Igor Krutoy in a tailcoat of a centaur

From the book "Songs about nothing? Russian pop music at the turn of the eras: 1980-1990s "

Contrary to the name, the book of Daria Zhurkova applies not only to the music of the 1980s and 1990s. The culturologist pays much attention to the rethinking of the perestroika and “Yeltsin” culture in the hits of the last decades. We publish an excerpt about three images, in which the 1990s most often appear in the pop music of the new millennium, namely: a nearby kid, a girl with sprouted feelings and a cult hero.

Starting from February 24, 2022, we were all in the face of the advancing barbarism, violence and lies. In this situation, it is extremely important to preserve at least the remnants of culture and support the values ​​of humanism - including for the sake of the future of Russia. Therefore, the editorial office of Gorky will continue to talk about books, reminding our readers that the world remains in the world and fiction.

Daria Zhurkova. Songs about nothing? Russian pop music at the turn of the eras: 1980-1990. M.: New Literary Review, 2023. Content

If, according to formal signs, the appeal of modern pop music to the culture of the nineties is limited to a certain set of musical-visual cliches, then the types of heroes of the “dashing” decades manifest themselves in the widest context of the musical industry. Three groups of such characters can be distinguished: a nearby kid, a girl with sprayed feelings and a cult hero.

In the mid-2010s, in a series of hits of the mainstream pop music, the character, which was generated by the reality of the nineties, has increasingly declared himself, but extremely rarely appeared in the song charts of that time. This is a young guy of a simple, nearby kid, with semi -criminal manners and a rather limited circle of needs (“cars”, “bitch” and “respect”). The first representatives of this lifestyle were Bogdan Titomir and the Boyshore group. In the early nineties, they declared the value of their parties (“ Hey friend, look at me / do as I am ”) and challenged public morality calls for “ sex without a break ”. The next alteration of the image of a nearby kid on the domestic popsen was Seryoga (Sergey Parkhomenko) with the hit "Black Boomer" (2004). This character bribed the listeners with his ostentatious carelessness, boasting an expensive car against the backdrop of a depressing reality (“ But I just have nothing to me, to the most twilight / I am along the area of ​​Forsu on the Black Boomer ”).

In addition to pop music, the Type of the kid appeared in cinema, in particular in films that became iconic for his time: “Brother” (dir. A. Balabanov, 1997), “Boomer” (dir. P. Buslov, 2003) and in the series “Brigade” (Dir. A. Sidorov, 2002). But by the mid-2000s, such a character gradually leaves the advance of popular art. Occasionally, Sergey Shnurov resorted to the features of such a role with the Leningrad group, but the image of his main hero of that time is more closer to the type of yard Zabuldygya, which descended hard, rather than that only begins his life with a stubborn and renounced guy living “according to concepts”.

However, by the mid-2010s, the “simple kid” again begins to gain popularity, primarily due to the colossal influence of rap culture. Similar features are found between a brother from the nineties and typical lyric hero of the rap: a native of the lower classes, all with the same intelligible and predictable circle of needs, living according to the rules of the community (party). However, from the subcultural character and marginal, the kid is gradually turning into a hero of the popular culture in demand by a variety of performers. Often, his image is borrowed, “for rent” is taken by the perspicacious and quite intelligent musicians who flirt with the tastes of the same audience and tease with pseudo -primeism the other part of it.

So, in 2017, two hits come out at once, it would seem, with uncomplicated texts and a lyrical hero, which greatly resembles a nearby boy. This is “Vita must go out” the duet Estradarada and “Ice melting” the “Mushrooms” groups between us. Both songs instantly become memes and receive many survey, parodies and stylizations on the Internet.

