Preliminary Statement
Gorky Park (international title), is a Soviet, American, and Russian rock band formed in 1987 by musician, composer, and producer Stas Namin at his producing centre SNC in the Gorky Park in Moscow
The band made demo recordings at the SNC studio , and in the summer of 1988, Stas Namin organised Gorky Park's participation in Scorpions concerts in St. Petersburg . In the autumn of 1988, he agreed with the president of the American guitar company Kramer, Dennis Berardi, that he would become the band's manager in the US . Namin and Berardi agreed with Jon Bon Jovi to help the Gorky Park band in the United States. In December 1988, by agreement with Namin, the Bon Jovi band and their manager Doc McGee arrived in Moscow with Polygram's president Dick Asher , and at the Stas Namin Centre, an agreement was signed to release the bandâÂÂs album in the United States . Namin sent the band members to record in the US at Berardi Studios in New Jersey , and after the recordings, he brought Gorky Park back to Moscow for a festival .
The band's participation in the Moscow Music Peace Festival, organised by Stas Namin and Doc McGee and held on 12âÂÂ13 August 1989 at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, which was broadcast on MTV in 59 countries around the world, became the main springboard to popularity in the United States and other countries. Namin put Gorky Park on the festival broadcast along with Bon Jovi, Ozzy Osbourne, Mötley Crüe, Scorpions, Cinderella, Skid Row and other world stars . After the festival, in August 1989, Polygram Records released Gorky Park's first studio album of the same name, Gorky Park (LINKS), recorded entirely in English, which entered the American Billboard 200 chart in 1989 and brought the band worldwide fame.
In 1990, when Namin sent Gorky Park on their first US tour, a conflict occurred within the band and it broke up.
The band's revival happened only 30 years later. Gorky Park's first performance with its new line-up took place in August 2022 in Moscow at the Russian Rock Festival, marking the 35th anniversary of the Stas Namin Centre â SNC at the Green Theatre in Gorky Park . The lead singer of the first line-up, Nikolai Noskov, was as the special guest at this performance.
History of the Band's Formation (1986âÂÂ1988)
In 1986, during his first tour of the United States with the band The Flowers, Stas Namin came up with the idea of creating a band targeted at Western audiences. While touring the US and Canada with The Flowers, Stas decided to form a new band specifically for the Western market. He came up with the name for the future band based on the book Gorky Park, which Yoko Ono had gifted to him in New York. It was both the Moscow address for the new band â the studio of The Flowers in Moscow, in the Green Theatre of Gorky Park â and a world-famous brand.Returning to Moscow after touring the United States with The Flowers in October 1986, Namin and art designer Pavel Shegeryan created a logo for the future band â a hammer and sickle in the form of the Latin letters GP.
In early 1987, Namin began gathering musicians for his producer project for a new anglophone hard-n-heavy band called Gorky Park. The band members included Nikolai Noskov, a unique lead vocalist and songwriter for that time, and four musicians whom Namin invited from his band The Flowers . Belov, Yanenkov, and Lvov had already been working for several years with employment records in The Flowers , and Minkov had worked in The Flowers for three years prior to that .
During the first two years of its existence, the Gorky Park band rehearsed and recorded at The Flowersâ base in Stas Namin's studio, located in the Green Theatre of the Gorky Park . The repertoire was created entirely in English. The first song by Gorky Park, which defined the style and genre of the band, was âÂÂGirl from New YorkâÂÂ, which Stas Namin and poet Andrey Voznesensky wrote back in 1986 during the US tour with The Flowers. In early 1987, Namin began gathering musicians for his producer project for a new anglophone hard-n-heavy band called Park Gorkogo (Gorky Park). . The band members included Nikolai Noskov, a unique lead vocalist and songwriter for that time, and four musicians whom Namin invited from his band The Flowers. Belov, Yanenkov, and Lvov had already been working for several years with employment records in Stas Namin's band Tsveti , and Minkov had worked in Tsveti for three years prior to that .
