Where in the world is Helen gone,
        Whose loveliness demolished Troy?
        Where is Salome? Where the wan
        Licentious Queen of Avalon?
        Who sees My Lady Fontenoy?
        And where is Joan, so soldier tall?
        And She who bore God's only Roy?
        Where is the snow we watched last Fall?
        Girl, never seek to know from me
        Who was the fairest of them all.
        What wouldst thou say if I asked thee:
        Where is the snow we watched last Fall?
		(Francoise Villon, "Where is the snow we watched last Fall?")

...It was Ian Gillan, the legend from Deep Purple. Jesus Christ Superstar himself embarked on a concert tour in former USSR republics. Four remarkable shows that he performed on May 17 through May 20, 1990 became the landmark of the decade. Tired of collaborating with his former bandmates from Deep Purple, Gillan had just re-launched his solo career and assembled the famous "Rock Aid Armenia: The Earthquake Album" venture. Teamed up with Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Rush, ELP and Deep Purple, Gillan records the anthem "Smoke on the water" with all the money donated to the victims of 1988 earthquake in Armenia. Every single show Gillan gave in Yerevan was sold-out. There's no need to describe nuclear explosions inside every Armenian fan in those days.

When the debris was finally settled, Armenian rock fans realized that the future suddenly looks good. As in Scorpions' song "Wind of change", there was a change in the air. A breath of fresh air that would soon come and stir the youth. Bands started to pop up of of the blue. Bass player Jeff put together a band called "Dumbarton Oaks" which quickly rose to the top of the game with their art-rock style a-la Jethro Tull/Yes. New heavy bands like "Credo" and "Empyray" marched on gathering fans all over the country. "MDP", another old timer was still consuming the audience with their semi-psychodelic aura. "Vostan Hayots" was still rocking and rolling. So were "Ro De U", "Eden" and "Breeze". Armenian pop-scene also blossomed with new names of Aramo, Shoushan Petrosyan, Bznuni's Choir, etc. New promising shows and the first hit-parade put together by songwriter Arthur Grigorian debuted on national television. Now viewers from Abaran to Goris could see watch Aramo performing "Im khelar hogin" (My crazy soul) at number 1, while the choir of pretty Armenian girls was chirping to A.L.Webber's "I don't know how to love him" from Jesus Christ Superstar. An unknown American band named "Frank Allison and the odd sox" together with "Vostan Hayots" had a weird concert in Yerevan's huge Concert complex. Who on earth was Frank Allison, nobody knew. But who cared indeed? He was an American dude singing rhythm and blues, singing "Lucille, you come back where you belong". The nation and the music was suffering from the abundance of Americanization. As John Lennon would have put it, "strange days indeed". As Jim Morrison would have put it, "strange days have dragged us down".

The new emperor called America is in town! With the victorious opening of US Embassy on one of the central streets and American movies invading the market, rock music of the Armenian Independent Republic was also deeply affected. Now each and every band claimed its territory with English language lyrics. And although English as third language wasn't that widespread, there were still self-taught "Byrons" and "Keats" that were able to master the complicated peculiarities of American English. New bands like "Credo", "Strangers", "Titan", "Empyray" and "Smith & Wesson" exercised their foreign language abilities. Vocalists were learning to pronounce conjugations (vocalist from "Ayas" even developed a new form of singing through inhaling instead of exhaling), and surely every concert must end either with Metallica's "Unforgiven" or Purple's "Smoke on the water". And nevermind that most of them had no clue what the heck they were singing... As long as you can imitate what you hear and make it sound genuine.

Yet one thing remained unchanged: rock was still an underground movement, and still a product of individual enthusiasm. A very common dialog after any concert would be:
"Was the profit from the concert enough to cover the rent of the building?"
"Yes, it was, the band broke even."
"Oh, good. When is the next show?"
"In six months when the band gathers more money to make another concert."
"Oh, excellent."

A lot of attention was caught by the debut of "Empyray" and "Titan". Especially "Empyray" with a pretty strong assembled team of musicians set their controls for hard and heavy style. 1994 was their debut, and from then on the band constantly remained in the spotlight. A few times they've tried to take on Megadeth's songs, but their own music was always better received, especially the hit single called "Poison". Later on they became highlights of the famous "Gaudeamus" festivals. "Titan" was a little more modest story, but again they made their solid mark on Armenian rock. "Eden" claimed to play hard rock, but did not seem to have a distinct style perhaps due to very different musical backgrounds of bandmates. "Credo" on the other hand was a more focused band stealing show with their hit "Crazy cat". Then there was also "Smith & Wesson" carried on a wave of a new-born grunge style.

Among this crazed beasty heaviness there certainly were others who appealed to a softer side in rock music. One distinct band was "Dumbarton Oaks" formed by bass-guitarist Jeff in early 90's. Described by many as a unique fusion of art-rock and phychodelia, Oaks managed to have an impressive impact on Armenian rock history. Dominated by complex instrumental arrangements (at times begging to be orchestrated) and followed by soft intrinsic vocals, the band squeezed all creative juices out of its fans. Some compared Oaks to early Jethro Tull and Gentle Giants, others found elements of Van Der Graaf Generator and Yes. Whatever it was, Dumbarton Oaks sounded very fresh and original. Then there were "Strangers" who started off on a very poor note, however later transformed to become the rock music leading force in late 90's.

Such was the state of events in the beginning of the decade.