RUSSIAN CULTURE ►

RUSSIAN ROCK AND UNDERGROUND

The most comprehensive guide to Russian rock and underground on the Web.

► DDT

This group can probably be called the most "Russian rock" styled out of all the Russian rock bands. These guys started in a city called Ufa in 1980 and began with aggressive songs that described social problems in the Soviet Union. Their main subjects were the war in Afghanistan, bureaucracy, bribery and hypocrisy. The first album "Svinya na raduge",which was partly recorded at home, became popular immediately. After three years performing their music live, DDT finally conquered Moscow with a very good performance in the festival "Rock za Mir" (Rock for Peace). However, when this concert was shown on TV, DDT's performance was cut out.

Popularity did not stop DDT from being aggressive; their lyrics became even harder. Every record released drove the authorities and the KGB mad, and the authorities started to pursue front-man, Uriy Shevchuk, who was the leader and the author of all these songs. Shevchuk started to travel around the country and finally ended up in Leningrad. Here the atmosphere was a little bit more open to such political music, and DDT had more opportunities to play in rock clubs. They continued to produce albums but also started to pay much more attention to putting on impressive shows for their audience.

In the 1990s, DDT started to become lighter and less political. A number of really good ballads were created in this period. Also Shevchuk started to work by himself a lot more and his latest songs express his personal opinions and thoughts on life. DDT should not be seen as a band only; it is also an aggressive movement against Russian politics during this time. The band is also expressive and very good at creating deep poetry, which is a Russian style of creating music.