“ Vita must be released ” is a semantically multilayer track that was originally conceived as a parody (“answer”) for the song “Bandits” of the Nelson (Julia Nelson) singer, where there is a line “ stop music, bandits ”. The main lyrical hero - Vitya - appeared from the consonance of the name with the end of the word "stop." But the phonetic game of words grew into an independent plot. His hero, falling into a trance state (“ Vitya in a repita ”), cannot overcome his obsession with a dance (“ Vitya dances, Vitya does not sleep ”). It doesn’t matter where the hero is (“ in Turkey or in Egypt ”), he always seeks to break out of the looped reality. Moreover, the mention of the archipelago of the PHI-PHI, which is by ear and in some versions of the text sounds like “pi-pi”, involuntarily creates the feeling that Vita must be released by need. That is, wherever the hero turns out to be, he always wants to go to the toilet - this is his main and, alas, in no way the goal of life. On the one hand, we have before us an ironic rethinking of the mundane dreams of a nearby character, all the thoughts of which are reduced to the satisfaction of natural needs. But, on the other hand, the inability to carry out an elementary action, the zombie of the hero gives rise to an underlying sensation of infantilism and absurd hopelessness.

The image of a nearby kid is achieved in this song in several ways. Firstly, an endless repeat of the phrase “ Stop! Stop! Vita, Vita must go out ”, which is perceived as the only thought wandering in the hero’s head. Secondly, a limited vocabulary of the song is diluted with jargon half-regulations-“ his mother ” and “ sucks ”. The tired, not flaunting, but close to the colloquial speech of the timbre of the soloist’s voice and interspersing of the backing with resonating, brutal overflation, completes the impression. All other parameters of the song, in particular its arrangement and clip, are given by aesthetic and professional training. That is, in a nearby character, the authors of the track are clearly played, provoking and entertaining the listener with his deliberate landing.

“ Ice melting between us ” the group “Mushrooms” is another composition in which a reincarnation of the image of a kid from the nineties occurs. As Alexander Gorbachev writes in the article “The nineties without quotes”, the group’s work is more musically attributed to the directions of hip-hop and House than rap, but the fundamental moment is that the melodic component is minimized in all these styles. The place of the vocalized melody is occupied by recitative, and the main driving force of the whole composition becomes a bit. In “Ice ...” these two terms are brought to the limit: the words are read without any intonation, deliberately detached, go in a continuous and monotonous stream, and the rhythm sections is limited to one straight barrel, which crushes all other components for itself and at the same time pulls the composition, driving the listener into the state of the trance.

The most interesting thing is that in such a detached manner a lyrical hero of the song is recognized in love. The text is essentially a stream of consciousness, consisting of grammatically and logically poorly linked phrases in which a claim to love lyrics (“ under our feet of the globe, a fire between us today ”) is interspersed with everyday manifestations of care (“ My jacket sits so well on it ”). Many techniques for creating and serving the song are borrowed directly from the nineties. Firstly, this is the favorite leitmotif of the flight to nowhere, seasoned with abundant natural precipitation (“ Ice melts between us, let no one find us now. / We will get wet in the rain, and today we are only together ”). Secondly, this is a fragment of a verse, performed in a deliberately arrogant style of the cockyly fights-bends of that period, for example, “Bades” and “Olue Fraudsters” (“ Night with you means that we will not sleep, / I will take you and professionally go for a walk ”). Finally, a whole fan will receive brothers from the nineties assembled in a video clip.

The clip opens with a fragment of a documentary interview with a guy who, with leading questions from a journalist, is trying to reflect the reasons for his failed novel. The common facial features, a clear “move” of thought in an attempt to choose the right words, chopped phrases and expressions without habitats (“ I had another ”) - all this turns the ordinary guy into an archetype of the hero of his time. All subsequent locations and types that appear in the video, as if to complete the environment and everyday life of this “archive” in every sense of the real kid.

