Viktor Tsoi and KINO

November 25, 2007 8:37 PM

Soviet rock hero Viktor Tsoy kept his job in the boiler room of an apartment complex even as his band KINO grew wildly popular in the last years of the Soviet Union. At the height of the band's fame, he even made a few film appearances. He died in a car accident in 1990, but a tape of recordings survived the crash and became the "black album." Fans still leave messages for him on the "wall of Tsoy" on Arbat street.
posted by pravit (15 comments total)

Kino distributed their music freely, so here are some mp3s. Go easy, or all the non-Russian IPs will inevitably get banned.
posted by pravit at 8:43 PM on November 25, 2007

Great post. It is difficult to do justice to Tsoi's influence on Russian youth culture. Think Bob Dylan, James Dean, and Joe Strummer rolled into one.
posted by nasreddin at 8:52 PM on November 25, 2007

New rock mythos and cool band discovery all in one convenient package - thanks!
posted by freebird at 11:07 PM on November 25, 2007

It's a weakness of last.fm that they are totally unable to distinguish two bands with the same name. I only know of the Russian band Kino because of the English band.
posted by salmacis at 2:39 AM on November 26, 2007 [1 favorite]

wow. cool post...
resonates for me in totally personal (perhaps narcissistic) way - i was born in 1962, like Tsoi. my birthday is coming up in a few days, i'll be turning 45 and i've been surfing around looking for anything related to the number, especially anything music-related, because of the 45rpm connection. i also work in a movie theater, so Kino has meaning, too. i'm only gonna download the 45 album from that mp3 site (tried to find it on emusic, but they don't offer it). i love how the site says "temporary busy" when i've hit the download max. anyway thank you for the groovy birthday present!
posted by lapolla at 3:36 AM on November 26, 2007

Thanks for the post. I knew the name but not much else.
posted by languagehat at 6:53 AM on November 26, 2007

Thanks. I noticed that wall before I knew enough Russian to understand the significance of it.
posted by fake at 7:57 AM on November 26, 2007

Tsoy lives!
posted by parudox at 7:58 AM on November 26, 2007

Pachka sigaret (Pack of Cigarettes)
V nashikh glazakh (In Our Eyes)
Pechal' (Sadness)
Spokojnaja noch' (Good Night)
Zakroj za mnoj dver', ja ukhozhu (Close the Door Behind Me, I'm Leaving)
Videli noch' (Saw the Night)
Poprobuj spet' vmeste so mnoj (Try to Sing with Me)
posted by parudox at 8:19 AM on November 26, 2007

Nice post. I had no idea of Tsoi and his music. Nor was I aware of their cultural impact in Russia.
posted by cazoo at 8:52 AM on November 26, 2007

I found a Kino cd on the sidewalk on Capitol Hill in Seattle. It was ridiculously scratched but played flawlessly, and ever since I have loved Kino and turned them on to several of my friends.
posted by Sprocket at 10:45 AM on November 26, 2007

Glad you liked the post - I was hoping someone would do a Tsoy FPP, but was afraid I wouldn't do the man justice if I posted one myself.

Also, parudox, thanks for linking to those songs - so many great KINO songs I wanted to share, but I wasn't sure how to incorporate them all into an FPP. I really wish there was some Youtube of Music that we could use for posts like this, since the audio quality of Youtube videos isn't the greatest, and most of them are of live performances...

Цой не умер, он просто вышел покурить.
posted by pravit at 11:26 AM on November 26, 2007

Also, while we're still at it:

Aljuminevye Ogurtsy

Sasha

Filmy

Stuk

Kogda tvoja devushka bolna

Sorry about the awful sound quality...
posted by pravit at 11:46 AM on November 26, 2007

Едет в поезде Борис Гребенщиков. Рядом чукча.
Гребенчщиков спрашивает: кто такой, куда едешь?
Чукча достает гитару и говорит: В Москву еду, хочу рок-группу собрать. Правда, не знаю как назвать...
Гребенщиков: Чукча?!! С гитарой?! КИНО!
posted by nasreddin at 12:40 PM on November 26, 2007

Flagged as Chukchist!
posted by languagehat at 1:12 PM on November 26, 2007