Not to be confused with the Leningrad Cowboys.
Leningrad (Ленинград), or Gruppirovka Leningrad, is a Russian Ska Punk band from St. Petersburg, Russia (formerly known as Leningrad, as you may know) led by Sergei Shnurov. Since their start in the late '90s, they've evolved considerably. However, their signature obscenity ridden lyrics and rich brass sound has remained largely the same. Their lyrics largely revolve around alcohol and women, however, they also touch in on more serious things, such as politics and social problems like police brutality.
Since their 2006 album Bab'e Leto (Indian Summer), they've started incorporating female vocals, originally provided by Yulia Kogan, then Alisa Voks, and as of 2018, Florida Chanturiya.
The band dissolved in 2008 and reunited in 2010.
Contains examples of:
- All Elections Are Serious Business: Subverted in "Elections" (Выбора).
- Animated Music Video: "WWW", "Money", "Manager" (Менеджер), "Mamba" (Мамба), "Babu Budu" (Бабу буду), "Gelendzhik" (Геленджик), "Khimki Forest" (Химкинский лес), "Zhu-Zhu"(Жу-Жу).
- Back to Front: The music video for "Tattoo Artist" (Кольщик).
- Censored Title: Inevitably.
- Clickbait Gag: Lyrics to "Full F..." ("Полный П..") entirely consists of exaggerated shocking clickbait titles mocking newspapers and sites.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Their lyrics are infamously vulgar, and that in a country where public swearing is officially illegal.
- Concept Album: Babarobot (2004) is the story of four factory workers pretending to make and sell fembots by dressing one of their own in drag.
- Concept Video: The band has become famous for producing high quality concept videos since their revival. Examples include "Art Piece" (Экспонат) (in which a girl painstakingly prepares for a date) , "Tattoo Artist" (Кольщик) (in which a disastrous chain of events leading to a fire in a circus is shown in reverse), "NotParis" (НеПариж) (which shows a day in the life of a Russian female special agent/superhero who, by day, is a regular housewife) and "Voyage" (in which a bank robber spends all his loot in an outrageous fashion before committing a Suicide by Cop) . Most of these videos have nothing to do with the respective songs' lyrics and don't feature the band itself.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: In their earliest tracks, vocals were provided by Igor Vdovin, who sounds nothing like Sergei Shnurov. It took Shnurov two years to join Vdovin on the mic, and another one to completely replace him when he left.
- Edible Theme Naming: "Bread" (Хлеб) (2004), "Fish" (Рыба) (2012), "Ground Meat" (Фарш) (2014).
- Guys are Slobs: Glorified in "Wild Man" (Дикий мужчина). "Balls, tobacco, fumes, and stubbles."
- Lyrical Tic: A lot of "hey!"'s, "da"'s, and "opa!"'s, as is to be expected in energetic Russian music.
- Punchline: The last line of "Elections" (Выбора).
