The Plastic People of the Universe (PPU) is a Czech rock band from Prague. They are considered the foremost representatives of Prague's underground culture (1968–1989), which defied Czechoslovakia's Communist regime. Members of the band often suffered serious repercussions, including arrests and prosecution, because of their non-conformist ideals. The group continues to perform, despite the death in 2001 of its founder, main composer, and bassist, Milan Hlavsa. Up to 2023, they had released nine studio albums and over a dozen live albums.
In 2016, the group split in two because of internal differences. The original group is composed of bandleader Josef Janíček, Vratislav Brabenec, Jaroslav Kvasnička, Johnny Judl Jr, and David Babka. The second splinter group, which performs under the name The Plastic People of the Universe/New Generation, is composed of Jiří Kabeš, Josef Karafiát, Jakub Koláček, Wenca Březina, and Vojtěch Starý.
History
Formation and early years: 1968–1974
From January to August 1968, under the rule of Communist Party leader Alexander Dubček, Czechoslovakians experienced the Prague Spring. In August, Soviet and other Warsaw Pact troops invaded the country, leading to the overthrow of Dubček's government and the period that came to be known as Normalization. Less than a month after the invasion, bassist Milan Hlavsa, who was seventeen years old at the time, formed the Plastic People of the Universe. The rest of the band was composed of Michal Jernek (vocals, clarinet), Jiří "Přemysl" Števich (guitar), and Josef Brabec (drums). A few months later, Pavel Zeman replaced Brabec, and guitarist and keyboardist Josef Janíček joined the band.
The group was heavily influenced by Frank Zappa and the Velvet Underground (Zappa's band, the Mothers of Invention, featured the song "Plastic People" on their 1967 album Absolutely Free and inspired the Czech group's name). Czech art historian and cultural critic Ivan Jirous became the band's manager/artistic director in the following year, fulfilling a role similar to Andy Warhol's with the Velvet Underground. The band's membership shifted at this point, and Jirous introduced Hlavsa to guitarist Josef Janíček and viola player Jiří Kabeš, who, together with saxophone player Vratislav Brabenec, formed the core of the group, with a rotating cast of drummers that included Jiří Šula, Jaroslav Vožniak, Jan Schneider, and Jan Brabec. The consolidated Czech communist government revoked the band's musical license in 1970.
Because Jirous believed that English was the lingua franca of rock music, he invited Paul Wilson, a Canadian translator and writer who had been working in Prague, to teach the band the lyrics of the American songs they covered and translate their original Czech material into English. Wilson was the band's lead vocalist from 1970 to 1972. During this time, the group's repertoire drew heavily on songs by the Velvet Underground and the Fugs. The only two songs sung in Czech in this period were "Na sosnové větvi" and "Růže a mrtví", both of whose lyrics were written by Czech poet Jiří Kolář. Because the band was not permitted to record their music, fans circulated bootleg copies of concert material, remastered versions of which were released many years later, under the titles Muž bez uší (2002), Vožralej jak slíva (1997), Do lesíčka na čekanou (2006), Trouble every day (2002), and Ach to státu hanobení (2000).
After Wilson left, PPU drew from the poet Egon Bondy, whose work had been banned by the government. In the following three years, Bondy's lyrics almost completely dominated PPU's music. In December 1974, the band recorded their first studio album, Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned (the title being a play on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band), which was released in France in 1978.
Persecution, trial, and aftermath: 1974–1988
In 1974, thousands of people traveled from Prague to České Budějovice to see the Plastics perform. Stopped by police, they were sent back to Prague, and several students were arrested. The band was forced underground until the Velvet Revolution, in 1989. Unable to perform openly, an entire underground cultural movement formed around them during the 1970s. Sympathizers of the movement were often called máničky, a term referring to men with long hair during that era.