Любэ: История российской рок-группы

Russian rock band

Lyube is a Russian nationalistic rock band from Lyubertsy, a city in Moscow Oblast. Lyube's music is a mixture of several genres, with influences from both Russian folk music, rock, Russian chanson, and Soviet military songs. The band was founded in 1989, and since then have released sixteen albums. Lyube's producer and main songwriter is Igor Matviyenko.

Igor Matviyenko was a music producer and composer working at the Soviet music studio SPM Record when he came up with the idea to start Lyube in 1988. Rastorguyev came up with the band's name.

The band released its first compilation of songs in 1990, titled "We will now live a new way" (Мы будем жить теперь по новому). In 1991, Lyube released its first official LP. The debut album was titled "Atas" (Атас), and included the title song, along with the songs "Pops Makhno" (Батька Махно), "Taganskaya station" (Станция Таганская), "Don't destroy, you men" (Не губите, мужики), and "Lyubertsy" (Люберцы). Lyube filmed their first music video in 1991 in the Russian city of Sochi, using "Don't play the fool, America!" as the song. In 1992, Lyube released its second album, titled "Who said that we lived badly ?" (Кто сказал, что мы плохо жили ? ). The songs for the album were recorded at the Moscow Palace of Youth and Stas Namin's Studio, and the mastering was completed at studio MSM in Munich, Germany. The album included such hits as "Come, let's play" (Давай наяривай), "Don't play the fool, America!" (Не Валяй Дурака, Америка), "Rabbit fur", "Tram five" (Трамвай пятерочка), and "Old Noble" (Старый барин). Around the release of the second album, Aleksandr Vaynberg and Oleg Zenin left the band.

Lyube's follow up to their sophomore effort took two years to complete. The new album was titled "Lyube Zone" (Зона Любэ), which was a play on words as the term "zone" has a secondary meaning that refers to a camp for convicts. In 1995, Lyube recorded the song "Kombat" (Комбат). The song has a military feel to it and chronicles episodes from World War II.

In 1997, Rastorguyev became a "Recognized Artist of the Russian Federation" (Заслуженный Артист Российской Федерации), the second highest honor for a singer in Russia, awarded by the country's President. In early 1998, Lyube took part in a concert celebrating the Russian singer Vladimir Vysotsky, where they covered two of Vysotsky's hits: "On soldiers' mass graves" (На братских могилах) and "Song about stars" (Песня о звёздах).

In 2001, Lyube played a live concert on Victory Day in Red Square. That same year, Russian president Vladimir Putin, an avowed fan of the band, appointed Rastorguyev to the position of Cultural Advisor to the Russian government. In 2010, Nikolai Rastorguyev became a deputy of the State Duma of the fifth convocation from the Stavropol Krai, replacing United Russia deputy Sergey Smetanyuk, who was appointed Deputy Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Ural Federal District. Rastorguyev became a member of the State Duma Committee on Culture. In this regard, the group holds concerts and takes part in actions of the ruling United Russia party and its youth movement, the Young Guard. In the same year, after being in Lyube for ten years, guitarist Alexey Khokhlov left the band. On 18 March 2022, Lyube sang at Vladimir Putin's Moscow rally celebrating the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation from Ukraine and justifying the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.