ABSTRACT

The roots of the tusovka in the youth cultural world of the 1960s and 1970s explain the very specific interpretation of its cultural meaning adopted by some commentators. Artemii Troitsky, the well-known Soviet rock critic, uses the term tusovka almost synonymously with both ‘scene’ (by which is meant formerly forbidden, unofficial art forms) and ‘new wave’1 (Troitsky 1990:134, back cover). Indeed, the link between the tusovki and ‘new wave’ in art and music is very important to the understanding of youth cultural styles. To take the case of the stiliagi, it is true to say that the two bands chiefly associated with the revival of the stiliagi in the 1980s-‘Bravo’ and ‘Brigada S’—were also two of the first, and most successful, ‘new wave’ bands (Dugin, in Zaitsev 1990:78-81). Furthermore, the roots of the tusovka in the underground music scene help explain some of the cultural practices of individual tusovki today. Among these could be included: the importance of personal acquaintance with rock stars, and group narratives around the forming of this acquaintance; the cult of knowledge about music and its use in the formation of hierarchies both within and between tusovki; and the centrality of concerts and gigs in tusovka life.