Growing up, I remember going to the mall (I know, I know–I’ve repented) and seeing cassettes (not to date me, but…) of Автограф, the crappy Soviet metal band. There may have been other Soviet groups available as freely in the West, but Автограф was the only one I knew of. Perhaps because of the times, we could dismiss them (and others) as crap.

Then I started to study Russian and shortly thereafter the Soviet Union fell (again, not to date me), and I was reintroduced to Soviet music. Some of it was actually quite good. My favorite Soviet-era band is Кино whose singer has been described as the Russian John Lennon, right down to the early death. Personally, though, I favor more contemporary – Putin-era – bands. The weird thing is that most of the good ones (solely based on my limited judgment) come from St. Petersburg. There isn’t one band I listen to that I know definitely comes from Moscow. Maybe тАТу, but I don’t have a burning desire to verify that, so I’ll just stay in the dark on that one.

Anyway, for anyone curious about the Soviet and Russian music scene, I’m including a list of my favorites. Feel free to google. Several of these groups – even Кино – have websites where you can download mp3s if you’re so inclined. The ones in bold definitely date back to Soviet times – even before Gorbachev. As for the more modern ones, since the 1990s, it’s been common practice for a Russian band to record in London presumably because of better facilities. Sometimes you can really hear the Britpop influence, so fear not. The dark days of Автограф are over.

Би-2, ДДТ, Дочь Монро и Кеннеди, Кино, Ля Миноръ, Машина Времени, Наутилус Помпилиус, Ночные Снайперы, Сплин, and тАТу.

(NB: As might be expected, not all websites have English versions, so if you don’t know from cyrillic, just dig around for the good stuff)