Reaction Paper #2
History of Rock and Roll Post 1945
Erica Van Keuren
5/29/2009
Erica Van Keuren
History of Rock and Roll Post 1945
Dr. Risch
29 May 2009
Reaction Paper #2
What role did rock music play in forming new identities among young Russians in Leningrad
during the era of “Late Socialism?”
The subject content for this reaction paper number two comes from Thomas Cushman’s
Notes from Underground: Rock Music Counterculture in Russia. In the beginning of the book,
Thomas Cushman relates the role of rock music in forming new identities among young Russians
in Leningrad during the era of “Late Socialism” to the study of sociology. At first glance, one
may feel a sense of bewilderment and confusion as to identifying the correlating relationship
between sociology and rock music in terms of forming an individual’s identity, especially of the
young people living in Russia in Leningrad during the era of “Late Socialism.” Upon closer look
however, one will realize that sociology encompasses the study of society, more importantly
though, how an individual functions within that said society which in this case would be Russia
in Leningrad during the era of “Late Socialism.” After one has established this connection, the
likely hood of understanding and comprehending Thomas Cushman’s use and application of
various German and French sociologists will have more of a successful outcome as far as
learning how society and music influenced the Russian youth in Leningrad during the era of
“Late Socialism.” Throughout Notes from Underground: Rock Music Counterculture in Russia,
Thomas Cushman provides interview transcripts from various musicians who were part of the
rock music scene phenomena whether officially or unofficially; meaning either state sponsored
through musical groups such as the VIA or one who is part of the counterculture of the
underground music world and may participate in the production and exchange of goods and
services through the black market within the Soviet bloc. The argument could be made that rock
music played a vitally important role in forming new identities among young Russians in
Leningrad during the era of “Late Socialism” as seen through the study of various sociological
perspectives and theorists.
First and foremost the multiple sociologists within Notes from Underground: Rock Music
Counterculture in Russia should be mentioned as they will be cited and used as explanatory
purposes to provide understanding of how music can shape one within a controlled society like
that of Russia in Leningrad during the era of “Late Socialism.” These sociologists are Habermas,
Emilé Durkheim, Max Weber, Karl Marx, and Alfred Schutz. Rather than discuss each
sociologists uniquely important theories here and now, those theoretical concepts will ideally be
discussed through this paper.
In order to establish oneself within any given society or group, there must be clearly
defined values or in this case,
“Petersburg rock musicians share a common perception of:
1. The value and worth of rock music as an authentic and autonomous art form which is
equal in aesthetic value to other forms of ‘high art,’ such as painting or literature;
2. The importance of rock music as the major symbolic embodiment of a critical stance
toward the values, beliefs, ideologies, and symbols of the infrastructure of Soviet
modernity; and
3. The active use1 of rock music to claim a social role which is ‘outside’ of the normal
system of roles characteristic of socialists industrial society and, by way of this, the
production of an identity and sense of self which also stands outside the normal,
acceptable prescriptions for identity and selfhood characteristic of Soviet modernity”1
Rock music’s role in forming new identities among young Russians occurred through
“the Russification of rock music was a crucial step in the development of a rock music tradition
which was not only a reflection of widely diffused forms of Western rock music, but which
reflected local concerns in a language which could be understood. Russian rock music could now
draw on important linguistic, literary, and poetic conventions which were particularly Russian in
order to convey ideas more effectively to the larger community of Russian speakers”2. The
ability and opportunity for the rock musicians to express life experiences through rock music is
important to take note of, especially expression through poetry which was considered the greatest
form of expression put to music.
By forming a new identity through rock music, musicians realized, “then it became clear
to us that you should do what you feel like doing, what is your cup of tea, what you are doing
from the heart, not for somebody else”3. When these musicians decided not to conform to the
state’s expectations of decent music and thereby pursued his heart’s desire, the musicians found
an inner peace and contentment. “Rock music was not simply a static cultural object which was
produced and consumed, but an active code of resistance and a template which was used for the
1
Thomas Cushman, Notes from Underground: Rock Music Counterculture in Russia (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1995), 8.
2
Thomas Cushman, Notes from Underground: Rock Music Counterculture in Russia (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1995), 52.
3
Thomas Cushman, Notes from Underground: Rock Music Counterculture in Russia (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1995), 83.
formation of new forms of individual and collective identity in the Soviet environment”4. In fact,
music’s authenticity “from a Marxian standpoint, the authenticity or lack of authenticity of a
given cultural product is seen as a function of the relation of the artist and his or her culture to
the means of production”5. “The identity of rock music in St. Petersburg during the socialist
period was related to the specific encounters of Petersburg musicians with the dominant political
and economic structures of Soviet society, and to the cultural objects which were the products of
the latter”6.
“The defining of rock music in Petersburg during the Soviet era consisted of two
fundamental processes:
1. The construction of musical identity according to the relation of the latter to formal
political and economic structures; and
2. The assignment of the label of ‘authentic’ or ‘inauthentic’ to musical products to the
extent to which they adhered to particular categories which comprised the fundamental
qualities of music”7.
The creation of music was in a way a creation of self. “For the musician, the making of
authentic music became an important template for the construction of an authentic sense of one’s
own personality and identity based on values held to be special to the individual”8.
4
Thomas Cushman, Notes from Underground: Rock Music Counterculture in Russia (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1995), 91.
5
Thomas Cushman, Notes from Underground: Rock Music Counterculture in Russia (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1995), 91.
6
Thomas Cushman, Notes from Underground: Rock Music Counterculture in Russia (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1995), 92.
7
Thomas Cushman, Notes from Underground: Rock Music Counterculture in Russia (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1995), 130.
8
Thomas Cushman, Notes from Underground: Rock Music Counterculture in Russia (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1995), 144.