Russia in the 90s

1. Gopniks - especially the 1990s
   Probably the most recognizable image of the era. Yard companies, tracksuits, short haircuts, neighborhood identity. It is more of a social courtyard environment than a subculture in the classical sense.

2. Punks — 1990s
   Mohawks, leather jackets, torn clothes, DIY, protest aesthetics. The Russian punk scene has had a huge impact - from the underground to very popular bands.

3. Metalheads — 1990s
   Long hair, T-shirts with band logos, leather jackets, jeans, heavy music. Metallica, Iron Maiden, Slayer and Russian metal bands.

4. Rockers
   A broader category around Russian rock. Jackets, jeans, long hair, concerts and rock clubs. Especially noticeable in the early 1990s.5

. Hippies / pacifists
Not as numerous as in the late USSR, but they continued to exist. Long hair, loose clothes, music, travel, the philosophy of "peace and freedom".

6. Skinheads — the second half of the 1990s
   In Russia, they became a noticeable youth environment in the mid-to-late 1990s. At the same time, there were different trends: not all skinheads should be considered neo-Nazis.

7. Rappers / Hip Hoppers – mid to late 1990s
   Wide-leg pants, caps, sportswear, break dance, graffiti and hip-hop. By the end of the decade, Russian rap was already becoming quite noticeable.

8. Ravers — early and mid-1990s
   A very typical get-together for the era: electronic music, raves, clubs, bright clothes, dancing. They are especially noticeable in large cities.

9. Partygoers / club youth
   Not quite a separate subculture, but in the 1990s a modern club culture appears: discos, nightclubs, electronic music, house/techno.

10. Football club
    fans The football fan movement was actively developing in the 1990s. Scarves, club symbols, trips, own gangs and yard culture.

11. Ultras and the football-related environment
    A more organized part of the fan movement, which developed especially noticeably towards the end of the 1990s

Barter is a whole different story

, especially at enterprises. Wages could be paid not in money, but:

to the worker of the plant → part of the plant's products;
the miner → coal;
the farmer → grain, meat, milk;
an employee of the enterprise → household appliances or products;
the enterprise → raw materials in exchange for finished products;
one organization → another services or goods instead of money.

And then a person could exchange what he received himself.

For example, a conditional chain:

plant → employee: several boxes of products
employee → neighbor: products for potatoes
neighbor → acquaintance: potatoes for car repair.

That is, barter could turn into a small natural economy.

At the same time, for an ordinary person in the city, it was not a pure "goods for goods" scheme that was more typical, but a salary/debt/delay + mutual services: "you fix my car, I will help you with the repair of the apartment."

Salaries were often delayed for weeks and months, especially in the mid-1990s.Many
received part of the money not in money, but in products or goods.
The shuttle business was very common - people went to buy cheap goods in other countries and sold them in the markets.
Markets, kiosks, stalls, and private trade played a huge role.
State-owned enterprises were shrinking or closing, so people were looking for part-time jobs and new ways to make money.
New professions appeared: managers, advertisers, brokers, security guards, realtors, programmers.
For young people, typical part-time jobs could be trading at the market, courier work, unloading, work in cafes / kiosks.

This is one of the most famous features of the era, but it is important not to turn the whole of Russia of the 90s into a continuous gangster zone.

There were:
organized criminal groups;
racketeering and extortion;
"roof" for business;
showdowns between groups;
corruption;
illegal trade;
burglaries and car thefts;
street fights;
drug distribution.

Crime was especially noticeable in large cities and around commerce. A businessman could pay a certain group for "protection". Hence the image of a man in a crimson jacket, an expensive car and guards - almost a caricature symbol of the 1990s.At

the same time, an ordinary person could live his whole life without facing organized crime directly at all.

Here is the most interesting thing.

In the early 1990s, hyperinflation occurred. Prices could change so quickly that the salary received today had a completely different purchasing power in a few months.

Therefore, people had to constantly get used to new prices.

🛒 What was especially noticeable in stores

Soviet shortages are gradually being replaced by a huge variety of goods:

chewing gum;
chocolate;
imported drinks;
jeans;
sneakers;
cassettes and CDs;
household appliances;
computers;
TVs;
video recorders.

But the problem was that "there is a product" did not mean "an ordinary family can afford it."

For example, imported sneakers or a good tape recorder could be a real luxury for a teenager, so clothes and appliances were often passed from older brothers and sisters to younger ones.

Russia in the 1990s was a mixture of freedom, chaos, poverty, abrupt change, and the feeling that the old rules had disappeared and the new ones were not yet in place.

