Nautilus Pompilius (Наутилус Помпилиус) was a Soviet-Russian new-wave rock band founded by Music/VyacheslavButusov in 1983 in Sverdlovsk (now Yekateinburg). Over time, they became one of the most popular Russian rock bands of the time due to their philosophical lyrics and unique sound. Their songs appeared in some very popular Russian films, such as ''Film/Brother1997'' (in which the band members, particularly Butusov, make some cameos), ''Film/Brother2'', and ''Film/{{Stilyagi}}''. After the band broke up, Vyacheslav Butusov launched a successful solo career, and later joined up with Yuri Kasparyan (the former guitarist of another hugely popular rock band, Kino, and good friend of the band frontman Music/ViktorTsoi) and launched the band U-Piter.
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!Discography

* 1983 — ''Pereyezd (Highway Crossing)''
* 1985 — ''Nevidimka (Invisible)''
* 1986 — ''Razluka (Separation)''
* 1988 — ''Ni Komu Ni Kabel'nost'' (PunBasedTitle: ''nekommunikabel'nost'' means 'lack of sociability' (a loanword, from communicare and -able-) and ''nikomu'' means 'to nobody')
* 1988 — ''Knyaz' Tishiny (Prince of Silence)''
* 1988 — ''Otboy (Lights-out)''
* 1989 — ''Chelovek Bez Imeni (Man With No Name)''
* 1992 — ''Chuzhaya Zemlya (Alien Land)''
* 1994 — ''Titanic''
* 1994 — ''Titanic-Live''
* 1995 — ''Kryl'ya (Wings)''
* 1996 — ''Luchshie Pesni (Best Songs)''
* 1997 — ''Yablokitay (China-apple)''
* 1998 — ''Atlantida (Atlantis)''

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!Notable songs
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHZpmh1dyhY "Air"]] ("Воздух")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2uE0ITKlug "Black Birds"]] ("Чёрные птицы")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoClhCA5OG8 "Bound by One Chain"]] ("Скованные одной цепью")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRufublmm10 "Casanova"]] ("Казанова")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAJhSbVTSPI "Diamond Roads"]] ("Бриллиантовые дороги")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpPftFwa2u0 "The Doctor of Your Body"]] ("Доктор твоего тела")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2dTrwJbWF4 "Fallen Angel"]] ("Падший ангел")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEWBQrvqJxA "The Glance from the Screen"]] ("Взгляд с экрана")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vhz-Q887_k "Goodbye Letter"]] ("Последнее письмо" AKA "Goodbye, America")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w86witVZZeo "Ivan Humanov"]] ("Иван Человеков")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcGJl9iF5Gs "I Want to Be with You"]] ("Я хочу быть с тобой")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL7D2CQw4kY "The Khaki Sphere"]] ("Шар цвета хаки")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5nG5IQ5dMY "Khlop-Khlop"]] ("Хлоп-хлоп")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7aVvxXfYKw "Living Water"]] ("Живая вода")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1csOV6a2wwI "Music on the Sand"]] ("Музыка на песке")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOPKSgDmgYs "My Brother Cain"]] ("Мой брат Каин")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imltabO0S5c "On the Shore of the Nameless River"]] ("На берегу безымянной реки")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee2SUz6GDUE "People"]] ("Люди")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YausR4r8KOs "The Person with no Name"]] ("Человек без имени")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QT0VdNz9m7E "Polina's Morning"]] ("Утро Полины")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MW9V-uTXQ0 "The Prince of Silence"]] ("Князь тишины")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAxnLDbLAMA "Scoundrel and Angel"]] ("Негодяй и ангел")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZjCxpo7gDQ "Striptease"]] ("Стриптиз")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIdErhYVA0k "This Music will Last Forever"]] ("Эта музыка будет вечной")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCQmbmPDv-E "Titanic"]] ("Титаник")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWC49hUwkN8 "Transformation"]] ("Превращение")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3fyZj912e0 "Tutankhamun"]] ("Тутанхамон")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F91v9djqoRc "Walking on the Water"]] ("Прогулки по воде")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIQ3smvmT9M "Wheels of Love"]] ("Колёса любви")
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVqGkBCt6rI "Wings"]] ("Крылья")
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!!Tropes:

* TwoPlusTortureMakesFive: In the song "Wings", it is implied that the heroes are forced to take part in this.
