Plastic People of the Universe

Show Description

“A Velvets-Beefheart-Zappa stew with Czech lyrics, free jazz saxophone, grungy viola, crunchy guitar solos, etc., but what makes it unique is the applause. This audience knows that rock & roll can start a revolution and set you free: It happened.” – Steven Merritt, Time Out NY

“The music of the Plastics has absorbed something essential from this spirit of space and time.... encoded within it is an important warning, some highly specified information about the existential fine tuning of people who find themselves in a place where the knots of history are tied and unraveled.”  – Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic

“The show began. It was theatrical spectacle, poetic…” – Guardian.co.uk

They've been called "the greatest obscure rock band of all time." Their name comes from a Frank Zappa song, their fame from being suppressed and jailed by Czechoslovakia's communist regime. PPU was just a psychedelic '60s band until the government took exception to their music. Forced underground in 1976, they played concerts at such venues as the barn at Vaclav Havel's country cabin. Their persecution was one of the factors that generated Charter 77, the manifesto criticizing the government and advocating for implementation of human rights, which gave its name to the dissident movement that swept the communists from power in 1989. 

The music of the Plastic People is like nothing else; it’s dark, rich composition spans musical influences from free jazz, hard rock, Slavic motifs, and ‘60’s and ‘70’s song-styling. Their music embodies a whole manner of thinking and way of life, and it demands that we reexamine the way we live our lives.

This show is part of Joe's Pub's 10th Anniversary Celebration!