Thirst (Жажда): Boris Grebenshikov, Aquarium (Аквариум)

Another rare . video from the legendary, once-underground Russian/Soviet rock band Aquarium (Аквариум), featuring vocalist Boris Grebenshikov (BG)/ Борис Гребенщиков (БГ) -- the perestroika-era song is “Thirst“ (Жажда), from their self-recorded 1985 album, December’s Children (Дети Декабря). One caveat: It’s one of their more experimental songs, but arguably not a very successful experiment. I post it more for its historical significance than its musical merits! As well-stated in this English language review of the Дети Декабря album: “The production is so murky it sounds like it was recorded, so to speak, at the bottom of a fish tank, and yes, it leads off with ’Thirst,’ which is — I opine, after years of careful consideration — far and away the worst thing that the Original Akvaium ever came up with, but these blemishes only serve highlight the essential brilliance of the rest of the album. “Let’s start with the ’Thirst’ issue, if only to dismiss it out of hand. It’s terrible. It’s not even original and terrible but highly derivative and terrible. The lyrics rip off David Byrne and the music, so called, is a Casio and trash can symphony of industrial banality, like Einsturzende Neubauten playing Space Invaders. Don’t know what they were smokin’ when they decided that not only would it make a good first track on DD, but that it merited being released as a vinyl EP — one of only a handful of Akvarium vinyl releases from the 80’s — but I could use some of it right now. This would be like the Beatles releasing ’Revolution #9’ as the obvious single from the White Album. Worse, in one of the great marketing blunders of all time, they allowed it to get onto Red Wave (I’m presuming here that it’s not all J. Stingray’s fault, though it may very well be). ’Thirst’ was supposed to convert the masses to Русский Рок? Right. And perhaps McDonald’s will start serving a МакХолодец which will become the new rage of American fast food emporia. “Fuhgeddaboudit ... ’Thirst’ is the reason they have “skip“ buttons on CD players.“