During the first two years of its existence, the band Park Gorkogo rehearsed and recorded at the Tsveti band's base in Stas Namin's studio, located in the Green Theatre of the M. Gorky Park of Culture and Recreation . The repertoire was created exclusively in English. The first song by Park Gorkogo, which defined the style and genre of the band, was âÂÂThe Girl from New York,â which Stas Namin and Andrei Voznesensky wrote back in 1986 during a tour of the United States with The Flowers.
In the autumn of 1987, Namin invited American promoter Don King to Moscow, and they shot a film about the Stas Namin Centre and the first music video for the Gorky Park's song âÂÂFortress,â which was shown on the Don King Show in the United States.
In the summer of 1988, Namin arranged for Gorky Park to warm up for Scorpions during their tour in Leningrad . It was their concert debut. But the band's real career began in the fall of 1988, when the president of the Kramer Guitar company, Stas's friend Dennis Berardi, became the American manager of Gorky Park and he and Stas Namin negotiated with Jon Bon Jovi to help GP's career in the United States 46 .
QUOTE: âÂÂWhen Namin was in New Jersey last April, he asked Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora to help Gorky Park write songs for them in English. John and Richie, the creative force behind Bon Jovi, are always ready to give a hand â they have produced Cher, written songs for Ted Newgent, Aerosmith and Loverboy, and introduced Cinderella to PolyGram executives. They agreed to help Gorky Parkâ - Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone magazine, 09.02.1989 .
QUOTE: âÂÂStas wanted to get Gorky Park a contract with an American record company, and the reason he turned to Dennis was trustâÂÂ. - Jon Bon Jovi. SPIN magazine, November 1989 .
In December 1988, Namin invited Bon Jovi and their manager Doc McGee, as well as PolyGram Records president Dick Asher, to Moscow. At the Stas Namin Centre, a direct GP contract was signed with PolyGram for the release of an album in the United States.
QUOTE: âÂÂThanks to Kramer, Stas Namin, and our manager Doc McGee, the Gorky Park band got a contract with the American record company PolyGram. Richie and I agreed to write and produce a few songs for them â we did thatâÂÂ, - Jon Bon Jovi, SPIN magazine, November 1989
It was then that Stas Namin and Doc McGee decided to hold an international rock festival in Luzhniki and dedicate it to the fight against drug addiction.
The band released a self-titled debut album in 1989, featuring initials "GP" stylized as a hammer and sickle on the cover. With the fall of the Iron Curtain and a growing interest in Soviets to western countries, Gorky Park soon became widely known. The band seemed to be a kind of symbol of American-Russian friendship. The band's first video, "Bang", received MTV rotation. Their next two singles "Try to Find Me" and a collaboration with Bon Jovi "Peace in Our Time" received rotation on mainstream radio stations.
In 1989, after signing a contract with PolyGram Records, Stas sent the band to the United States to work with its manager Dennis Berardi and record at his brother Michael's studio in New Jersey .
In the summer of 1989, Namin brought the band back to Moscow to participate in the Moscow Music Peace Festival. This festival was organised by Stas Namin together with his friend, American music producer Doc McGee, and took place on August 12 and 13 at the Luzhniki Stadium. Namin included Gorky Park and his Centre's bands Brigade S and Nuance in the concert alongside world stars Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, Scorpions, Ozzy Osbourne and others. Namin put only Gorky Park band on the MTV broadcast to 59 countries around the world, along with global superstars. It was this broadcast that became the main springboard for Gorky Park's international career .
