One of the unknown pages from the history of Russian rock music has finally been made public with the recent publication of a luxurious, 368-page volume, "Zolotoye Podpolye (Golden Underground), a Complete Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock Samizdat 1967-1994."

The book, circulated in 5,000 copies, was compiled and written by Alexander Kushnir, who co-operated with Moscow's underground magazines "Ur Light," "Kontr Kult Ur'a" and "Pinoller" and organized an alternative rock festival "Indyushata."

"Samizdat" means "self-publishing" and existed in Russia from the "thaw," a period of relative liberalization, undertaken by Khrushchev in the late 1950s.

Material, which circulated by hand, often typed and re-typed, dealt with philosophical, religious and political issues as well as forbidden fiction, and compensated for the restricted access to information and the lack of creative freedom under the communism.

Rock samizdat, the subject of the book, started in 1977, when Aquarium's Boris Grebenshchikov -- with a little help from his friends -- founded an underground magazine called "Roksi."

Roksi contained about 20 typewritten pages -- the private use of photocopiers would be forbidden for another decade -- but the writing was mature and filled with new ideas that were later to affect the development of underground rock music. It was the longest-living samizdat rock publication, existing, under different editors, for more than 10 years.

"Roksi's" Moscow counterparts were "Zerkalo" ("Mirror"), 1981, and "Ukho" ("Ear"), 1982-1983.

Alongside rock music the rock publications had to face some harder times in pre-Gorbachov 1980s.

To remind us of this the new book's researcher included a decree from the Moscow Cultural Board, issued in 1984, which banned public performances or broadcast of 75 Western rock and pop acts -- from The Who and The Clash to Depeche Mode, and 38 Russian "unofficial" bands including Aquarium, Kino and DDT (page 93).

With the advent of "perestroika" there appeared dozens of samizdat publications in most of Russia's cities and towns -- "Golden Underground" boasts that it has catalogued approximately 240 publications from 80 cities and towns of the former USSR.

Definitely a big job to undertake, "Golden Underground" caused controversy when the editors of several samizdat publications described in the book criticized the work in the media.

Andrei Burlaka, the former editor of the once-influential "RIO" magazine and one of the most ardent critics of the new book, argues that there existed no more than a dozen "serious" music magazines, which were comparable to the West's "Rolling Stone" and "NME," while the rest 200-plus of the publications described in "Golden Underground," were "mere artifacts and marginal rags."

He is also unhappy about the fact that one classic "RIO" interview was included in the book's "rock samizdat anthology" section, which occupies a substantial part of the volume, without asking his permission.

"I would not give it anyway," he added.

Sadly, none of the rock samizdats' former editors/publishers -- at least in either St Petersburg or Moscow -- has succeeded in leading their publications through the traps of a free-market economy.

The gap has been filled by snazzy-looking, offset publications such as St Petersburg's "Rock Fuzz" -- whose editors had nothing to do with the epoch when all one needed to start a magazine was a typewriter, a tube of glue and a pair of scissors.