Aquarium

Aquarium (Russian: Аква́риум) is a Russian rock group, formed in Leningrad in 1972 by Boris Grebenshchikov, then a student of Applied Mathematics at Leningrad State University, and Anatoly (George) Gunitsky, then a playwright and absurdist poet. In the 1970s and early 1980s, rock and roll was strictly regulated in the Soviet Union, and only a few artists managed to be approved and signed by the government record label Melodiya. Aquarium's usual c... more

Aquarium (Russian: Аква́риум) is a Russian rock group, formed in Leningrad in 1972 by Boris Grebenshchikov, then a student of Applied Mathematics at Leningrad State University, and Anatoly (George) Gunitsky, then a playwright and absurdist poet. In the 1970s and early 1980s, rock and roll was strictly regulated in the Soviet Union, and only a few artists managed to be approved and signed by the government record label Melodiya. Aquarium's usual concert venues were private apartments and they faced many years of fierce competition to land a spot on the label. These "apartment concerts" (квартирники) were a unique Soviet phenomenon, created by underground musicians. They were usually "unplugged", as noise could cause the neighbors to call the police. The limited space fostered an atmosphere of intimacy between the group and its audience, who listened with bated breath, perhaps with someone recording the concert on a simple tape recorder. This was similar to the concepts of the Russian... less