Among the characteristic visual signs are a deserted field with panel houses that are visible in the background (allusions to the provincial outskirts); A group of young guys in tracksuits, who all the time all the time hide their faces behind balaclavs, panamas and dark glasses; Instead of expensive cars - Pazik, another sign of a poor Poloseelsky area. Despite the fact that formally in the song is sung about the love of “for two”, the clip affirms the force of party, and with the exception of soloists, all other heroes merge into the image of the silent majority. Their springy swinging to the beat of music, with their hands hidden in pockets, can hardly be called a dance, but in this rhythmic collective fermentation, the energy of the elements and aggression is felt, hidden for the time being hidden under ridiculous, primitive movements.

Thus, the “mushrooms”, building a semantic series to the nineties, fall into a wave of nostalgia in that era. But at the same time, their tools are far from as refined and harmless as it is customary in mainstream pop music. Therefore, the fear of repetition of the passed begins to be mixed with nostalgia, since all the heroes and signs do not look like caricature, but extremely reliable. This is also noted by Alexander Gorbachev in the article “The nineties without quotes”, saying that “mushrooms” refuse conventions, quotes and winkings regarding the era of the nineties, in their work “there is no game and demonstrative postmodernism like“ well, we know with you ”; Instead, a living life and enviable literality: “Yes, we are like that.”

An organic of the performers themselves plays a large role in this effect of the reliability of the image of the nineties. In particular, one of the members of the group “Mushrooms” and part -time producer Yuri Bardash in an interview with Yuri Dudu [is considered by the Russian authorities a foreign agent. - approx . “Gorky” ] more than opened in this role. He turned out to be a hero with a rich and difficult life experience, which grew up in a provincial Ukrainian town and is a turner of the fourth category by education. Principal, both in life and in the work guided by the concepts of kids, open and confident in his position. In his vocabulary is dominated by jargonisms (“motion”, “man”, “uncle”, “type”, “Vasya”, “body”), and everything that there is not enough words to describe is reduced to the phrase: “Well, do you understand?”. At the same time, the success of the song “Between us is melting ice” Bardash is inclined to attribute to the idea of ​​the world, which is laid down in the title phrase, and is aimed at overcoming the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. But, in my opinion, sympathies regarding modern “real boys” are associated with the fact that their “clarity” gradually begins to erode, and in their image sentimental intonations begin to appear more and more.

It is no coincidence that “ice is melting” - this is a song about love, albeit clumsyly formulated and voiced, relatively speaking, with the help of two notes. The very fact is important to connect psychological experiences for another person, that is, opening the self-sufficiency of the “I” universum. A similar image of a “thin” (nostalgic) kid arises in another hit of the late 2010s-the song “Raspberry Light” of Lesha Swika. Once again, the type of “crying macho” appears on the stage, but now burdened with a difficult past. In the case of Lesha's songs, this effect is largely achieved using the tone of the performer's voice, in which claims to the kid’s steepness are surprisingly combined with sentimentality and tearfulness.

In pairs with a kid from the nineties, his second birth is also experiencing a female type from that era - this is the image of a girl with sprinkled feelings. Such a heroine also does not shine either with origin or intelligence, completely surrendering to the power of emotions. Moreover, with all claims to independence and emancipation, its thinking develops entirely in the paradigm of relationships with a man.

In the 1990s, the main singer, who performed in such a role, was Masha Rasputin, who, in turn, became a “Boulevard” copy of the heroines of Alla Pugacheva Late-Soviet period. Such heroines found their self -realization exclusively in love, plunging into it with their heads and expecting the same from the object of their passions. A parody, much more mundane and mercantile image of such a heroine made a glory to the group "Combination". Unlike the heroines of Rasputin and Pugacheva, this real, maximum her own girl sought with the help of a man not only to arrange her female happiness, but also to find material well -being.

In the 2000s, the continuation of such a parody image was Verka Serduchka (Andrei Danilko)-a short-lived, unpretentious, but emotionally bright lady who dreams of “ marrying the prince ” and at the same time understanding the futility of her hopes.

