The band was formed in 1978 in Leningrad,[1] though the members consider the band's official starting point to be Edmund Shklyarsky's arrival, in 1981, or the year the first album was recorded—1982.

[2] Some of their early songs are in Polish, due to Shklyarsky's paternal heritage.

[3][4] In 2016, the band was barred from playing in Ukraine due to their performance in Crimea after it was annexed by Russia.

[8] Picnic were set to perform at the Crocus City Hall on 22 March 2024 before a terrorist attack took place there, killing 145 people.

[9][10] On the afternoon of 24 March, it became known that Ekaterina Kushner, the assistant to the director of the group, had died in the attack.