The first wave of Czechoslovak punk rock

                    The plastic people of the universe
In the second half of 70’s, there were two important movements in Czechoslovak rock music.The first one, the so-called „“alternative rock scene“ was half legal/half tolerated by the regime.It was eventually crushed in ’82- ’84 when most of this bands were officially banned, but back in the 70’s they still balanced of edge.Musically it was influenced by jazz-rock, the “Rock in Opposition“ movement, Velvet Underground, etc.The other one- the „“underground rock scene“- was centered around the band THE PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE(P.P.U).They, together with lesser known bands(DG 307, UMELA HMOTA etc.), created an authentic underground culture with its own illegal gigs, magazines and recordings.Soon after that, the system went nuts and answered in the fashion true to it: a wawe of police repression.Nevertheless, the underground survived despite the jailing of its most active members throughout the 80’s.

Both movements were open enough to spot the punk rock invasion back in ‘76/’77 in West and with smuggling of first punk records through the borders punk rock sowed its seeds even Czechoslovakia.The first band were from Prague and operated around Jazz Selection organization(this seemingly strange connection is result to the “alternative rock scene“ with ist jazz rock influences and to the organization Jazz Section’s being both tolerated by the regime and for ist time extremely open and daring in supporting bands), which hosted the “Prague Jazz Days Festival“ in 1979.

(You can find information about P.P.U on this page: http://www.furious.com/PERFECT/pulnoc.html )