In the 2010s, a peculiar reincarnation of Masha Rasputina, but in a more glamorous and ennobled version, was Svetlana Loboda. In her work, the same motive for the closure of the universe sounds in relations with a man and manic - not material, but psychological - dependence on him. The heroine of Loboda lives with feelings, it is difficult to imagine outside the sphere of love relationships. A significant role in this is played, firstly, the image of the singer, who by all means strives to correspond to male ideas about sexual attractiveness. Secondly, the musical organization of its songs is extremely characteristic-with a very dense texture, numerous elaboxes, dissonant harmony, dynamically saturated climaxes, with tense melodic moves, which are voiced by the timbre of a mature, experienced woman, as if constantly located on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Most of the “branded” hits of Loboda become peculiar emotional “militants”, in which personal drama reaches the scale of the universal disaster (“to hell with love”, “random”, “your eyes”).

Svetlana Loboda, pushing away from the image of Masha Rasputina, led him to a new, more composite, glamorous and in all respects a more attractive level. However, such apocalyptic experiences seem too costly and difficult to convincing reproduction, so many representatives of modern pop music prefer not to develop, but to parody heroines of the nineties. It is in this vein that repeatedly already mentioned songs that were published in 2019: Oli Polekova “Queen of the Night”, Olga Buzova “Likeker” and Ida Galich “Entrepreneur”.

All of them, with an eye on the hits of the “combination” group, are reactionalize on the modern scene of the type of an exaggerated nearby girl, emotionally explosive, with a “platform” language that does not forget about the material background of love experiences and presenting their visual an invoice for love. The use of musical formulas and visual symbols from the nineties, which was also mentioned above, repeatedly enhances their external indistinguishability from the heroines of the past. But masterly copying the “shell”, modern authors put a completely different content into it. And the point is not even in the overwhelming degree of the parody of these images, since at one time the “combination” group also deliberately exaggerated the comic features of their heroines, playing on the verge of Kitch. Only the heroines of the songs of the group “Combination” existed entirely in the paradigm of relations with a man-it was he, some kind of some (“ but my own, but all of mine ”) was the key to the realization of all the aspirations and dreams of a woman. Without him, by definition, she could not find peace and happiness in her personal life, and she was not in the other life, she did not have.

Modern heroines of songs from quasi -evens, on the contrary, resort to whipping expressions, everyday signs and material objects in order to get out of their own substitution. They do not establish, but actively break the relationship, not ceremony in expressions (“ You are now free. / You are no longer fashionable, come on ”), not in the ways (“ I hacked passwords, read your correspondence ”). The man turns into a whipping boy, with the help of which the heroines are asserted in his ostentatious independence (“ I will be the queen of the night today, / and that means: I’ll forget you”; “I am not jealous, I just warn you: / do not take me, dear, I don’t play with you! ”).

The song of Ida Galich “ Entrepreneur ” both musically and thematically mimigns under the famous “ Accountant ” of the “Combination” group. A very similar unpretentious, but adhesive motive in the chorus; The same type is plain, but it seems like the heroic to the heart of the hero; The same detailed drawing of household details. But if in the “Accountant”, despite the whole irony, sincere sympathy against a office employee (“ Not a foreigner and not the son of a millionaire, / The accountant is simple, and let it be! ”), In the “Entrepreneur”, the external loyalty of the words hides ulcer, everyday depth and complete disbelief in the business qualities of his partner (“ Entrepreneur, entrepreneur, / we will be together, / we will be together, / we will be together. You must, / just start, my entrepreneur, / do something ”).

В свое время «Бухгалтер» стал терапевтическим шлягером для всей страны, помогая обыкновенным людям самых разных профессий смириться с повседневной неустроенностью и рутиной. Неказистый, но обаятельный герой был символом тихого личного счастья без надежд на «красивую жизнь». Современный «Предприниматель», с одной стороны, вызывает ностальгию по тому, хорошо известному образу. А с другой стороны, подразумевает, что «рай в шалаше» сегодня уже неосуществим, так как и окружающий мир, и его герои стали гораздо расчетливее и претенциознее.

