Customer Reviews

Notes from Underground: Rock Music Counterculture in Russia (S U N Y Series in the Sociology of Culture)

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What a disappointment! As "the first Western sociological study of rock music counterculture in Russian society", this book immediately caught my attention. At last, I thought, somebody finally realized what an important subject this uncharted territory represents. Unfortunately, Mr. Cushman reduced this exciting cultural and musical phenomenon to a dry, lifeless, longwinded and limited textbook. Not only will this book turn off the curious layman, it will also frustrate anyone who's familiar with the subject.

To begin with, a short visit to St. Petersburg does not make one an expert on Rock music of the entire former Soviet Union. Even a major city like Moscow is barely mentioned. This is similar to writing about British Beat music of the 1960's and ignoring every town except Liverpool. The author may as well change the subtitle to "Rock Music Counterculture in St. Petersburg".

Mr. Cushman doesn't always have his facts straight, either. One glaring example, of which there are many, proves a lack of knowledge of even the most basic elements of Russian pop culture. Anyone who refers to Woland as "Wolin" has never read a page of Bulgakov, in Russian or in translation.

Finally, the whole business of obfuscating the names of performers and bands is insulting and ridiculous. Cushman argues that he has to preserve anonymity, but one has to remember that all of these people are household names in their homeland. To use the British Beat analogy again, one doesn't usually think of Paul McCartney, for example, as a faceless "social type" or habitually refer to him as "the musician Paul M., who played with X, an important English group". Apparently, it had never occurred to Mr. Cushman that his "subjects" might have appreciated a little recognition for a change.

I'll spare you the suspense. It wasn't all that difficult to recognize Cushman's subjects, merely frustrating. "Boris" is Boris Grebenschikov of Aquarium. "Kostya" is Kostya Kinchev of Alisa. "Yury" is Yury Shevchuk of DDT. "Viktor" is Viktor Tsoi of Kino. "Misha" is Mikhail Borzykin of Televisor. Now, instead of wasting your money on this book, go buy some of their records.