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Kino

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Kino was a rock band from Leningrad, present-day Saint Petersburg, in the Soviet Union. The band revolved around singer, guitarist and songwriter Viktor Tsoi. The group was formed in 1981, and in the autumn of that year Kino became a member of the Leningrad Rock Club, one of the few places where rock bands in the Soviet Union were more or less officially allowed to perform.

Music and breakthrough

Kino's music was cool and tight, with influences of new wave and post-punk from the West. Tsoi sang in a low, somewhat flat voice about loneliness, longing and city life. His lyrics were simple but touched a whole generation of young Soviet citizens. In the second half of the 1980s, when the rules relaxed under Gorbachev, Kino grew into one of the most popular bands in the country. The album Группа крови (1988) brought the breakthrough to a large audience, and Tsoi played the lead role in the film Igla.

Influence

In August 1990 Viktor Tsoi died in a car accident in Latvia. With that, Kino ceased to exist. His songs remained well known in Russia and the other former Soviet republics, and his song about the longing for change became a song sung at protests. Kino shows how rock behind the Iron Curtain found a voice of its own, independent of what the state wanted to hear.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to Группа крови and notice the cool, tight accompaniment of guitar, bass and drums. Hear how Tsoi sings almost unmoved in his low voice, and how that very restrained tone gives the song its tension.

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists