Music and Time Annotation << Back Music as a Mirror of the Era: Refl ection of Social Crises and Values in Russian Popular Music E.S. Vozmishcheva, A.P. Vtorushina, M.O. Mokeeva, E.D. Ulitina, K.S. Ivanov This article examines the evolution of Russian popular music from the 1980s to the 2000s as a reflection of profound sociocultural transformations. The authors analyze the transition from the late Soviet period, characterized by the weakening of ideological control and the flourishing of rock culture, to the post-Soviet reality, marked by total commercialization and shifting values. Particular attention is paid to the influence of Western musical aesthetics on Russian culture and the emergence of the phenomenon of nostalgia in contemporary musical culture (Sovietwave). The study emphasizes that music in Russia over this twenty-year period has evolved from "high art" and "the voice of the people" to an everyday tool of self-expression in a market economy. Keywords: Russian popular music, socio-cultural crisis, perestroika and glasnost, Russian rock, commercialization of culture, music industry, rave culture, Russian chanson, transformation of values, Soviet new wave. DOI: 10.25791/music.3.2026.1400 Pp. 16-22.