QUOTE: "If Russian rock impresario Stas Namin personally selected the members of Gorky Park in the USSR, then we can say with confidence that the Soviet rock scene was much more modern than we might think. And given the incredible success expected from the Make A Difference Foundation's satellite broadcast in August, this could well be the key to global domination for these guys, as it is expected to reach around 300 million people worldwide." The HARD REPORT
The Success (1989)
As a result, when Gorky Park's debut album of the same name was released in August 1989, the band was already well known in the United States thanks to the broadcast of the festival. Music videos for the songs âÂÂBangâ and âÂÂMy Generationâ were filmed in New York, for which Namin chose director Victor Ginzburg, who had Russian roots and with whom he later made the film Restless Garden. Thanks to the growing interest of the West in the Soviet Union after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Gorky Park soon gained widespread fame in the United States. The single âÂÂBangâ made it into the Top 15 on American MTV and stayed there for two months, reaching number 3, making Gorky Park the first Russian band to enter the national American chart.
This turned out to be the first and last album recorded and released in the United States on Polygram Records and in the USSR on SNC Records by the original lineup gathered by Namin. The album itself reached number 80 on the Billboard 200 , selling over 300,000 copies in the first three weeks.
The next single after âÂÂBangâ was âÂÂPeace in Our TimeâÂÂ, which, at Namin's request, was written by Jon Bon Jovi especially for Gorky Park and recorded together with Jon Bon Jovi and Richard Sambora.
Gorky Park participated in that year's Moscow Music Peace Festival alongside Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe, Skid Row, Cinderella, Ozzy Osbourne and Scorpions. Gorky Park joined the other acts from the Moscow Music Peace Festival in the compilation album Stairway to Heaven/Highway to Hell. This album included each band performing one song from an artist who died from, or a band who lost a member to, drug problems. Gorky Park's contribution was a cover of The Who's "My Generation". Namin's producing centre is referred to in the lyrics of the Scorpions hit Wind of Change. In 1989, guitar manufacturer Kramer introduced a balalaika-shaped Gorky Park signature model.
Breakup of the first lineup (1990)
After the festival and the release of the album on Polygram Records in 1990, Namin and Berardi organised a tour of the United States for the band, during which some of the musicians decided not to return to Russia, in the US . However, the lead singer, songwriter and frontman of the band, Nikolai Noskov, did not agree with the musicians' decision and returned to Moscow.
The four musicians who remained in the United States, without Nikolai Noskov and Stas Namin, tried to continue their activities for some time, using the popular name that did not belong to them , but their promising career in the United States effectively failed, Polygram did not renew their contract, and without their lead singer and general producer, they were unable to gain support from other major American record labels 4 7 8. They disappeared from radio airplay and MTV, and their career in the US did not take off 5 14 20. Upon returning to Russia, they attempted to use the name âÂÂGorky ParkâÂÂ, but the courts prohibited them from doing so.
Thus, the band Gorky Park, created and promoted by Namin, quickly gained worldwide fame but fell apart three years after its creation.
Revival of the Gorky Park band
In the spring of 2022, after a thirty-year pause, Stas Namin decided to revive the brand he had created in the late 1980s and assembled a new line-up for the Gorky Park band.
Gorky Park's first performance with the new line-up took place in August 2022 in Moscow at the Russian rock festival in the Green Theatre of Gorky Park, timed to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the Stas Namin Centre - SNC. The special guest at this performance was the lead singer of the first line-up, Nikolai Noskov. He sang several songs with the band, including his famous âÂÂBangâÂÂ, passing the baton to the new musicians of the band, and now often performs with them.
As a result, the new super team of Gorky Park includes Oleg Izotov, a guitarist, arranger, and vocalist well-known in Russia and abroad; Marco Mendoza, a world-famous American bass guitarist and lead vocalist; Sergey Arutyunov, lead vocalist, guitarist and vocalist Tim Grigorovich, and drummer Oleg Khovrin, with legendary Kenny Aronov (USA) occasionally participating in foreign tours.
During its first two years, the band played several large concerts, including a solo concert at Crocus City Hall in 2024.
In 2023âÂÂ2024, Gorky Park released two new digital albums, concert CD and DVD with new songs, music videos, and several singles. In April 2025, the band released a music video for the song âÂÂOne World Freedom.Their song âÂÂTheir World / Our Worldâ was among the top 10 songs in the 30th Annual USA Songwriting Competition 2025.