The Plastic People of the Universe

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The Plastic People of the Universe (PPU) is a rock band from Prague, Czech Republic. It was the foremost representative of Prague's underground culture (1968-1989). This avant-garde group went against the grain of the Communist regime and due to its non-conformism often suffered serious problems such as arrests.

In 1968, under rule of Communist Party leader Alexander Dubček, Czechoslovakia was undergoing the Prague Spring, a thawing of hard totalitarian control. In August, Soviet and other Warsaw Pact troops invaded Czechoslovakia to overthrow Dubček and reinstate hard-line communist rule, called normalization process. Less than a month after the invasion, Plastic People of the Universe was formed.^[1]

Bassist Milan Hlavsa formed the band which was heavily influenced by Frank Zappa (Plastic People being a song by Zappa and the Mothers) and the Velvet Underground in 1968. Czech art historian and cultural critic Ivan Jirous became their manager/artistic director in the following year,^[1] fulfilling a similar role the one Andy Warhol had with the The Velvet Underground. Jirous introduced Hlavsa to guitarist Josef Janicek,^[1] and viola player Jiri Kabes. The consolidated Czech communist government revoked the band's musicians license in 1970.^[2]

Because Ivan Jirous believed that English was the lingua franca of rock music, he employed Paul Wilson, a Canadian who had been teaching in Prague, to teach the band the lyrics of the American songs they covered and to translate their original Czech lyrics into English. Wilson served as lead singer for the Plastics from 1970 to 1972, and during this time, the band's repetoire drew heavily on songs by the Velvet Underground and the Fugs. Wilson encouraged them to sing in Czech. After he left Vratislav Brabenec joined the band and they began to draw upon Egon Bondy and other non-conformist poets whose work had been banned by the government.

In 1974, thousands of students traveled from Prague to the town of Ceske Budejovice to visit "the Plastics" performance. Stopped by police, they were sent back to Prague, and several students were arrested.^[1] The band was forced underground until the Velvet Revolution in 1989. Unable to perform openly, an entire underground cultural movement formed around the band during the 1970s.

In 1976 "the Plastics" were arrested and put on trial by the Communist government to make an example. They were convicted of "organized disturbance of the peace" and sentenced to terms in prison ranging from 8 to 18 months.^[1] Paul Wilson was deported^[2] even though he had left the band in 1972. It was in protest of these arrests and prosecution that led playwright Václav Havel and others to write the Charter 77.^[2]

Despite their clashes with the government, the musicians never considered themselves activists and always claimed that they wanted only to play their music. The band broke up in 1988, with some members forming the group Pulnoc ("midnight" in Czech)^[1]. At President Havel's suggestion, they reunited in 1997 in honor of the 20th anniversary of Charter 77^[2], and have performed regularly since then.

Milan Hlavsa died in 2001.^[1]

Paul Wilson later went on to become one of the major translators into English of Václav Havel's work. Currently he is working on a new translation of The Memorandum for the Havel Festival, which also features two other of his translations.

Interest in the band was rekindled in 2006 thanks to a new play, Rock 'n' Roll by Tom Stoppard, in which two of their recordings are featured. The play's characters also discuss at length the music of the Plastics and its effects on Czech society. The Plastics performed in London for the first time in January 2007 with new member Eva Turnová on bass.