Kino (, ) was a Soviet rock band formed in Leningrad in 1982, considered to be one of, if not the, greatest rock band in the history of Russian music. The band was co-founded and headed by Viktor Tsoi, who wrote the music and lyrics for almost all of the band's songs. Over the course of eight years, Kino released over 90 songs spanning over seven studio albums, as well as releasing a few compilations and live albums. The band's music was also widely circulated in the form of bootleg recordings through the underground magnitizdat distribution scene. Viktor Tsoi died in a car accident in 1990. Shortly after his passing, the band broke up after releasing their final album, consisting of songs that Tsoi and the group were working on in the months before his death. In 2019, the band announced a reunion with concerts planned in the fall of 2020 for the first time in 30 years, however they were later postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. History Early years Kino was formed in 1981 by the members of two earlier groups from Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), Palata No. 6 and Piligrimy. They initially called themselves Garin i giperboloidy () after Aleksei Tolstoi's novel The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin. The group consisted of Viktor Tsoi, guitarist , and drummer . They began rehearsing, but Valinsky was drafted and had to leave the band. In the spring of 1982, they began to perform at the Leningrad Rock Club and met with the influential underground musician Boris Grebenshchikov. It was around this time that they changed the band's name to Kino. The name was chosen because it was considered short and "synthetic," and the band members took pride in that it had only two syllables and was easy to pronounce by speakers all over the world. Tsoi and Rybin later said that they had the idea for the name after seeing a bright cinema sign. 45 and the beginning of a career (1982) Kino released their debut album, 45, in 1982. Since the band only consisted of two members, Grebenshchikov suggested that members of his band Aquarium assist Kino in recording the album. These included cellist Vsevolod Gakkel, flautist , and bassist . Since they had no drummer at the time, they used a drum machine. This simple line-up made the album sound lively and bright. Lyrically, it resembled