We created neformaly, and we will… love them? Soviet rock music in the newspaper Moloda Hvardiia during perestroika

Abstract

The article analyses the materials of the Kyiv Komsomol newspaper ‘Moloda Hvardiia’, dedicated to Soviet rock music. The author examines how this newspaper reproduced the official Komsomol discourse during Perestroika, which proclaimed the need to establish a ‘dialogue’ with ‘neformaly’. The author identifies how the newspaper discussed the ‘neformaly’, how it proposed to perceive them, and how it proposed to work with them. The author describes how the newspaper created a positive image of Soviet rock bands after years of “bans”. The author examines how the newspaper presented the problems faced by Soviet rock bands and how Komsomol was held responsible for them. The author outlines how Kyiv rock music was perceived in ‘Moloda Hvardiia’ in comparison to other Soviet rock music, as well as how the editors of the newspaper began to promote Ukrainian-language rock music. The author suggests that in describing rock music, the newspaper ‘Moloda Hvardiia’ adhered to the “progressive” Soviet discourse of the Perestroika period, while the editors may have also had their policy of supporting Ukrainian-language songs.