On June 21, the one whose songs have been quoted by more than one generation was born. “Change, we are waiting for change” — these words of his still sound like a manifesto. For some, Viktor Tsoi is the product and reflection of a certain era, for others he is a musician for all time.
Creativity is often viewed as a mystical process. Many believe that the poet transmits creative energy, receiving it from the Universe. Carl Gustav Jung would call this a manifestation of the collective unconscious.
Describing a lyrical hero, the poet manifests himself to a certain extent, sometimes unconsciously revealing himself, and sometimes trying on one or another image. Without knowing the biography and context, it is difficult to determine what is the proportion of the author’s «I» in poetry. However, songs as a way of self-expression definitely imply the manifestation of oneself, one’s self.
This does not mean that Viktor Robertovich Tsoi walked around Leningrad with a blood type on his sleeve. But, perhaps, when he went on stage in a black shirt and, with a characteristic movement, squeezing the microphone, performed this song with all sincerity, he felt exactly the way he sang. Otherwise, the viewer would feel false.
The eighties — and the Kino group recorded their first album in 1982 — is the last decade of the era of «stagnation», the end of which is considered the beginning of perestroika in 1987. One can talk a lot and difficultly about stagnation. In this context, this is an era of stagnation, a shortage of goods, the prosperity of the so-called cronyism and connections, and the continuation of the fight against dissent. In 1982, «Komsomolskaya Pravda» published an ideologically verified article «Blue Bird Stew», which condemned the work of «Time Machine» and Russian rock in general.
However, the trends of the new time were already making themselves felt — readers bombarded the editorial office with letters in defense of the musicians. That same year, Brezhnev died, followed by a carousel of rulers and funerals, until Gorbachev took over as general secretary in 1985, two years later proclaiming the start of perestroika.
The feeling of inevitable changes after a long stagnation is also manifested in the work of Viktor Tsoi. In his songs, the opposition is quite common: “they” and “we”, ordinary people and rebels. At the same time, this is also a confrontation between generations — a teenage rebellion against the «daddy»:
You were ready to give your soul for rock and roll
Extracted from a picture of someone else’s aperture.
And now — TV, newspaper, football,
And your old mother is pleased with you.
The romantically restless lyrical hero Tsoi is somewhere alone, on the dark cold streets, incomprehensible to those «who studied in a special school.» The images of the war reinforce the antithesis between him and those like him and those «for whom the theorem is true». The latter have agreed with the proposed or imposed answers and solutions and do not seek to change anything. And the former seek, disagree, fight, rebel, dispute and defend, perceiving everything practically in black and white.
This is very similar to the thinking typical of adolescence: complete denial or complete acceptance, «them or us.» The ability to assimilate, to appropriate what suits oneself and discard the unnecessary is a property of maturity. It is more important for adolescents to loudly declare themselves: “We will continue to act.”
There will always be rebellion, there will always be protest, and there will always be those who find the words within themselves to describe it.
The romanticization of love and death, which is characteristic of almost all Russian rock, is also a typical teenage theme. «Death is worth living, but love is worth waiting for.»
From the songs of Tsoi, a collective image of the “last hero” is formed, who fights for the truth and is doomed to die young. After all, war is “a medicine against wrinkles”, and “life is just a word — there is only love and there is death.” Perhaps the current popularity of Tsoi’s songs among teenagers of a completely different era is explained precisely by the specifics of the topic and the talent with which he revealed them.
“What can be a psychotherapeutic reading of the work of both Tsoi and everyone who came out of the underground, in any era? It seems that every time is characterized by the appearance of those who do not agree with the structure of the system, call themselves a non-conformist and re-read the book “The Catcher in the Rye” to the holes,” comments psychotherapist Gurgen Khachaturyan. — And it seems that Winston Churchill is credited with the phrase: “Whoever was not a revolutionary in his youth has no heart. Whoever has not become a conservative in old age has no brains.”
And indeed, a hot, ardent heart is always looking for an answer to some of its questions. And it’s great that we have singers, performers, groups who are able to express in songs, poems, movies, pictures the full force of internal contradiction with society, through which most people go through during the period of growing up. It’s just that some do it more brightly, others less.
Of course, songs can hardly be called a way of exclusively self-expression. These are not only subjective personal experiences. If you experience some feelings and know how to express them through creativity, there will be some other group of people who will experience something similar.
And since the main problems that a growing person faces do not change from generation to generation, it is probably possible to be both an “eternal teenager” and a man of his era at the same time.
No matter how strange it may sound, but at one time both Mozart and Haydn were also considered rebels. They did not accept any classical canons of the music that was then, but now for some reason no one records them in the classical underground — for us they sound the same classics on a par with everyone else. It is quite appropriate to speak of the collective unconscious here.
There will always be rebellion, there will always be protest, and there will always be those who find words within themselves to describe it. And people who, for lack of their own words, will listen to musicians. And these musicians will end up in the «hall of fame» of rock and roll or any other music — not necessarily because they are great poets, but because the words they found are best suited to more people, experiencing the exact same thing.»