Can music heal? Steal away the magical power of sorcerous curses cast by evil witches on the innocent – those that force them to sleep with a hand pierced by a needle? Ward off future destruction programmed by secret rituals of otherworldly incantations? Cure death, prevent illness, grant hidden supernatural powers, enchant the soul, and save it from ruin? Perhaps it’s unwise to place all responsibility on music alone. If so many problems originate from different sources – read: villains in a fairy tale – why should only one member of the great family of Art stand against them? Literature should join in (books, stories, and poems), cinema – the thing that makes us feel, analyze, and travel between worlds – visual art, which includes paintings and architecture with their own notes of influence… And though each member of this family can handle many hardships alone, even the strongest superheroes struggle without help. Even Wolverine worked better on a team – and that, you know, says a lot.
Still, perhaps the most relatable savior of humanity in difficult times, especially in our era, has been and remains music. It’s so simple: download, press play, enjoy. There’s no longer a need to spend time buying a musical instrument (if you want to create rather than consume), vinyl, cassettes, or CDs – just know roughly the name of the song and the artist, and the Web will find everything for you! And so we dance to Mozart in our living rooms that look like an IKEA catalog (page 75), go wild as if at a concert to Korn, feeling like a freak on a leash while cooking dinner, cry in the bathroom to My Chemical Romance listening to Cemetery Drive, or wear flowers in our hair – flowers played with by the wind – as we walk to the supermarket for tomato paste. Life goes on, we don’t stop, but we add something of our own. Something special for the soul – something that feels like it will never betray us, never let us down, will help us pass through difficult stages of existence, wipe our tears, and whisper: we’ll carry on! And sometimes it’s hard to even be the main villain when the soul fills up with the notes pouring from your headphones…
But music sometimes betrays us, doesn’t it? Of course, not literally – here it is rather the performer who plays the key role. Melody, rhythm, and lyrics by themselves can disappoint a listener in theory by offering something unexpected, something that doesn’t provoke an emotional response or resonate with the soul – but such cases are rare. Undoubtedly, it’s unpleasant when a beloved band changes its genre or decides to “experiment” (sometimes very unpleasant), yet even that cannot compare to the sense of betrayal you feel when an artist violates their own principles. For example, those who spoke out against cruelty to animals post photos from a dolphinarium. Former vegans return to eating large amounts of meat. Or not-so-loud idealists suddenly do something controversial – like announcing a tour in a terrorist state for 2026.
On October 13, 2026, the rock band Hollywood Undead shocked fans on both sides of the barricades by announcing two planned concerts in Russia. The news appeared not on the band’s official website, but on the Instagram account of a Russian concert agency, “Melnitsa.” The shows were to take place in May 2026 in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Avoiding direct statements regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine (which they absolutely have the right to avoid!), the band quietly planned concert activities not in Ukraine – daily bombarded by its eastern neighbor – but in Russia, whose citizens’ taxes directly finance genocide. Of course, one can understand the artists: no one wants to perform under rocket fire – this is, in fact, a quite valid desire – but in that case, perhaps one should at least remember who exactly is sending those rockets. Naturally, opinions about bands performing in Russia right now may differ – which is not even bad, this is the free world and everyone has a right to their stance – but something about this feels wrong. Something doesn’t add up; the notes refuse to form chords, and the rhythm breaks out of the composition.
What do we actually know about Hollywood Undead? They are an American rap-rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 2005. They became known for their unique blend of rock, rap, metal, and electronic music, as well as provocative lyrics, recognizable masks worn on stage, and very energetic performance style. Their debut album Swan Songs (2008) brought them fame thanks to hits like “Undead,” “Young,” and “No. 5.” They later released several successful albums, including American Tragedy, Notes from the Underground, Five, Hotel Kalifornia. (And yes, writing this sentence required turning to ChatGPT, the faithful assistant.) Hollywood Undead have also previously performed in Russia and built quite a fan base there.
