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36-555: The title was the inspiration for the name of the Czech band Plastic People of the Universe . The tune is loosely based on Richard Berry 's 1957 classic " Louie Louie ". The song is a manifesto against conformity and materialistic culture, with Frank Zappa finally asking, "Go home/and check yourself/you think we're singing 'bout someone else?" It is sampled throughout the GZA single "Cold World" from

72-436: A Prague hospital. Kolář's poetry was first published in 1938 in a private edition; these early poems are not included in his complete work, probably because they are openly erotic, describing oral sex ( Ústnice ), sex positions ( Svícen a trakař ) and sex with a prostitute ( Růže Večernice ). Thus Křestný list (Baptism Certificate, 1941) is considered his debut. Křestný list and Kolář's three other collections of poems from

108-468: A creative re-interpretation of Sun Zi 's The Art of War , an ancient Chinese classic on the art of warfare, under the name Mistr Sun o básnickém umění (Master Sun on the Poetic Arts). In 1964 Náhodný svědek (Accidental Witness), a selection of his work from the 1940s was published, and in 1966 a censored selection from his 1950s work came out under the name Vršovický Ezop ( Aesop from Vršovice ). In

144-438: A modern electronic arrangement. The album wasn't released until 2021. Also in 1997, upon President Havel's suggestion, PPU reunited in honor of the twentieth anniversary of Charter 77. Their lineup consisted of Hlavsa, Brabenec, Janíček, Kabeš, Brabec, as well as Joe Karafiát . They released the live album The Plastic People of the Universe the same year and continued to tour. In 1999, along with Lou Reed , PPU performed at

180-669: A play on the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ), which was released in France in 1978. 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

216-405: A scalpel to cut pictures out of magazines. He produced colors in his collages by gluing on printed fragments of paper from various different sources. His collages were intended to influence the viewer's outlook on life; the technique of using fragments of text and images from various different sources was well suited to achieve the effect Kolář wanted, by showing the destruction and fragmentation of

252-473: A working-class environment. His father was a baker and his mother a seamstress, and he himself trained early in life as a cabinet maker (which cost him a finger). He later changed trades several times, working as a construction worker, security guard, and bartender, among other jobs. In 1943 he became a full-time writer while living and working in Kladno . He moved to the capital Prague in 1945 to work as an editor of

288-499: 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. From January to August 1968, under the rule of Communist Party leader Alexander Dubček , Czechoslovaks experienced

324-677: The Liquid Swords album. This 1960s rock song-related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Plastic People of the Universe The Plastic People of the Universe/New Generation 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

360-687: 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

396-538: The White House during Václav Havel's state visit. Milan Hlavsa died of lung cancer in 2001. Afterward, the Plastics were unsure whether or not to continue without their frontman and main songwriter, but after long discussions, they decided to honor his memory by keeping the band going. That year, they published a collection of Hlavsa's unreleased compositions, under the title Líně s tebou spím / Lazy Love – In Memoriam Mejla Hlavsa . Eva Turnová , from DG 307 , became

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432-536: The 1940s ( Sedm kantát , Limb a jiné básně , Ódy a variace ) belong stylistically to the existentialist artistic movement of Skupina 42 of which Kolář was a member; other members included Jindřich Chalupecký , Ivan Blatný , Josef Kainar , Jiřina Hauková and Kamil Lhoták . During the years of Stalinism in Czechoslovakia (1948–1953) Kolář wrote poetic diaries – Očitý svědek (Eyewitness, 1949), Prométheova játra ( Prometheus ' Liver, 1950). In 1957 he wrote

468-492: The 1960s he started writing experimental poetry, creating new forms of poetry which he gave names such as analfabetogram and cvokogram. In these new forms of poetry the line between the literary and the visual increasingly started to blur, which ultimately led to his experiments in visual art. His first exhibitions in 1937 focused on his collages. In the 1960s Kolář first combined painting and poetry but he gradually turned completely to experiments in visual art. In his work he used

504-586: The 1970s. Sympathizers of the movement were often called máničky , a term referring to men with long hair during that era. In 1976, the Plastics and other people from the underground scene were arrested and put on trial (after performing at the Druhý festival druhé kultury event) by the Communist government, in order to set an example. They were convicted of "organized disturbance of the peace" and sentenced to prison terms ranging from eight to eighteen months. Paul Wilson

540-695: The PPU were not associated with politics, the Communist regime's accusations against them led to various protests. It was partly in response to the arrests and prosecutions that playwright Václav Havel and others wrote Charter 77 . The trial of the Plastics became a milestone for opposition against the Communist regime in Czechoslovakia. In 1978, PPU recorded the Easter-themed album Pašijové hry velikonoční (released in Canada as The Passion Play by Paul Wilson's imprint, Boží Mlýn Productions). Jak bude po smrti , which set

576-551: The Plastic People of the Universe teamed up with the Brno Philharmonic for a symphonic performance of their 1981 album, Co znamená vésti koně . Disputes soon arose between PPU members, and a distinctive rift occurred. Kvasnička and Turnová left. On 17 November 2015, the band performed again with the Brno Philharmonic, and a recording of the concert was published in 2017. Since the concert had been rehearsed together with

612-547: The Prague Spring in 1968 brought Kolář and his work into disrepute again. In 1970 cerebral apoplexy stiffened his right arm. Kolář signed Charta 77 and while on a scholarship to West Berlin , the government decided to force him to emigrate; he was therefore not allowed to return home. From 1980 on he lived in Paris . After 1989 he visited his homeland more and more often. In 1999 Kolář injured his spine and he spent his last years in