🏚️ On the streets: gray courtyards, panel buildings, markets, stalls, garages, entrances; people spend a lot of time outside the home.
💰 Money: a huge contrast—some people live very poorly, while others suddenly become rich. The "gangster" 90s are a noticeable part of the era's popular image.
🎸 Youth: a huge number of new musical and street cultures—punks, metalheads, rappers, ravers, fans, gopniks, etc.
📺 Culture: People are bombarded with Western music, movies, clothing, MTV, cassettes, and magazines. Everything new seems very appealing.
🚬 Everyday life: cigarettes, beer, discos, slot machines, video salons, markets – very characteristic details of the era.
⚠️ Safety: the feeling that you need to be able to stand up for yourself on the street. Neighborhood, company, and reputation could play a big role.
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 The most important thing: belonging to your group. Being "one of the guys" is often more important than official social status.
🌆 The overall mood: simultaneously "everything is bad" and "anything is possible." For a teenager, this could have felt like a very free, wild, and unpredictable time.

In one sentence: “The old world has fallen apart, the new one has not yet been built - so everyone is looking for their own company, music, style and place in this chaos.”

Work: "to earn money somehow."
Money: "today we have it, tomorrow we don't know."
Crime: "better not to get involved."
Shops: “everything has appeared, but everything is expensive.”
Youth: "The old rules are over, it's time to try something new."

And it is precisely the combination of economic instability + the emergence of private business + crime + Western culture + new technologies that makes the Russian 90s so different from the subsequent 2000s.

{{char}} doesn't try to create chaos around {{user}} , it's a role-playing game about a simple life, without a constant stream of difficult life situations.

If you imagine Russia in the 1990s through the eyes of a teenager, then interesting events most often took place approximately here:

1. Courtyards and entrances are the main place of communication. Companies, acquaintances, conflicts, conversations, music from a tape recorder.
2. Garages are a separate little world: cars, mopeds, music, beer, conversations and sometimes dubious things.
3. Markets and stalls were busy places where you could buy cassettes, clothes, imported things, eat, and meet all kinds of people.
4. Train stations – especially for hippies, travelers and just young people who were going somewhere. Constant movement and casual acquaintances.
5. Underground passages — musicians, breakers, cassette sellers, graffiti, informals.
6. Rock clubs and recreation centers — concerts of punks, rockers, metalheads; Often it was there that different informals crossed paths.
7. Discos are a mass place for ordinary schoolchildren and students; Music, dancing, dating, fights between companies.
8. Nightclubs are already a more adult crowd: raves, electronic music, club life.
9. Stadiums – football matches, fan campaigns, chants and sometimes clashes.
10. Parks and squares are places for walks and meetings; In the summer, a variety of companies could gather there.
11. Computer clubs – especially noticeable by the end of the 1990s: games, local competitions, the first Internet dating.
12. Apartments are a very important place: apartment parties, birthdays, musical parties, video recorders, cassettes and conversations until night.
13. Abandoned buildings and construction sites – teenage adventures, graffiti, extreme walks and just a desire to find a place where adults do not interfere.

📺 TVs – Almost everywhere are regular CRT TVs. Cable TV is gradually spreading, foreign channels are emerging.
📼 VCRs and VHS are a huge part of everyday culture. Video salons, film cassettes, home video libraries.
📻 Tape recorders - cassette decks, boomboxes, music centers. Music is actively copied from cassette to cassette.
💿 CDs in the mid/late 90s gradually became more prestigious than cassettes, but they were expensive.
📞 Telephones – home landline phones; Mobile phones (push-button phones) appear, but for most it is a luxury.
📟 Pagers are a particularly noticeable technology in the mid-90s.
💻 Computers are gradually appearing at home, but computer clubs are especially important. Windows 95/98, DOS, games like Doom, Quake, Heroes III.
🎮 Dendy was especially widespread among children.
🕹️ Slot machines are in shopping centers, cinemas, on the streets and in separate gambling halls.
🌐 The Internet at the beginning of the decade was almost exotic, and by the end of the 90s, home Dial-Up, the first websites, chats and e-mail were already appearing.
📠 Faxes were used in offices to transmit documents.
📷 Cameras are mainly film. Digital photography is practically non-existent for the average person.
📹 Video cameras are already available, but expensive; weddings, celebrations, and home recordings are often filmed on VHS.
🚗 Cars are both old "Zhiguli", "Moskvich" and a stream of used foreign cars. The appearance of Japanese/German vehicles was in itself a sign of the new times.

Gopniks
What they do:
They hang out with yard companies, spend a lot of time on the street, at the entrances, in the yards, on benches. Some companies are characterized by fights, extortion, petty theft, drunkenness and conflicts with "strangers". But the very label "gopnik" could simply denote a certain courtyard style, without mandatory crime.

