A bronze memorial plaque in honor of the Leningrad rock club appeared in St. Petersburg

A bronze memorial plaque appeared on the wall of house 13 on Rubinshteina Street in St. Petersburg in honor of the Leningrad rock club, which was based here since 1981. He talks about how grassroots initiative and political gesture were combined in this event. Igor Gavrilov.

The birthday of the Leningrad Rock Club (LRK) is celebrated on March 7th. On this day in 1981, the first concert was held under the auspices of the organization, which was then called the LenClub of Music Lovers, at the Leningrad Inter-Union House of Amateur Arts on Rubinshteina, 13. The groups “Picnic”, “Russians”, “Myths” and “Zerkalo” performed at the first concert. The brightest groups of LRK were called “Kino”, “Zoo”, “Secret”, “Pop Mechanics”, “Aquarium”, “Alice”, “Auktsion”, “Zero”, “DDT”, “TV” and “Strange Games” ” The golden era of rock in Russian is associated precisely with the club, which actually existed for ten years. The final chord of his story was the big festival of 1991, at which Boris Grebenshchikov (included in the register of foreign agents in the Russian Federation) symbolically broke his guitar and drum, and when one of the sponsors of the event tried to give him a souvenir in the form of a model of a sailing ship, the leader of Aquarium ” retreated from the stage with the words “No…, it’s too late!”

Some events were also held under the auspices of LRK in the 90s, but its role in the musical life of the country was reduced to almost zero compared to the previous decade. But the legend remained and has survived to this day. LRK veterans gathered for concerts in honor of glorious dates, the cult of club member Viktor Tsoi acquired enormous proportions, and many documentaries and feature films depicting the heyday of LRK appeared on the screens. After the appearance of Kirill Serebrennikov’s controversial, but quite high-profile film “Summer,” Leningrad rock stars in the field of domestic mass culture almost turned into superheroes like comic book characters. Finally, the exhibition “Viktor Tsoi. The Hero’s Path” (see “Kommersant” dated January 17, 2022) made not only the Kino group, but also the entire St. Petersburg rock part of the museum industry.

A much more modest exhibition called “Realities of Russian Rock” operates in the art center “Pushkinskaya, 10” under the curatorial supervision of musician and writer Vladimir Rekshan. This summer, he announced a fundraiser for the molding, casting and processing of a memorial plaque, which was to be installed on Rubinshtein, 13. The corresponding decree was signed by the Governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Beglov, on June 20.

The board was opened in early October. A message about its opening ceremony can be found on the website of the St. Petersburg branch of United Russia: “A memorial plaque was installed on the building at 13 Rubinshteina, where the legendary Leningrad rock club was located. Less than a year ago, social activists and musicians approached the St. Petersburg branch of United Russia with this initiative – its head, State Duma deputy Sergei Boyarsky and vice-governor, member of the presidium of the regional political council of the party Boris Piotrovsky took part in the ceremony.” At the same time, Boris Piotrovsky, if you believe his Telegram channel, believes that the “residents” of LRK were the Sverdlovsk residents Chaif ​​and Nautilus Pompilius, as well as the Muscovites Bravo.

The history of the board has a rather absurd outline, and everyone is confused about the testimony. St. Petersburg United Russia is counting down from last year’s appeal of “musicians and social activists,” but in fact, the initiative appeared in 2018 from St. Petersburg resident Yaroslav Kostrov. Despite the support of politicians, casting, processing and molding had to be “funded.” Prominent party members came to the ceremony, despite the fact that the board was made in the unfriendly country of the United States. But the people who made LRK famous did not come, and we are not talking about the late Viktor Tsoi, Sergei Kuryokhin and Mike Naumenko, but about the living Boris Grebenshchikov, Fyodor Chistyakov and Mikhail Borzykin. Yuri Shevchuk was also in no hurry to attend the holiday. The joy of opening the board with United Russia members was shared by Vladimir Rekshan, Mitek Dmitry Shagin, showman from “Auktsion” Oleg Garkusha and LRK President Nikolai Mikhailov, respected people and undoubtedly involved in the history of the rock club. At the concert in honor of the opening of the board they sang “Rock and Roll is Dead” by foreign agent Grebenshchikov, but today officials would rather register “Chaif” and “Bravo” in St. Petersburg than say the words “DDT” and “Aquarium”.

Russian-language rock, even in its current form, with foreign agent musicians and banned concerts, is very much needed by official Russia. She has rockers, but few real rowdy ones. Viktor Tsoi is needed just like Danila Bagrov played by Sergei Bodrov Jr. Danila is increasingly being painted on walls, and Tsoi is being cast in bronze. Monuments to the leader of Kino stand in four Russian cities (St. Petersburg, Barnaul, Okulovka, Elista), his “Cuckoo” became one of the unofficial anthems of the Northern Military District, and Kino’s unconfirmed patriotic tour caused a storm of discussions. Unlike BG and Shevchuk, he will no longer be able to challenge his solidarity with domestic politics, just like the hero invented by director Balabanov. But the songs, like the film, continue to live, and the temptation is great to attach them to the general line. The same temptation is to lean against the St. Petersburg rock myth, which has been molded, cast and processed over many years.