Клип на песню «Предприниматель» реанимирует еще одного знакового героя девяностых годов — типаж нового русского. Он дан в классическом шаржевом виде — толстый лысый мужик, с нарочито отупленным выражением лица, в малиновом пиджаке и с внушительной золотой цепью на шее. Он сорит деньгами, протежирует новоявленную поп-звезду, делает административную карьеру (становится мэром вымышленного провинциального городка Вечногорска) и имеет связи на международном уровне (накладывает эмбарго на Югославию после того, как протежируемая им певица на Евровидении получает от этой страны недостаточное количество баллов). Это анекдотичный и вместе с тем симпатичный персонаж, который тоже подразумевается вымершим видом мужчин из девяностых, недаром его профессиональная деятельность обрывается облавой и тюремным заключением.

Еще одним современным оммажем песне группы «Комбинация» с привлечением образа нового русского стала композиция Dead Blonde (Арина Мурашева) « Мальчик на „девятке“ » (2020). Отсылая к песне «Вишневая „девятка“», авторы композиции привлекают все те же музыкальные, сюжетные и визуально-образные слагаемые.

В музыке — это утрированно синтезаторные тембры, прямая бочка в ритм-секции, нарочито простой мотив, построенный на звуках базовых трезвучий и множестве повторений. Согласно сюжету песни лирическая героиня гордится своим ухажером, который разъезжает на «девятке» и проворачивает криминальные сделки. Однако если героиня «Вишневой „девятки“» обращалась напрямую к своему возлюбленному-автолюбителю, причитая, что его любовь к машине разрушила их отношения, то в «Мальчике на „девятке“» воссоздается любовный треугольник: героиня обращается не к тому, к кому испытывает симпатию, а к другому, недостаточно крутому ухажеру (« А мой мальчик едет на „девятке“, / По автостраде вдоль ночных дорог. / Я кружилась с ним на танцплощадке, / А ты и дальше будешь одинок »). Наряду с моделью автопрома текст песни наполняется множеством других вещевых примет того времени: кожаная куртка, паленый Adidas, крутой магнитофон.

Авторы песни всеми средствами потешаются над недалекостью и меркантильностью лирической героини, которая уверена, что крута, так как крут ее кавалер. Но слушатели прекрасно понимают всю условность этой крутизны. Из сегодняшнего дня заранее известно, чем (где) закончится судьба этих «мальчиков на „девятках“», носивших кожаные куртки и занятых разборками в лесополосе.

На самом деле героиня «Мальчика на девятке» — это реинкарнация лирических героинь не «Комбинации» (они слишком рефлексивны и не так плоско жизнерадостны), а Ирины Салтыковой. Именно в них преобладала экзальтация примитивной женской натуры, для которой мужчина воспринимался исключительно как спонсор, а главной эмоцией подобной героини была иллюзия-упоение от верховенства над своим визави (до первого скандала, который подразумевался, но оставался за кадром).

Клип на песню «Мальчик на „девятке“» сообразно моде изобилует ностальгическими отсылками к девяностым: старые модели телевизоров, магнитофонов, телефонов; зад ник из блестящего дождя. Есть отсылка к сцене из «Брата-2», связанная с изготовлением самопального дробовика. Как и в клипе Иды Галич, в этом клипе фигурирует типаж нового русского, который в данном случае проплачивает героине победу в конкурсе красоты.

Таким образом, обе песни-оммажи группе «Комбинация» «скрещивают» 1990-е с 2010-ми, объединяя крайне разнородные по стилистике и менталитету десятилетия. Все параметры музыкального языка песен напрямую заимствованы из девяностых. Визуально и тематически клипы также мимикрируют под эту эпоху, но подают героев и сюжет в дистиллированно ироничном ключе, превращая все действо в осовремененную комедию масок. А тексты песен, если вдуматься, представляют собой исповедь. В песне Иды Галич — это исповедь разочарованной жены-«пилы», замотанной бытом и не ждущей ни от мужа, ни от жизни ничего путного. В случае с Dead Blonde — это исповедь малолетки, которой уготована очень трагическая судьба ввиду ее меркантильной зависимости от криминального авторитета. Музыка и видеоряд отвлекают зрительско-слушательское восприятие от внутренней драмы героинь, но не могут нивелировать ее полностью. К ностальгии по девяностым примешивается горечь разочарования рутиной жизни в десятых.

