Zolotoy Kamerton

In 1982, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper sponsored a competition for young musicians called Zolotoy Kamerton ( lit. ‘ Golden Tuning Fork ‘ ). DDT submitted three compositions – ” Inoplanetyane ” (Aliens), ” Chyornoye solntse ” (Black Sun), and ” Ne streliaj! ” (‘Don’t Shoot!’). During the long-running competition, the group published their first album (on tape ), Svinya na raduge (Pig on a Rainbow). The album contained elements of rock and roll , blues and country music . At the time, popular music in the Soviet Union was split between “official” performers who were admitted to the musicians’ union, and underground artists . Such underground artists were often highly trained musicians who also had other jobs. A complex underground network evolved in the 1980s, and “unofficial” music became widely distributed (though artist compensation was very limited) by magnitizdat , in a similar way to the underground channels that had existed for non-state sanctioned literature ( samizdat ).