* AdjectiveNounFred: We have a similar "Pronoun Noun Fred" structure with the song titled "My Brother Cain".
* AngelicAbomination: It's subtle, but in "Blow, Gabriel!" it's said he let his horn out of his "paws" rather than "hands".
* AncientEgypt: ''Nautilus Pompilius'' has a song about VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory Tutankhamun.
* BackFromTheDead:
** The song "Mother of Gods" has words:
----> I was born a hundred times and died a hundred times,
----> I looked at the cards — the devil has no
----> Trumps. They enter our house, but what
----> Will they do to us? You and I are immortal!
** In the song "This Music will Last Forever", the return of the moon to the sky and the resumption of music after changing the battery on the player is described in a similar way to the scenes of the resurrection of people.
** In the song "Transformation", the lyrical hero believes he will be able to return to life after losing his heart, ears, hands, stomach and head. In his opinion, he even needs to get rid of his organs in order to live longer.
** The song "Tutankhamun" implies that by the words:
----> I knew a woman,
----> She always went out the window.
----> The house had ten thousand doors,
----> But she went out the window.
----> She was falling to her death,
----> But she didn't care.
** The song "Walking on the Water" implies that UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} came back to life and resurrected some other people.
* TheBadGuyWins: "Black Birds", in which Black Birds terrorize a man (and his daughter) and refuse his pleas and bargains to leave him alone.
* BeYourself: In the song "Scoundrel and Angel", it is said that you are who you are and you always be. And Heaven need you just the way you are.
* {{Cain}}: "My Brother Cain" is a song about him or [[NameOfCain another person with this name]].
* CaptainObvious: In the song "Tutankhamun", Tutankhamun sometimes says obvious things, like, "if you pull your hair out, you won't put it back in."
* CardSharp: In the song "Scoundrel and Angel", the scoundrel is a card sharp who won the angel's wings.
* TheCasanova: In the song "Casanova", the lyrical hero wants be the one.
* CasanovaWannabe: Possible interpretation of the hero of "Casanova".
* CharacterTitle: "Casanova".
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: In the song "Air", faith helps the lyrical hero walk in the sky.
* ClipItsWings: The heroine of the song "Wings" tragically loses her wings.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: The curse in the song "Juliet" ("Let no one ever love him. Let he never die.") can be considered as such.
* ConspiracyTheorist: In the song "My Brother Cain", Cain wants to save Russia from Freemasons.
* CoverVersion: ''Paint It Black'' by ''Music/{{The Rolling Stones|Band}}'' (although it was rarely performed).
* CrapsackWorld: In many songs -- "Titanic", "Song for the Women's Protection", "Striptease", "Tear the Fabric", and, most prominently, "These Rivers Flow to Nowhere".
* CreepyCrows:
** In the song "Black Birds", birds try to hurt a girl (make her unhappy forever or, depending on your interpretation, literally peck her eyes out).
** In the song "Walking on the Water", a black raven flies over the cross, and this frightens the apostle Andrew.
* CrucialCross:
** In the song "Air", the man who escaped from the enemy, walking straight through the air, held in his hands a flower that looked like a cross.
** In the song "Walking on the Water", the crucifixion gave UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} the opportunity to perform miracles and save people.
* DefiantStrip: "Striptease" is a song, in which the narrator calls for the Defiant Strip as an act of protest against greedy and extremely violent power holders.
* {{Determinator}}:
** In the song "Air", a man, surrounded by enemies, walked straight through the air.
** In the song "Ivan Humanov", a man was so determined to follow his destiny, that the destiny run away from him.
** In the song "The Last Human on Earth", a man had defended his house from myriads of foes until the very last moment.
* DirtyCommunists: Allegorically depicted in the "Red Leaves" and some other songs (sometimes more directly).
* {{Doublethink}}: The song " Wings" has part that can be translated like:
--> We used to have time,
--> Now we have things to do
--> To prove that the strong eats the weak,
--> To prove that the soot is white.
* DragonsPreferPrincesses: In the song "Scoundrel and Angel", the dragon had kidnapped the princess, but was killed.
* DrivenToSuicide: Possible interpretation of "Warm Snow Fell", where a committed adultery couple died by the end of the song.
* DrunkenSong: "The 9th Scotch", in which the lyrical hero gets drunk in a bar.
* {{Escapism}}: In the song "Alain Delon (The Glance from the Screen)", a girl fell in love with a celebrity, because the place she lives is so ugly and boring.
