Vopli Vidoplyasov's group has become a legend of Ukrainian rock, and the ambiguous political views of frontman Oleg Skrypka have often blocked the team's work lately, but no one has canceled the talent! The path to glory began under the USSR, back in 1986 ...
The beginning of the creative path of the Vopli Vidoplyasov group
Vopli Vidoplyasov’s group is called the same age as the accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the reference date was the infamous 1986, when the plumber Yura Zdorenko, KPI student Shura Pipa and military plant worker Oleg Skripka met in the KPI dormitory on a May afternoon.
The name of the children was given by Dostoevsky and his fictional character, a lackey named Vidoplyasov, who constantly wrote stories.
They woke up as celebrities in October 1987, when they gave the first concert in their lives. The performance took place in the Kiev dance and concert hall Sovremennik.
The crazy drive and crazy energy of the guys without a musical education relished the public, "opening the door" to popularity.
The end of the 1980s was marked by the heyday of rock. He came out of the cellars, winning the hearts of people with the desire for freedom. People already knew the Kino, DDT, Alisa, Aquarium and other founders of Russian rock groups. And then the Ukrainian quartet burst onto the stage with its dances and unique aura.
Group style features
Then the group "Vopli Vidoplyasova" did not get into politics, but sang about simple things, mixing punk, hard, folk and disco into one pile. Musicians have always loved shocking, especially Oleg Skripka.
Their first performance at Gorbushka in Moscow in 1988 began with the soloist's famous exit from the refrigerator. This video is still on the Internet, becoming a meme.
Even the well-known critic Artemy Troitsky praised, recognizing future stars in young rockers. Talent allowed them to leave for France, where they lived for five years.
Foreign connections and success abroad allowed them to gain popularity points in their homeland. After the collapse of the USSR, fame first came in Russia, then in France, and only then in Ukraine.
All this time, the rockers sang in their native language, breaking the patterns of those times.
“Lament of Yaroslavna”, “Comrade Major”, “I flew”, “On duty”, “Zadne oko”, “Pisenka” and, of course, the super hit of all times and peoples “Dance” - the songs of the group “VV” became popular, as well as the debut album of the group “High live VV!”, which appeared soon. Their album was even in Earth orbit, and all thanks to the first Ukrainian cosmonaut Leonid Kadenyuk.
The exact answer, and what kind of style they ended up with, will not be answered even by the most "inveterate" music critic. In the songs of the group "VV" notes of Ukrainian melos, heavy metal, disco and bold punk are heard.
International status and changes in the composition of the group
After the concert on the legendary Gorbushka stage, the path of the musicians was as follows: Kyiv - Moscow - Paris - Moscow - Kyiv. They returned to Kyiv only in 1996, having lost guitarist Yuri Zdorenko in 1989, his place was taken by the former member of the Apartment 50 group Alexander Komissarenko.
Bassist Alexander Pipa left the band after the release of the album "Buli Days" in 1996. So only half of the star cast remained.
The foreign period was distinguished by inconsistency. The Vopli Vidoplyasova group performed in Poland, Switzerland and France. The "French period" lasted from 1991 to 1996, during which time the group was a little forgotten at home.
Oleg Skrypka married a Frenchwoman Marie Ribot, even got a job as the head of the women's choir at the Philippe de Couplet theater. Oleg Skripka spoke about Paris as a "difficult city to live in".
It so happened that along with increasing popularity, controversy also increased. No one knew for sure the true reasons for the departure of the founding musicians.
Was it connected with Violin's star disease? Or was there an internal conflict? One way or another, but the group after 1996 changed its composition.
At the time of their return to the expanses of the former USSR, the group was forgotten, but the video clip for the song "Spring", which was successfully put into rotation on the newly opened Russian channel MTV, helped to regain its former popularity.
It was the song "Spring" that became the final chord of all concerts, the tradition began in 1997 and the artists liked it so much that they are not ready to give it up until now. This creation was written when the band lived in Paris!
Scandals involving the Vopli Vidoplyasov group
The path of rockers has always been accompanied by rumors and gossip. They were not accused of anything - homosexuality, alcoholism, drunken scandals.
In France, musicians even had to perform on the street, using improvised materials as musical instruments. Yes, they were real punks!
Scandals did not become an obstacle to the conclusion of contracts. In 1997, the band signed a long-term contract with Gala Records. Then the musicians organized a joint concert in Kyiv and Moscow with Ilya Lagutenko and the Mumiy Troll group.
They have tours in Germany, England, and Skrypka participated in Formula 1 races, becoming the only Ukrainian musician who got behind the wheel of a two-seater MCLaren car.
Today, the frontman of the VV group is better known for scandalous statements about Russian invaders than for new songs. He supported the Maidan and actively participated in the political life of Ukraine. The soloist was outraged by the popularity of Sergey Shnurov's songs, although they once performed together on the 25th anniversary of the team ...
Talent or education?
From a professional point of view, the guys have never been associated with music. They just loved to play and make people happy with their creativity! If you carefully consider the original composition and their formation, you get a charming picture:
- Yuri Zdorenko - plumber;
- Alexander Pipa was expelled from music school as a child;
- Oleg Skrypka is an engineer by profession, he even worked at a military factory for some time;
- Sergey Sakhno came later and learned to play the drum from a friend from the Kyiv music hall.
These are the people who stood at the origins of the legend!
