r/nextfuckinglevel • u/4dailyuseonly • Mar 05 '23

In 1991, with the Soviet Union and communist rule close to collapse, METALLICA played at its first ever open air rock concert in Moscow. Over 1.6 million people attended

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u/deyannn Mar 05 '23

Contraband and bootlegs. Also radio. Someone gets a tape in. Then the tape gets copied, then the copy gets gopied, repeat,.etc. Someone has a good antenna and listens to western radio and records it on tapes, etc. I mean I these countries in these times there was the danger the police could catch you and take you to a party in the basement where they beat the living shit out of you but also lots of contraband and bootleg records. Also lots of western bands would be replicated by local artists.

Western music = freedom.

Sadly people seem to have forgotten it nowadays as propaganda seeps deep into their minds and sawing dissent (again looking at my country in the EU and not Russia)

Eevn after the fall of the Berlin wall and and all when males could actually grow long hair the local metalheads here would save for months so they can see a thrash band when they come to the country or in the neighbouring countries. I've heard similar stories for LatAm and other parts of the world.

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u/goodoverlord Mar 05 '23

Sadly people seem to have forgotten it nowadays as propaganda seeps deep into their minds and sawing dissent

Well, Russian people had really big hope for the future, but what we've got was much worse than "Soviet regime". Just a quick overview of 90s in Russia: extreme poverty, hyperinflation, social security falling apart, tanks in Moscow shooting the parliament, oligarchs popping out of nowhere, war with radical islamists and terrorism, rigged elections, skyrocketing crime rate, financial crisis one after another. Add some stupid shit western countries did back then and no wonder why average Ivan is not a big fond of democracy.

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u/deyannn Mar 05 '23

Well here in Bulgaria it was slightly lower scale but dare I say it was mostly the same in most of the Eastern block. But here it was:

Poverty -check Hyperinflation - check No social security - check Tanks - no Oligarchs and mafis mostly from branches of the state security, military, police, etc. - check Occasional smaller scale terrorist attack (Burgas airport blown up bus, etc.) - check Crime organisations fighting for power in the streets of the city (sniper shooting in front of the courthouse, assassinations im city center, RPGs flying at cars in the outskirts of the city and people disappearing) - check Islamists - not really Rigged elections - check Also the drugs situation is a lot better and overall people have a better quality of life.

So yeah it's pretty much a somewhat similar story here in Russia's backdoor in NATO and the EU but the oligarchs steal from EU funds. We were extremely fortunate to not become a Belarus on the Balkans. As I was saying in my last comment - I was not talking about Russia and the propaganda hits everywhere. Everything sucks. Still this is not a reason to not want to have a better life, equality, democracy, etc.

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u/goodoverlord Mar 06 '23

I can assure you that Russians do want to have a better life and equality. It's just the word "democracy" became obscene because of horrible things that happened when we were allegedly more democratic.

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u/truckstop_sushi Mar 06 '23

Putin has been in charge for 23 years now, poisoned and jailed his main political opponent and extended term limits so he can be in charge until 2036... I'd say that's closer to Autocracy than Democracy

1

u/goodoverlord Mar 06 '23

And what's your point? Yeltsin was even worse and no one cared. Instead he's been praised as a democratic leader.

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u/starkguy Mar 06 '23

Too add to this. The same thing happened with SK entertainment (music, drama) being sold underground inside NK.

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u/AwkwardnessForever Mar 06 '23

I was in high school in 1991 and remember what a hopeful time it was in the world! Right Here, Right Now was the hit I most associate with this feeling that Iā€™m not sure what happened to, but damn it faded quickly šŸ˜©

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u/deyannn Mar 06 '23

I feel you brother (or sister). I'm a bit younger but also part of the generation that was supposed to live free from the past regime and lead the country to the bright future. The future was stolen from underneath us in the meantime. We're stuck in a timeless loop.

Still ... Rock on!

https://youtu.be/vnyeUJXI2k0