По меткому наблюдению Юрия Сапрыкина, в восприятии сегодняшних двадцати-тридцатилетних людей, то есть тех, кто родился в девяностые, этот период не отягощен серьезными социальными катаклизмами и рефлексией о них, для этого поколения девяностые — «это просто очень крутое, выразительное и опасное время, в котором могут разыгрываться дико увлекательные сюжеты». Поэтому неслучайно все взлеты и падения судьбы нового русского и его протеже в клипе Иды Галич представляются в стилистике комедии масок, не подразумевая зрительского сопереживания в общем-то незавидной участи героя. Столь же увлекательной и не обремененной философскими размышлениями выглядит реинкарнация другого, на сей раз культурного героя — Данилы Багрова в клипе на песню Монеточки «90-е». Однако насилие, творящееся в кадре, у Балабанова было сопряжено с пропущенной через себя рефлексией о времени и о судьбе страны через призму судьбы героя-одиночки. В клипе Монеточки образ Данилы Багрова превращается в эффектный антураж для игры-стрелялки. Бесконечному нагромождению трупов невозможно сопереживать, персонажи выглядят слишком картонными, несмотря на всю свою узнаваемость и укорененность в девяностых.

Примечательно, что в клипе Монеточки мелькают непосредственные представители «лихого» десятилетия — это Татьяна Буланова и Евгений Федоров (лидер группы Tequilajazzz). Они выступают негласными очевидцами событий и подспудно намекают на достоверность изображаемого на экране.

И это еще один тренд, когда к мифологическим героям девяностых подключаются настоящие (желательно медийные) герои этого десятилетия, которые своим присутствием как бы растягивают реальность того времени вплоть до сегодняшнего дня. Они подразумеваются свидетелями прошлой эпохи и одновременно собратьями (коллегами) современных поп-исполнителей. Так, Дмитрий Маликов появляется в клипе «Дима» Иды Галич, а Егор Крид вводит в свои клипы сразу несколько поп-артистов девяностых, в частности Филиппа Киркорова, Игоря Николаева. Но самым интересным прецедентом становится его клип с Игорем Крутым. В этом клипе Егора Крида на песню «Крутой» вновь реанимируется типаж нового русского, но подается он не столько в ироничной, сколько пафосно-эстетской интерпретации. В роли легендарного персонажа девяностых предстают сразу два героя: сам Игорь Крутой, который живет в роскошном особняке, музицирует на рояле и примеряет фрак, а также Егор Крид, который с помощью монтажа то и дело замещает фигуру Крутого. В мелькании двух героев разных десятилетий рождается эффект двуликого Януса — нового культурного кентавра, в котором прошлое и настоящее сливаются воедино и становятся неотличимыми друг от друга.

Примечательно, что в видеоклипе Егора Крида присутствуют прямые цитаты из клипа Робби Уильямса Party Like a Russian. В частности, в одной из локаций на лестнице особняка фигурируют девушки в соблазнительных нарядах горничных, танцующие в такт с главными героями. Только у Робби Уильямса сексапильные горничные вышагивали на пуантах балетные па, отсылая к бренду русского балета, а в клипе Егора Крида они в рамках культурного обмена двигаются скорее в манере хип-хопа. Но если песня и клип Робби Уильямса были едкой сатирой на образ беспринципного русского олигарха, то Егор Крид подает такое снобистское самопозиционирование за чистую монету как эталон нового русского аристократа. Из образа героя из девяностых вымывается его криминальная подоплека и остается стерильная «крутизна».