7 august - The Reykjavik Grapevine

t.A.T.u: Good Music, Sleazy
Origins
Invented pop groups – bands
formed by managers more concerned
with marketing than talent – have
been with us since the Monkees first
oozed forth onto America’s airwaves.
Malcolm McLaren claimed to have
created a punk version of such with
the Sex Pistols. Even Iceland has it’s
own version, in the form of Nýlon.
Singers and groups created
primarily for marketability have
become so commonplace that we
hardly bat an eyelash when another
one comes rattling off the assembly
line, unless they bear some sort of
gimmick that grabs our attention.
This is precisely what Ivan
Shapovalov had in mind when he
created the Russian pseudo-lesbian
singing duo t.A.T.u. in 1999.
Within the span of barely four
years, t.A.T.u. - comprised of singers
Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova
- managed two hits from their
sole album to date, 200 km/h in
the Wrong Lane - the teen angst
anthems All the Things She Said
and Not Gonna Get Us - in addition
to an ill-received cover version of the
Smiths’ classic, How Soon Is Now?
Shapovalov was pretty
straightforward about his vision for
the band, telling Blender magazine,
“At first, the idea was just underage
sex. Every time, the audience needs
new images—for this project, new
images were lesbian teenagers.”
All the while, Katina and Volkova
remained vague and non-committal
to the image Shapovalov had
created for them, stating in repeated
interviews that they “just love each
other.”
The sensationalism and
downright sleaziness, made for great
copy, and drew the ire of the British
press in particular. The March
2003 issue of Q magazine printed
a scathing portrait of the band
– wherein two grown men called two
18-year-old girls “cunts” – as well
as the band’s manager, who belched
forth the comment, “Society needs to
be protected from people who want
to protect society from t.A.T.u.”
The gimmick worked to a large
extent. Sexually confused teenagers
and closet pedophiles the world over
embraced them, albeit for drastically
different reasons. In the hubbub,
what few parties noticed was that the
music the band put out was actually
decent.
What sets t.A.T.u. apart from the
Monkees, Nýlon and the Sex Pistols
is that Katina and Volkova actually
possess talent. In the review section,
Q magazine gave their album three
out of five stars, stating in part,
“the mechanical rock and lascivious
pianos come not just with sugarcoated
pop, but industrial strength,
turmoil and alienation.” For my part,
I’ve listened to the Russian version
of their album and I believe the
songs are tightly composed, featuring
the signature minor scale that
Russians love so dearly, and push the
normally light mood of pop music
into unsettling, nearly explosive
emotional territory – a soundtrack
that goes very well with posting the
daily news.
The biggest reason why I put
emphasis on the Russian versions
of their songs is twofold. As a
native-born English speaker, I
not-so-grudgingly admit that
Russian sounds better than English,
especially when sung. Don’t even
try to write me and dispute this.
You simply won’t convince me that
“love” sounds nicer than “ljubov.”
Secondly, Russians are suckers for
wordplay and double entendres.
Take for example the song, “Prostie
Dvizhenia” (“simple movements”) –
in English, the song is overtly about
masturbation, whereas in Russian,
the main verse roughly translates
as, “Without you, I just keep going
through simple movements,” which
in Russian can mean going through
the motions of day-to-day life
despite the absence of a lover or
“rubbing one out”.
Nonetheless, there’s one basic
problem: how does one enjoy
t.A.T.u.’s music without financing a
sleazy Svengali? Unfortunately, the
only viable way involves depriving
the band itself of funds as well.
Visit t.A.T.u’s Russian website
– www.tatu.ru - and click on
“Downloads” (one of the few
portions of the site in English).
There, you can download all of
their songs, both in Russian and
English, numerous videos, and even
a feature-length documentary of the
band, all free of charge for now. The
diehard fan will find rare videos and
artwork, including a bizarre video
montage featuring Russian President
Vladimir Putin, and those sceptical
but curious can hear for themselves
what the band has to offer with a
clean conscience. For best results, I
recommend listening to the songs
on Windows Media Player, with the
graphic equalizer set on “Dance,”
and the visualizer set on “Battery: I
see the truth.”
In 2004, t.A.T.u. split from
Shapovalov and the image he
created for them. According to the
official website, their new album
– Dangerous and Moving – is due
for international release this October
from Interscope Records. Here’s
hoping Volkova and Katina will
eventually be able to shake the creepy
spectre Shapovalov foisted upon
them, and let the music speak for
itself on their new album.
Paul F Nikolov
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