Punk in Russia: Cultural Mutation from the "useless" to the "moronic"

Abstract

The irony of punk is that a cultural phenomenon based on the negation of its own significance, value, and meaning has retained its resonance for more than three decades after its inception and extended its reach across much of the globe. This book draws on ethnographic research into contemporary Russian punk scenes to explore just what punk means to musicians, artists and other scene members today. It traces the origins and development of the punk scene in Russia and its current diverse expressions in three very different cities. By telling the stories of these scenes and the characters that move on them, it brings to life how people live punk, in terms of everyday cultural practice. The study of punk in Russia, and other post-socialist societies, it argues, challenges classic paradigms of punk studies in the West as a discrete (subcultural) formation, politics or aesthetics. The vibrant scenes explored in this book suggest not only that Russian punk should not be written off as an inauthentic shadow of the already elusive object of punk, but that punk is best rethought as a series of (often unspectacular) cultural practices that transcend ‘subcultural’ boundaries as well as boundaries between ‘subcultural’ and ‘everyday’ lives.

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