* EarnYourHappyEnding: In the song "Walking on the Water", UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} and apostle Andrew discussed that. The apostle asked how Jesus could resurrect people and walk on water. Jesus answered it's not a secret -- in order to do that, Andrew just should be crucified on the cross. Andrew asked Jesus to show him the easy way, and leave the crucifixion for later. Jesus said Andrew, "you are really fool" -- and Andrew, crying, went home with his fish.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: In the song "Wheels of Love", it is mentioned that even Hitler and Genghis Khan had loved ones.
* EyeScream:
** In the song "Black Birds", birds try to peck girl's eyes out. Her father offers his eyes instead, but the birds refuse, saying "we've already been in your eyes and taken everything we need."
** In the song "My Brother Cain", Cain lost his eyes. He still can cry, and when he does, instead of tears, blood flows.
* FallenAngel: Described in the song "Fallen Angel" (another title of the song is "Like a fallen angel"), sympathetic.
* TheFirstCutIsTheDeepest: In the song "Thirst", the lyrical hero still can't forget his first love.
* FlyingDutchman: In the song "The Flying Frigate", the lyrical hero sees the Flying Dutchman in the sky.
* ForbiddenFruit: In the song "Goodbye Letter", American popular culture is called a forbidden fruit. For the Soviet Union's citizens, it is desirable precisely because it is forbidden. The lyrical hero of this song says goodbye to both the imposed hatred and the infantile aggrandizement of America.
* FullCircleRevolution: Disappointing results of the Soviet government are described in the song "Bound by One Chain".
* GodKartingWithBeelzebub: [[DownplayedTrope Downplayed]] in the song "Scoundrel and Angel". They are just an angel and a scoundrel -- and they are not so friendly to each other.
* GoKartingWithBowser: In the song "Scoundrel and Angel", the angel and the scoundrel are playing cards.
* GriefSong: "I Want to Be with You", about a man who commits intense self-harm after the woman he loves dies, ending with him being commited into a psychiatric hospital.
* HangingJudge: In the song "Titanic", it is said that the judge has blood on his hands.
* HatesEveryoneEqually: The lyrical hero of the song "People" hates all people equally, including babies, people who already died and himself.
* HealingSpring: Living water is mentioned in the song "Transformation", but there is no explanation for where this water came from. Healing spring is one of the versions.[[note]]Living water is extremely common in Russian fairy tales, so for Russian listeners everything is not so strange.[[/note]]
* HealItWithWater:
** In the song "Living Water", true love is compared to healing water.
** In the song "Transformation", the lyrical hero plans to return to life with the help of living water.
* HeavenAbove: In the song "Scoundrel and Angel", Heven looks at everyone with joy and sadness.
* IntercourseWithYou: "Gate From Which I Came", to a very creepy extent.
* KrakenAndLeviathan: The lyrical hero of the song "Sea Serpent" thinks he'll become a giant serpent [[spoiler:after his death]].
* LastOfHisKind: The main character of the song "The Last Human on Earth" is the one. He is surrounded by some foes, but that foes are, apparently, not humans (either literally -- or they just so cruel they can't be called "humans" anymore).
* MagicMusic: In the song "Music on the Sand", a boy, drumming on a tin barrel, creates an effect similar to that of a flute in ''Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin''.
* MagicRealism: Many songs cleverly combine realistic and fantastic elements.
* MeaningfulName: In the song "Ivan Humanov", it's the titular character's name. "Ivan" is one of the most common male names in Russia. "Humanov" (or "Chelovekov", in Russian) is a non-existing surname -- that consist of a root "human" ("сhelovek", "человек") and a suffix "ov" ("ов"), usual for Russian surnames. So the words mean "an ordinary person" or "a simple person". The first verse of the song confirms that:
---> Ivan Humanov was a simple person,
---> And his view of the world was simple.
---> And his "yes" was a real " yes",
---> And "no" was a real "no".
---> And he knew what would be tomorrow from eight to five,
---> And what whould happen after five.
---> And if a mountain got in his way,
---> He didn't try to get around it.
* MotherGoddess: In the song "Mother of Gods", the lyrical hero considers himself as the Creator of the world and his loved one as the Mother of Gods.
* NameOfCain: "My Brother Cain" is a song about person with this name or {{Cain}} himself.
* TheNewRockAndRoll: [[ParodiedTrope Parodied]] in the song "My Brother Cain". Cain wants to save Russia from rock music and [[ConspiracyTheorist Freemasons]].
