids, as it served as a platform to express intellect and anger. 

Russian punk contrasted with British punk, in the sense that English ideologies consisted of rebelling against the establishment, whereas in the Soviet Union, everyone was equally poor.  

Items associated with Russian Punk:

Soviet kids tried to imitate the looks of western punk, such as doc martens and leather jackets; however, shortages in soviet life pushed them to find new looks. Russian punks often wore military boots and black navy jackets. 

It was a major issue that western punks used Nazi propaganda in their clothing; even the band KISS were banned from Russia due to the double (SS). 

The Soviet propaganda immediately rejected the punk movement; punks were accused with destruction, aggression and hate. The soviet union considered them enemies of the state. 

The first Russian punk bands

Automatic Satisfiers

I thought it would be interesting to look at the origins of russian punk through researching the early bands in the punk movement; this would help me identify the politics associated with the post-punk genre, and visual characteristics of the punk movement. Within the articles I looked at, the fact that punk/post-punk was an underground scene was very prominent, due to the Soviet censorship in Russia; I could try communicate this idea of surveillance and censorship in my album designs to reference early Russian punk?

DK

GO/ Grob

The visual motifs of death and a melancholy tone is key within my research, as it is a common theme within the origins of punk; I could draw from this article on Grob through referencing the visual language of a 'coffin' possibly?

Political rebellion

It would be hard to ignore the heavy politics surrounding punk within the Soviet Union, as it played a key role in the driving force for rebellion within the genre; punks associated with the NBP party were labelled extremists due to their flags similarity to the Nazi flag. As well as this, a striking fact that I discovered was the lengths that the soviets would go to in order to censor the punk scene; for example sending leader of Grob, Yegor Leotov, to a mental hospital and labelling him mentally ill. 

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991)

After the collapse of the soviet union, punk became less politically charged and moved into the mainstream; making the songs more meaningless and more about capturing the punk 'aesthetic'.

After years of punk loosing its way in its rebellious nature, more bands started to appear that maintained the original ideologies of early Russian punk; A key figure in this was pussy riot.

Pussy Riot and the beginnings of post punk

Pussy Riot is a particularly interesting punk band as they rebel against current issues in Russia; however, their sound is more punk rock which isn't that relevant to me as I am more interested in the subtle influences in Russian post punk. 

Igor Mukhin

Igor Mukhin was a photographer that followed the punk/ post punk movement in Russia under Soviet authority, where gigs and events were held underground in peoples' basements. This highlights the strong censorship of the genre, and the nature of rebellion that the members had.