Plastic People of the Universe

Reprinted from 2012, part of my new Revolutions of 1989 series. Both internal links are gratifying.

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You're conservative.  A bit high culture, or at least middlebrow.  You don't think you like this band.



But you do. I ran across them reading Stoppard - yes, I'm still on that kick, and will be looking up "Jumpers" and "Travesties" next, or maybe a few shorter pieces I have never read. But his 2006 play "Rock 'n' Roll" recounts their importance in the Czech Underground. They wanted, at first, to have nothing to do with politics and just play the music they liked. They learned that this was the sternest protest of all - and paid for it.