Let's try and get 1,000,000 replies to this post

I don’t like when Metallica doesn’t play metal, simple as that. Kill Em All is raw, has energy, and great riffs. That’s all I need.
 

@Ariana @Magnus - please comment.
Hey, I actually do remember them!
Probably the first Bulgarian band to go into heavy metal full time (garage bands, and established rock bands with occasional tracks coming close excluded; Impulse were also softer before Gladiator). Wikipedia tells me they have Nikolo Kotzev of Brazen Abbot fame among their ex-members, and fucking Vesko Marinov of fucking chalga GERB fame, which I never knew, so thank you Per for both the memories and the info.

 
Now Youtube recommending me stuff


This part is pretty cool.
Funnily enough, this was on the radio two days ago when Mrs M and myself were coming back from our Touch practice. Has Era's ex-vocalist, lyrics make fun of lots of Bulgarian traditional myths and memes.
Високи сини планини
(за сто години пет войни!)
а пък реките, езерата
(за сто години пет преврата)

По средата - Балкан,
а по края - море,
после пак планини,
а и Дунав тече

...и високо небе,
и зелени гори,
върхове, снегове,
пълни с риба реки...

Припев:
Да оставим природата!
Да говорим за хората!
Да опишем породата,
как се справя с несгодата!
Бедни сме - дрипави,
но не сме просяци!
Силни сме - на думи,
но не сме глупави!
Строги сме - със едни,
честни сме - със други!
Пълни сме с идеи,
умни сме - колко ли?!!

Зима. Сняг и лед.
После пролетен дъжд.
През лятото - пек,
после есенна ръж.

Изкласили жита,
медени плодове.
Тънкорунни стада,
девствени лесове...
 
Hey, I actually do remember them!
Probably the first Bulgarian band to go into heavy metal full time (garage bands, and established rock bands with occasional tracks coming close excluded; Impulse were also softer before Gladiator). Wikipedia tells me they have Nikolo Kotzev of Brazen Abbot fame among their ex-members, and fucking Vesko Marinov of fucking chalga GERB fame, which I never knew, so thank you Per for both the memories and the info.

I also found out about Vesko Marinov today. :facepalm: What a sellout.
 
Hey, I actually do remember them!
Probably the first Bulgarian band to go into heavy metal full time (garage bands, and established rock bands with occasional tracks coming close excluded; Impulse were also softer before Gladiator). Wikipedia tells me they have Nikolo Kotzev of Brazen Abbot fame among their ex-members, and fucking Vesko Marinov of fucking chalga GERB fame, which I never knew, so thank you Per for both the memories and the info.


There is a rather informative review of this album on metal-archives.com. Nevertheless, I was quite surprised that a band with a heavy sound like this could get a video with such a professional production on Bulgarian TV in the 80's. Quite a neat find.
 
I think "the 80s" are not uniform, as changes happened in Russia during Gorbachev right in the middle. 1984 might've been last peak of cold war but in 1988 things were already rolling.

Here's one from the Soviet Russia itself :

 
That is true, but even early Gorbachev era USSR was more liberal than late Zhivkov Bulgaria, as far as I know. And Arya were really pushing the boundaries of what was possible at the time.
 
early Gorbachev era USSR was more liberal than late Zhivkov Bulgaria, as far as I know.
Er, yes, and also not really, as usual.
You see, if you study the official sources*, e.g. Soviet newspapers, journals or TV programs vs. contemporary Bulgarian ones, it's certainly so.
On the other hand, we've always been very good at pretending, and lip service, and doublethink, so there wasn't much of a difference really.
We might discuss this some day in Halbite but it would take a really, and I mean really, long post, with footnotes and extended explanations and such here.

*Which only shows you, once again, the limits a historian faces in their job.
 
Er, yes, and also not really, as usual.
You see, if you study the official sources*, e.g. Soviet newspapers, journals or TV programs vs. contemporary Bulgarian ones, it's certainly so.
On the other hand, we've always been very good at pretending, and lip service, and doublethink, so there wasn't much of a difference really.
We might discuss this some day in Halbite but it would take a really, and I mean really, long post, with footnotes and extended explanations and such here.

*Which only shows you, once again, the limits a historian faces in their job.

This is true, and I'm looking forward to that conversation, but we are sort of talking about the media here, so maybe my point stands a little bit?
 
This is true, and I'm looking forward to that conversation, but we are sort of talking about the media here, so maybe my point stands a little bit?
To some extent, yes, but, again, it's more complicated.
We had the Паралели magazine and the Всяка Неделя program before Gorbachev, and Russians couldn't even dream of anything like that. Our TV showed Jamie and the Magic Torch and Doctor Snuggles, Tom & Jerry, Woody Woodpecker, Pink Panther, the Muppet Show etc. in the early eighties, not to mention a huge amount of Eastern block serials all of which I seriously doubt were ever seen in the USSR back then.
 
Apart from A je to and some other classics of the famed Czech animated school, I don't know jack shit about "eastern block culture". Warsaw Pact had their own Eurovision/Eurosong type of stuff, for example.
 
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