* NoNameGiven: A lot of characters of the songs referred to just "he", "she" or "they". But the song called "The Person with no Name" need to be separately noted.
* TheNounAndTheNoun: "Scoundrel and Angel".
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: In the song "Gentle Vampire", the vampire called himself "an innocent child", but [[UnreliableNarrator that doesn't seem to be true]].
* PowerFloats: In the song "Air", a man got that power because he believed in himself.
* PredationIsNatural: When predation is an allegory of violence in human society, as in the song "Wings", it is described as something terrible. But in the song "Once again I see R'N'R", where predation is just animal predation (or maybe a metaphor for the pursuit of inspiration), the author says about a cheetah running after an antelope:
---> I know what's keeping me focused on this race,
---> Trying to worry about someone,
---> By running for both of them,
---> Not knowing who should win.
* ProtagonistTitle:
** "Ivan Humanov"
** "Juliet"
** "Tutankhamun"
* ProtestSong: ''Nautilus Pompilius'' has a lot of that. For example, "Bound by One Chain" is a song against the Soviet government and "The Khaki Sphere" is an anti-war song.
* PunBasedTitle: As you can see in the description above, ''Ni Komu Ni Kabel'nost'' is a pun-based title.
* RedIsViolent: In the song "Red Leaves", red is not only a foliage color -- but the color of murdered people's blood.
* RhymingNames: The band's name, Nautil'''us''' Pompili'''us'''.
* SeaSerpents: The hero of the song "Sea Serpent" wants to become the one [[spoiler:after his death]].
* ShellShockedVeteran: In the song "My Brother Cain", Cain came back from Soviet–Afghan war with PTSD.
* ShoutOut:
** "Alain Delon (The Glance from the Screen)" to "Robert De Niro" by ''Music/{{Bananarama}}''.
** The title of one of the most famous song of ''Nautilus'', "Bound by One Chain", is also a title of the film ''Film/TheDefiantOnes'' in the Soviet distribution.
** "Music on the Sand" has references to ''Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin''. This is a song about a boy who, drumming on a tin barrel, creates a MagicMusic. The song has part that can be translated like:
----> And to the drumbeat
----> He calls us to follow him,
----> And to the drumbeat
----> We rush after him like rats,
----> And we hide in the surf.
----> Music under water,
----> Music under water.
** "Pure Demon" has a lot of references to [[Creator/NikolaiGogol Nikolai Gogol's]] novella ''Literature/{{Viy}}''. Just like in the novella, a drawn circle didn't save protagonist of "Pure demon" from evil spirits [[spoiler:(although the lyrical hero of the song could survive)]]. The motif of the terrifying eyes, which are usually closed but opened for the main character, is also present in the song.
* SinisterMinister: In the song "Titanic", it is said that the priest has blood on his hands.
* SleptThroughTheApocalypse: "Blow, Gabriel!" kicks it up a notch, to the Apocalypse Failure:
--> Blow, Gabriel, blow! Now it just cannot worsen.
--> City's so tight asleep, that Heaven itself will not rouse it.
* StandardHeroReward: In the song "Scoundrel and Angel":
--> Everything ended as it should —
--> Every fairy tale has a happy ending.
--> The dragon died, killed by a spear,
--> The princess goes down the aisle.
* AStormIsComing: In the song "Mongolian Steppe", the storm is on the heels of the lyrical hero.
* TimeAbyss: In the song "Polina's Morning", Polina's morning lasts a hundred billion years.
* UnreliableNarrator: The lyrical hero of some songs. For example, in the song "Gentle Vampire", he tries to look nicer than he is.
* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: In the song "Tutankhamun", Tutankhamun bears very little resemblance to his historical prototype. In that song, he is both a great sage and CaptainObvious.
* WalkOnWater: In the song "Walking on the Water", UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} does it.
* WeatherReport: The song "Weather Forecasters" ironically praises the wrong weather forecasters.
* WhoWantsToLiveForever: In the song "Juliet", Juliet curses the man who hurt her, saying, "Let no one ever love him. Let he never die."
* WinWinEnding: In the end of the song "Scoundrel and Angel" (in which the scoundrel won the wings of the angel):
--> The scoundrel sells in the market quills
--> And fluff from the angel's wings.
--> But the angel flies high, high,
--> Just as winged as he was.
On the other hand, the dragon was not so lucky.