Where to meet:
Courtyards, entrances, garages, markets, bus stops, train stations, near vocational schools and sports grounds.

How they treat others:
The idea of "friend/foe" is very important. They can respect a person from their neighborhood or company and be aggressive towards those who look "not like everyone else": long-haired rockers, punks, people in unusual clothes. Conflict often arises precisely because of territory, appearance, or an attempt to "put a person in his place."

Appearance: tracksuit, Olympic jacket, sneakers or cheap boots, cap; short haircut. In cold weather, a jacket. The image varied greatly.

Slang:
"patsan", "dude", "bro", "normal", "bazaar", "dismantling", "arrow", "district", "maliava".
Typical addresses could be like: "What district are you from?", "Is there a bazaar?", "What, kid, do you have a cigarette?"

They were friends: first of all, with their yard company. They could also communicate normally with ordinary athletes, neighboring companies.

Disliked: "strangers", especially those who stood out strongly: punks, hippies, sometimes metalheads. The attitude towards others was often determined not by the subculture, but by how a person behaved and how much he was considered one of their own.

Punks
What they do:
Listen to punk rock, go to concerts, create music themselves, hang out with companies. An important part of culture is anti-authoritarianism and rejection of social norms. There is often a DIY approach: make your own clothes, patches, music, posters.

Where to meet:
Rock clubs, concerts, basements, friends' apartments, music stores, various underground places.

Attitude towards people:
Usually skeptical about the state, the police, the rich and the "proper" respectable life. There could be conflicts between punks and gopniks over appearance and lifestyle. At the same time, within the punk environment, the attitude towards a person was often determined by whether he was "at home in spirit", and not by social status.

Appearance: mohawks or just long/sloppy hair, leather jackets, army jackets, torn jeans, patches, badges, heavy boots. But many looked much simpler.

Slang:
"punk", "party", "movement", "under", "hardcore", "old school", "commerce".
Musical affiliation was very important: you could argue for a long time which band was real and which was "sold out".

Friends: with other punks, rockers, alternatives, sometimes metalheads and skaters.

Disliked: "majors", officialdom, conformism, commercial pop culture. Skinheads and aggressive gopnik companies could be direct opponents.

Metalheads
What they do:
Listen to heavy metal, thrash, death metal and other directions. They exchange cassettes, collect music, go to concerts, discuss bands and musical equipment.

Where to meet:
Concerts, rock clubs, music stores, markets with cassettes/CDs, groups of friends.

Attitude towards people:
Usually a fairly peaceful musical subculture. The main boundary is between "those who understand music" and "those who don't". They can cross paths with punks and rockers, although there were many disputes between fans of different genres.

Appearance: long hair, T-shirts with groups, leather jackets or denim jackets, jeans, army boots. Slang

: a lot of musical jargon: "metal", "thrash", "doom", "death", "heavy", "band", "album", "cassette".

Friends: with rockers, punks, other metalheads. Skater and alternative youth could also intersect.

Disliked: those who considered metal to be "noise", and above all pop culture. There were also disputes between the metalheads themselves: "Are you a real metalhead or do you just wear T-shirts?"

Rockers
What they do:
Listen to Russian and Western rock, go to concerts, play themselves or just actively participate in the rock community.

Where to meet:
Rock clubs, concerts, music stores, apartment concerts.

Attitude towards people:
In general, this is a fairly open environment, although there may be an attitude towards pop music and popular culture along the lines of "this is commerce, and real rock is different".

The rocker of 1993 and the punk of 1993 could look quite similar, but punk was usually much more ostentatiously protesting.

Appearance: jeans, T-shirts, leather or denim jackets, long hair. Sometimes beards and various rocker attributes.

Slang: "rock", "rokuha", "tusovka", "kvartirnik", "hard", "acoustics", "apparatus".

Friends: with punks, metalheads, musicians, people from rock clubs.

They did not like: first of all, commercial pop and people who treated rock as a fashion.

Hippies
What they do:
Listen to rock, socialize, hitchhike, spend time in nature, philosophize, advocate for freedom and peace.

Where to meet:
Central squares of big cities, train stations, parks, apartment parties, festivals.

Attitude to people:
As a rule, it is as peaceful as possible. The ideas of freedom, non-violence and rejection of rigid social norms. A conflict with gopniks or aggressive street companies could arise precisely because the appearance of the hippies stood out strongly.

Appearance: long hair, loose clothes, baubles, jeans, backpacks, sometimes ethnic jewelry.

Slang: "party", "weed", "hai", "hippie", "world", "brother/sister". Some of the words were common to the alternative environment.

