The band split into two in 1997, but the 2000s saw NOM-Zhir and NOM-Euro gradually reintegrating, the official reunion concert held on 20 April 2007 in the Saint Petersburg's "Port" Club.

The band was formed in Pushkin, Saint Petersburg in 1986 by a group of friends, then students of technical colleges and young engineers, who shared the same interests in music, literature and theatre.

[3] The name Neformalnoye objedinenie molodyozhi came from the Perestroika media lexicon and referred to the (generally derided) umbrella term by which the "reforming" Communist party tried to "organize" (and this way control) whatever youth communities they deemed "informal" (and therefore potentially dangerous).

Initially intended as a musical and theatrical illustration to Andrey Kagadeyev's short story Протез ("Prosthetic"), it was recorded at his home on the primitive Soviet Astra tape-recorder and reminded the absurdist rock of Zvuki Mu.

[7] In October 1988 Rodionov left to be replaced by Vladimir Postnichenko (alias Starikan/Gotlib Ulrich Tuzeast; ex-Orkestr Deda Mazaja, Bratja Gadiukiny) who used to jam with the band in his student years.

[8] In 1989 the percussionist and performance artist Yuri Saltykov (aka Ivan Turist) joined the band, thus completing what is considered to be its classic line-up.

With him the debut Брутто (Gross) album was recorded in the Dvoretz Molodiozhy Studios by producers Sergey Yelistratov and Andrey Novozhilov.

[2] Released two years later on the Leningrad Melodyia record label,[9] it became an underground hit and made the band one of the most original phenomena of Peter[sburg]'s new rock scene.

's musical language, initially fashioned in a rudimentary folk rock/cabaret style, started to harden and quickly evolved into a totally integral post-punk meets rhythm and blues kind of sound.

[3] After the Petersburg - Channel 5 and the nascent Moscow Vzglyad TV show started playing the band's videos, its popularity grew rapidly.

[3] By the time the sophomore К Чортям Собачьим (K Chortyam Sobachjim, To Dog's Hell) was recorded and self-released in 1990 (three years later Melodiya followed suit[10]), Sergey Butuzov departed, leaving a certain gap in the overall sound, which AVIA's Alexey Rakhov as a guest guitarist struggled to fill.

played at the Leningrad Rock Club 10th Anniversary concert; "Samba Hopkins" with A. Liver on vocals later made its way onto the compilation album.

[11] Of the opener, "Nina" (by this time a live favourite), A. Gunitzkiy wrote: "…combining cool electro sound with fragments of delightfully crass phrases… [it] never fails to throw every possible kind of audience into the state of deep mental prostration.

[2] Сенька-Мосгаз (Senhka-MosGaz, the band's fourth vinyl LP and first CD) was shelved due to the economic crisis and released in November 1996.

[13] Among the studio guests were Nikolai Gusev (keyboards), Zhenya Zhdanov (flute, AVIA), Alexey Popov (sax, Doo Bop Sound).

released Хозяева СССР, или Обезьянье рыло (Masters of the USSR or the Monkey's Muzzle), a short film (first in the series of eight), which looked more like a compilation of early videos.

premiered their new sci-fi conceptual show Во имя разума (In the Name of Reason) in the Black Dog Club, which was followed by the album of the same name released by SNC Records.

[2] N.O.M.-junior (augmented with Denis Medvedev of Dva Samoliota), debuted in October 1997 with the concert in the Ne Bei Kopytom Moscow club, as part of the Inter-Fuzz Festival.

The album's most memorable track (according to A. Burlaka), though, was the cover of Gavrila Lubnin's song poking fun at David Copperfield's Russian tour.

[2] Euro-NOM (as it's become known since then) presented the album at the Lensovet Theatre in St Petersburg: the group members not only changed their aliases (S. Kagadeyev adopting the "Leopard" moniker), but also proposed the new way of interpreting the N.O.M.

The same year A. Liver (who by this time had released six solo albums) published his book Рельсы и шпалы (Rails and Ties).

The 2004 Альбом реального искусства (The Album of Reality Art), using Russian oberiu poetry (Nikolay Oleynikov, Daniil Kharms and Korney Chukovsky among others) was released on NOM's own Yazbetz Records.

[2] The 20 April 2007 official reunion concert at the Port Club featured the Kagadeyev brothers, Liver, Turist, Lapin and Gusev.

[16] In 2010 the band (now joined by the founder member Sergey Butuzov) started a series of highly successful concerts, playing the material from In the Name of Reason and Gross albums.

[14] The text of "U Karytzu Mashek" is based on an obscure "riddle without any answer" allegedly found by the Russian folklorist Pyotr Kireyevsky.

[14] Andrey Kagadeyev is the author of two novels (Страус and Танец Ханумана, both included in compilation Чудовища, "Monsters", in 1999) co-written with Sergey Butuzov.

[2] In July 2009 Andrey Kagadeev told the online press-conference held by Lenta.ru that the major film, a "cosmic epic" called Звёздный ворс (Zviozdny Vors, lit.