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PUNK 1 (3) pp. 305–321 Intellect Limited 2012 Punk & Post-Punk Volume 1 Number 3 © 2012 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/punk.1.3.305_1 Ivan Gololobov University of Warwick There are no atheists in trenches under fire: orthodox Christianity in russian punk absTraCT Keywords 1. In the west relations between punk and religion have been rather straightforward. Russian punk 2. Punk music – understood as a statement of self rule, and ultimate independence – Russian rock 3. naturally resisted religious restrictions and subordination to God, church or priests. Orthodoxy 4. It was thus no surpriseIntellect that, alongside other 2012 institutions of authority, religion Christianity 5. became a frequent object of derision within punk rock. This article, however, investi- Letov 6. gates a peculiar fusion between the ethos of punk protest and the values of Orthodox Neumoev 7. Christianity in Russian punkNot rock. It considers,for indistribution particular, the Siberian punk Sudakov 8. scene and explores the aesthetics and ideology of its key figures: Roman Neumoev of Grazhdanskaia 9. Instruktsiia po Vyzhyvaniiu, Egor Letov, the leader of Grazhdanskaia Oborona and Oborona 10. Oleg Sudakov aka ‘Manager’ of Rodina. 11. 12. 13. InTroduCTIon 14. 15. The relationship between punk and religion might seem to be pretty straight- 16. forward. Music which was seen as a revolt against the laws of others, as ‘a call to arms to the kids who believe that rock and roll was taken away from them’ 17. and as a ‘statement of self rule’ and ‘ultimate independence’ did not favour 18. religious restrictions and the idea of subordination to God, church or priest 19. (McLaren 1976 quoted in Salewicz 1981). It was no surprise that in religion, 20. 305 PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 305 10/22/12 2:22:33 PM Ivan Gololobov among other institutions of authority, punk rock found one of its most popu- 1. lar objects of attack. ‘Anarchy in the UK’, the first song released by Sex Pistols 2. in 1976 opens with the declaration ‘I am an Antichrist!’. PiL’s ‘Religion’ (1979) 3. develops the theme: 4. 5. Stained glass windows keep the cold outside 6. 7. While the hypocrites hide inside 8. With the lies of statues in their minds 9. 10. Where the Christian religion made them blind 11. Where they hide 12. 13. And prey to the God of a bitch spelled backwards is dog 14. Not for one race, one creed, one world 15. 16. But for money 17. Effective 18. 19. Absurd 20. 21. In the following decade this anti-religious attitude continued to dominate the 22. British punk scene. It was a rare band that did not touch on the theme of corrupt 23. and oppressive religion in their songs. It suffices to mention The Damned, the 24. declaration by UK Subs in their ‘Robot Age’ that ‘God did not make man, Man 25. made God’ or The Exploited with their ‘Fuck Religion’. On the other side of 26. the Atlantic the situation differed little. In the United States, where churches 27. enjoyed more influence and there were closer links between Christianity and 28. official state discourse, the critique of religion became central to punk rebel- 29. lion. As a core part of their ideological struggle, Bad Religion assailed the moral 30. order ‘which comes from outside and is projected down to us, specifically for 31. us to follow’ (Graffin 2002). According to G. Graffin, such an order, ‘prescribed 32. by some transcendental being’ often called God, prevents humans from being 33. themselves. For nearly three decades and in more than a dozen albums the 34. band consistently advocated alternative morality uncovered by the act of criti- 35. cal thinking. In the 1980s, many other hardcore groups, such as the Dead 36. Kennedys,Intellect Black Flag and Agnostic2012 Front followed the same path and clearly 37. expressed their total disregard for religious beliefs, practices and institutions. As 38. Roger Miret,Not the singer forof Agnostic distribution Front, said in one of his interviews: 39. 40. I have no religious beliefs. I hate religion. Originally I was Christian. 41. I did my communion. I’ve done all that shit. I’m against it. […] I think 42. religion is very fascist. That’s why there are so many religious cults. Just 43. imagine, a world with no religion, how great it could be. 44. (1986) 45. 46. With the arrival of Green Day, Blink 182, surf and skate punk bands in the 47. 1990s, punk rock achieved global commercial popularity. Now, with its indif- 48. ference to politics and preoccupation with everyday life, it seemed to be less 49. involved in the fight against religious dogmatism. However, it did not make 50. original pop-punk any closer to religious doctrines. As Billy Joe Armstrong, 51. the singer of Green Day, puts it: 52. 