РАДЯНСЬКА ПОПУЛЯРНА МУЗИКА В 1960–1980-х рр.: ЗАГАЛЬНА ХАРАКТЕРИСТИКА Й ТЕНДЕНЦІЇ РОЗВИТКУ

Abstract

The article is devoted to the development of Soviet popular music in the 1960s – 1980s. The author analyzed the song’s characteristics, identified the distinguishing features of the performer’s image and identified the main development trends. Internal and external influences on popular music are also highlighted. On the one hand, this is a factor of the penetration of Western pop culture, and on the other hand, the traditions formed under the influence of ideology within the USSR. For a long time, the official pop music was almost the only permitted option for musical creativity in the totalitarian system. It was characterized by a high level of performance skill and an orientation to the academic tradition, a predominance of a clear and refined melody, patriotic and intimate lyrics, as well as restraint and modesty of manners and a generally conservative image of the artist. At the same time, there was a search for new musical and textual forms, manifested in an appeal to more pronounced melodism, and artists’ experiments with their own style, when typical and strict clothes were replaced by bright and original outfits, the work of VIA was a vivid expression of this. As an alternative to the pop music, an amateur author’s song appears and develops. For the author’s song of the romantic direction, which arose during the period of Khrushchev’s liberalization, idealization of military achievements, travels and life trials, which were full of lyricism and light humor, was inherent in the romantic form; however, later, with the beginning of the collapse of the liberal course, the protest work of bards came to the fore – the themes of exposing cruelty began to dominate, irony and sarcasm appeared in the texts, and in some places the vocabulary was reduced. The image of a Soviet bard was formed – a poet-musician with a guitar. During Gorbachev’s socio-political transformations, the state, which used to be the main actor in musical culture, conceded its positions to young representatives of amateur creativity. That’s when disco and rock music become popular. Disco was characterized by an orientation towards rhythmic textures and themes of urban romances, while the manner and image of the performers were dominated by looseness and extravagance. Soviet rock was based on «big beat» and the social themes of the lyrics, and the artist’s style stood out for its simplicity and freedom. Pop music begins to depart from the formed tradition, adopting certain features of disco and even rock. More electronic music is appearing, lyrics are becoming less serious, expressing simpler meanings, and artists’ styles are becoming more casual.