So will Russians actually welcome the American rockers in May 2026? Well, within a few days it became known that due to “public pressure,” the band refused to perform, leading to the cancellation of the concerts. The organizer announced that “the band is very upset that despite wanting badly to perform for their fans, current circumstances prevent this. Perhaps the right moment has simply not yet arrived.” Obviously, “public pressure” refers to the outrage of fans on social media, who actively commented on the news on the organizer’s page and didn’t forget to visit the band’s own profiles. Thus, despite the joy of Russian fans, Hollywood Undead chose to prioritize the stability of their image and popularity. And once the scandal faded, pushed down the Threads feed, Ukrainian society began to wonder: who will be next? Which artist or band will announce concerts in Russia before the war is over?
Undeniably, this situation stirred many emotions – among Russians and Ukrainians alike. Some rejoiced that despite living in a totalitarian reality, the “decadent Western show business” had finally reached them with its tentacles, giving them a phantom hope, a dream painted in the air, a dream where everything is as it was before the war. Others felt betrayal and pain, as if the fairy tale with clear good and evil no longer followed the classic script, and those who were supposed to be on the side of the good suddenly chose to stand with the villains. This is no longer just a concert – it feels like a statement. A demonstration that one can escape back to the “before” life, despite rockets flying toward Ukraine. As if someone shut their eyes to death for the sake of earning a few bucks. And this shouldn’t happen, mustn’t happen – yet here it is, on news portals, in Telegram feeds, in our heads, in our consciousness, penetrating deeply and refusing to leave.
But can we view the situation from another angle? Obviously, one side wanted money, another wanted a concert, a third wanted support. But aside from that – does this story reveal anything worth pondering? Is it truly a good thing that Russians are denied access to the Western world – access blocked by their own totalitarian leadership? Are we not ourselves building a chasm for them, one we will eventually have to live beside? If we face the truth, Russia is a vast colony holding dozens of peoples captive. They grew up – and will continue to grow up – listening to Kirkorov, Guf, and other propagandistic nonsense like Shaman, watching films cobbled together by Channel One, learning a history where Uncle Putin rode through time on three bears and heroically killed Hitler in his mother’s womb. Can such people grow into humans with Western – or more than that, progressive – values? Most likely not. And thus we will have next to us an enormous country whose intellectual level will be so low that even Napoleon’s height will seem above average by comparison. Is that really so wonderful? Uncontrolled savages who lose all sanity, turning their minds into stale pastries from a cheap bakery, where the only truth is 1984-style television and the only pleasure is Shaman’s songs under homemade moonshine. Will we be able to coexist peacefully – comfortably – next to such armed apes? Unlikely.
Art has always developed people, transforming them into something greater – something that brings goodness, empathy, ideas, something wonderful and beautiful into the world. It teaches us not to believe everything we’re told, but to question, to search for the truth even when no alternative seems possible. It is stronger than constant propaganda, daily brainwashing, the uploading of false realities to the human version of a hard drive. And when we take it away even from those we hate, from those whose existence makes us suffer – do we not give a gift to those who would gladly exploit a crushed people whose analytical thinking resembles spoiled canned food? Of course, we must not support the system financially, enabling or justifying any investments in a terrorist state. But what about the people? How do we stop their degradation into the level of a paramecium – something we observe every day?
Sadly, this is more of a rhetorical question. We cannot force anyone to develop while we ourselves sacrifice our lives, continue a bloody war, and turn a blind eye to tolerance for daily killing. But can anything at all be done? We would like to believe that not all of the terrorist state is like that. That there might be normal people – people with open eyes, open ears, open hearts. Those who genuinely feel sadness, pain, and fear. Those whom we prefer not to think about, because we lump everyone together. And we have the right to. We are in pain, we are in distress, we are in survival mode – while they are in a state of becoming. They can continue turning into werewolves, which won’t take long given the current circumstances – or they can try to feel something greater and remain human. Perhaps we won’t notice this metamorphosis right away; perhaps we won’t care – and that’s normal. But living next to monsters is terrifying, and if the last spark of hope for change goes out, no song, no rhythm, and no collection of notes will save us when the darkness comes. Gradually, confidently, and most importantly – forever.
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