306 PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 306 10/22/12 2:22:34 PM There are no atheists in trenches under fire 1. 1. I was raised with a fear of God. […] I think that’s something that’s 2. 2. ingrained in us. It’s beaten into us as a society, that we fear God. […] 3. 3. I think it was about law and order and trying to keep people subservient. 4. 4. (Webster 2010) 5. 5. 6. 6. Although the first Christian punk album was released by the Bill Mason Band 7. 7. as far back as 1979 it was only at the end of the 1990s that the anti-religious 8. 8. stance began to be challenged within the punk scene. R. Haenfler, for exam- 9. 9. ple, notes the movement of Christian youth into the straight edge scene 10. 10. (2006: 38, 45–46). MxPx, The Providence or Squad Five-O, while remaining 11. 11. punk bands, openly declared their Christian identity. In the United States and 12. 12. United Kingdom, labels started to release Christian punk and hardcore bands 13. 13. and special resources were developed such as http://hxcchristian.com, http:// 14. 14. christianpunks.co.uk or http://www.mypraize.com, promoting Christian punk 15. 15. and hardcore. Christian punk and hardcore bands started to advocate their 16. 16. place in the scene: 17. 17. 18. 18. Hardcore started as music with a message […] You know, like vegan 19. 19. bands and straight-edge bands. And we feel we’ve got a stronger 20. 20. message than anyone else’ says 20 year old Hanley, who runs a Christian 21. 21. punk club in Kingston, New York. 22. 22. (Sandler 2001) 23. 23. 24. 24. Moreover, such bands as the Knights of the New Crusade, for example, dress 25. 25. in Knights Templers’ outfits and preach wiping out the ‘heathens’, and the 26. 26. Polyphonic Spree evoke Christian baptism services in the course of their 27. 27. performances. 28. 28. Nonetheless, Christian punks, as well as other believers, remain marginal 29. 29. and to a certain extent discordant with the punk scene. De facto Christian 30. 30. punk constitutes a conservative move: it aims to preserve external values and 31. 31. life attitudes articulated outside of the punk scene. The message dissemi- 32. 32. nated by Christian punk originates and takes shape in religious discourse 33. 33. and punk itself is rather uncritically seen as a vehicle for bringing this exter- 34. 34. nal message to a particular audience. This, strictly speaking, confronts the 35. 35. basics of punk ethos. It is incompatible with the appeal for revolution, of 36. 36. whatever kind, self-rule and independence. Moreover, Christian punk can 37. 37. hardly embraceIntellect the call for the critical assessment2012 of social mores propa- 38. 38. gated in the politically conscious wing of punk rock. The occasions when 39. 39. individuals turn towardsNot religion throughfor punkdistribution rock remain exception- 40. 40. ally rare, while the opposite tendency of abandoning religious beliefs in 41. 41. the course of one’s punk journey is common. Religion remains inauthen- 42. 42. tic and antagonistic to the scene and continues to be a regular object of 43. 43. ideological attack. A case in point here is the Canadian punk group Living 44. 44. with Lions who in 2011 released an album, titled Holy S**t, which features 45. 45. cover art that looks like a Bible subtitled ‘The Poo Testament’ and depict- 46. 46. ing Christ as excrement. Equally indicative of this tendency are: the name 47. 47. adopted by the Bristol band – Jesus Bruisers; the song ‘God is Dead’ by the 48. 48. Heart Attack; or ‘Jesus Entering from the Rear’ by the Feederz. Independent 49. 49. venues and distro networks are dominated by anti-religious sentiment and 50. 50. Bad Religion’s label Epitaph Records continues to enjoy significant success 51. 51. in picking and promoting bands of a similar ideological standpoint, of which 52. 52. NOFX and Rancid are just two examples. 307 PUNK_1.3_Gololobov_305-321.indd 307 10/22/12 2:22:34 PM Ivan Gololobov relIGIon In russIan roCK musIC and early punK roCK 1. Russian rock never embraced ideological and cultural antagonism towards 2. religion since, in the Soviet Union, it was as little appreciated by the state 3. as rock music was itself and the pressure of official Soviet ideology forced 4. many religious practitioners underground. Early Russian rock bands formed 5. in the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, such as Akvarium/Aquarium, Zoopark/ 6. The Zoo, DDT, Nol’/Nil and Auktsyon/Auction, while generally critical of the 7. cultural mainstream and society as a whole, never attacked religion. On the 8. contrary, Boris Grebenshikov, the leader of Akvarium, used religious themes, 9.