648-466: 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

684-404: 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

720-586: The band re-recorded two of their older concept albums: 1979's Jak bude po smrti (recorded in 2003 and released in 2010 as Obešel já polí pět ) and 1978's Pašijové hry velikonoční (recorded and released in 2004). Interest in the band was rekindled in 2006, thanks to the play Rock 'n' Roll , by Tom Stoppard , which featured two of their songs and had several characters discuss the band's music and its effects on Czech society. In December 2009, PPU released their first studio album since 2001 as well as their first without Hlavsa, titled Maska za maskou . In 2014,

756-493: The band's lineup and decided to continue under the name The Plastic People of the Universe/New Generation, later returning to the original name. The departed members of the band (Brabenec, Janíček, Kvasnička), on the other hand, continued as a separate unit, though also using the original PPU name. They embarked on a tour with Co znamená vésti koně material, performing in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on 18 October 2016, as part of

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792-500: 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,

828-525: The band's new bass player. Ludvík Kandl ( Hudba Praha ) sat in on drums (he was replaced by Jaroslav Kvasnička in 2009) and in the years 2001–2009, double bassist Ivan Bierhanzl, who had briefly performed with the band in the 1970s, was a member of PPU. In 2003, the Supreme Court of the Czech Republic overturned the 1976 verdicts against members of PPU. Subsequently, in collaboration with Agon Orchestra,

864-472: 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

900-441: The commemoration of Václav Havel's eightieth birthday. Both lineups, with bassist Johnny Judl Jr and guitarist David Babka joining Brabenec's group, subsequently performed under the same name, and arguments arose as to who the "real" Plastics were. In 2018, PPU celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. The highlight of the celebrations was a sold-out concert by Brabenec's group at Prague's Acropolis Palace . Several previous members of

936-440: The government, the musicians never considered themselves activists and always claimed that they wanted only to play their music. In the spring of 1987, two legal concerts were arranged, but both were eventually canceled by the organizers, under pressure from police. This led to disputes between the band members and eventually, the group broke up. Hlavsa, Janíček, and Kabeš formed the group Půlnoc , which played publicly from 1988 and

972-464: The group participated, including Josef Rössler, Vladimír Dědek, Tomáš Schilla, Jan Brabec, and Petr Placák. Ji%C5%99%C3%AD Kol%C3%A1%C5%99 Jiří Kolář Czech pronunciation (24 September 1914, Protivín – 11 August 2002, Prague ) was a Czech poet, writer, painter and translator. His work included both literary and visual art. Kolář was born in Protivín on September 29, 1914, in

1008-465: 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

1044-540: The poetry of Ladislav Klíma to music, followed in 1979, and Co znamená vésti koně in 1980. In 1982, Brabenec was forced by the secret police to leave the country as part of Akce Asanace ("sanitation act"), and emigrated to Canada. After his departure, the band released the albums Hovězí porážka in 1983 and Půlnoční myš in 1986. At the time, PPU included clarinetist Petr Placák , cellist Tomáš Schilla, guitarist Milan Schelinger (brother of Jiří Schelinger ), and vocalist Michaela Pohanková. Despite their clashes with

1080-607: The publishing house Družstvo Dílo. Kolář joined the Communist Party in 1945 but left the Party the same year. Because of his critical stance towards the regime he was not allowed to publish after communists took control in Czechoslovakia in 1948. He married Běla Helclová in 1949. When in 1952 police found his manuscript, Prométheova játra , in the property of Václav Černý he was arrested and spent several months in prison. Kolář

1116-467: 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

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1152-456: The two recently departed members, Kvasnička and Turnová were forced to perform, a decision Kabeš disagreed with, and which subsequently led to his departure. Karafiát followed suit shortly after. After the concert, Brabenec also announced his departure and in January 2016, Janíček walked out. Kabeš and Karafiát then added bassist Tomáš Skřivánek, drummer Jan Ježek, and keyboardist Vojtěch Starý to

1188-406: The world Kolář inhabited. Simultaneously, by juxtaposition and contrasting of these different fragments the technique of the collage served to create surprising and visually striking new combinations; for instance, the combination of astronomical maps with Braille writing. Kolář invented or helped to develop new techniques of collage – confrontage , froissage , rollage , chiasmage and others. From

1224-425: Was deported, despite having left the band in 1972. Other artists who also suffered arrest and persecution following this event included Pavel Zajíček , Svatopluk Karásek , and František Stárek . After being released from prison, the Plastics continued to make music. In response to their persecution, they recorded a number of compositions, which were compiled on the album Kolejnice dúni , released in 2000. Although

1260-588: Was even allowed to tour the United States a year later. Půlnoc recorded two albums in the early 1990s. After the Velvet Revolution, in 1989, the only concert PPU held was in 1992, with the old lineup of Hlavsa, Janíček, Števich, Jernek, and Zeman. This was recorded, and released as Bez ohňů je underground in 1993. In 1997, Hlavsa, in collaboration with Jan Vozáry ( Oceán ), released the live album Magické noci 1997 , which included older Plastic People songs in

1296-534: Was one of a group of several artists, among whom Václav Havel , Václav Černý , Jan Vladislav and Josef Hiršal , who met and discussed in Café Slavia , both during the period leading up to the Prague Spring when the communist regime grew more permissive, and in the period of normalization after the Prague Spring . Kolář's wild behavior lost him former friends (e.g. he threw coffee on Josef Hiršal's shirt and had his soda water poured on him in return). The failure of

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