Towards the end of the late 1980s, there emerged a new kind of music hero. He became famous thanks to the very beautiful lyric song "The ponds called Clear Springs". Apart from lyrical songs Igor Talkov sang political songs and undoubtedly social and political songs are most important themes of his works. He started the movement known as Patriotic Rock, grabbing the hold of the music charts with his hit "Russia" perhaps the best of all his songs. Igor Talkov was uncompromising and hard, he spoke his mind clearly, letting everybody know just what he thought of the government and the Party. He sang too straight forward, maybe without that little spark of irony that might have been needed in such a fight. As Igor Talkov used to say himself, his whole life was one giant battle. Talkov never lived to see the true results of that battle of his, murdered with a single fatal gunshot in the fall of 1991, right before his concert, before an appearance on stage. The prophetic words of "I Shall Be Back" were whispered by thousands of people at his funeral.