Cold war kids: Plastic People of the Universe

If Americans are truly looking for change in their government, they may want to look for guidance from Plastic People of the Universe (PPU), an eclectic group of legendary psych-rockers from the Czech Republic heavily influenced by Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart. Minnesotans will have a fine opportunity to do just that when PPU, which played an important role in bringing down communism, will perform at the Cedar Cultural Center this evening.

Formed in the aftermath of the Prague Spring in 1968, PPU quickly became an enemy of the state and was forced underground in 1976 after members were arrested by the communist government for “organized disturbance of the peace.” PPU’s persecution inspired the Charter 77 movement advocating for human rights. Charter 77 was instrumental in the Velvet Revolution of 1989 and included PPU friend and future Czech President Václav Havel as one of its members.

Havel, the poet-cum-politician, has said PPU’s music “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.”

Politicians in the United States selling themselves as agents of change while pining for a new Cold War by challenging Russia may want to take a lesson from PPU and discover how art and rock’n'roll, not tough talk from afar, can inspire revolution.

The Plastic People of the Universe perform at the Cedar Culture Center tonight at 7:00.