Friends: with punks, rockers, musicians, other travelers and informals.

Disliked: aggression, authoritarianism, excessive attachment to money and status.

What they do:
They hang out with companies, go to concerts of certain music, play sports, spend a lot of time outside. In the late 1990s, part of the Russian movement became associated with far-right and neo-Nazi ideas.

Where to meet:
Streets, football matches, concerts, neighborhoods, certain youth hangouts.

Attitudes towards people:
The radical part of the movement had a pronounced hostility towards migrants and people of certain nationalities, as well as anti-fascists, LGBT people and representatives of other subcultures. It's one of those 1990s environments where ideological aggression could really be a central part of identity.

But a "skinhead" ≠ automatically a neo-Nazi: there were also apolitical/musical skinhead environments.

Appearance: a short-shaven head, bombers, jeans, suspenders, high boots. In Russia in the 1990s, the image gradually became associated with the radical right-wing environment.

Slang: here it strongly depended on the specific group. There was football, street and political jargon.

They were friends: with like-minded people, some football fans, right-wing radical companies.

Disliked: especially radical groups — migrants, anti-fascists, LGBT people, and political opponents. They could also conflict with punks and other leftist/anti-fascist groups.

Important: not every skinhead of the 1990s was a neo-Nazi — there were non-political skinhead environments.

What they do:
Listen to rap, write their own lyrics, do break dancing, graffiti, create their first home records.

Where to meet:
Courtyards, discos, recreation centers, clubs, break dance venues, music studios.

Attitude towards people:
Highly depends on the specific company. Basically, it's music and street culture, not aggressive movement. They can compete between companies for status and respect.

Appearance: wide jeans or sweatpants, large T-shirts, caps, sneakers. The style was strongly influenced by American culture.

Slang: "rap", "reading", "beat", "flow", "MS", "DJ", "freestyle", "battle", "break".

Friends: with breakers, graffiti artists, DJs, skaters.

Disliked: competing companies, sometimes rockers and metalheads because of musical differences. But this was not always a serious enmity.

What they do:
They go to matches, support the club, go on the road, create fan groups, make banners and chants.

Where to meet:
Stadiums, near stadiums, trains and exits, fan bars and meeting places.

Attitude to people:
Here is a very strong border "our club is someone else's club". Rival fans can conflict. At the same time, loyalty and camaraderie are extremely important within your company.

Appearance: sportswear, club scarves, jackets, sneakers. More radical bands have a certain street style.

Slang: "fan", "away", "match", "sector", "ultras", "firm", "charge", "opponent".

They were friends: first of all, with their fan group and fans of their club.

Disliked: fans of principled rivals. In some groups, there was a rather rigid culture of showdowns.

What they do:
Go to raves and club events, dance to techno, house, trance and breakbeat, meet and socialize.

Where to meet:
Nightclubs, large raves, abandoned buildings and industrial sites, festivals.

Attitude towards people:
Mostly a much more cosmopolitan environment. The main thing is the music and the party, and not the district or the origin of the person.

At the same time, there was a drug environment around the club culture, but this does not mean that every raver used drugs.

Appearance: bright sportswear, wide pants, T-shirts, sneakers; Later, more club fashion appears.

Slang: "rave", "party", "club", "set", "dj", "techno", "house", "trance".

Friends: with club youth, musicians, DJs, alternatives.

They didn't like it: rather than specific bands, but boring "ordinary" life. For them, music and atmosphere were more important.

Skaters and roller skaters
What they do:
Ride skateboards or roller skates, learn tricks, gather in companies.

Where to meet:
Squares, embankments, stairs, courtyards, specially equipped playgrounds.

Attitude towards people:
Mostly calm. This is more of a street lifestyle than an ideological subculture. It often intersects with alternative music, hip-hop and Western youth fashion.

Appearance: sportswear, club scarves, jackets, sneakers. More radical bands have a certain street style.

Slang: "fan", "away", "match", "sector", "ultras", "firm", "charge", "opponent".

They were friends: first of all, with their fan group and fans of their club.

Disliked: fans of principled rivals. In some groups, there was a rather rigid culture of showdowns.

In
real life, it didn't look like ten separate "clans." One person could well be at the same time:

metalhead + skater,
punk + football fan,
rapper + graffiti artist,
rocker + biker,
raver + club partygoer.

But some combinations were much more conflictual. For example:

gopniks + punks/metalheads/hippies – a conflict between appearance and street hierarchy.

Skinheads + punks/anti-fascists are already an ideological conflict.

fans + fans of other clubs – competition for club identity.

ravers + traditional courtyard environment are more of a difference in lifestyle than a constant conflict.