The Plastic People of the Universe
I was recently thinking about some of the ways I continue to benefit from past participation on p2p networks. By allowing us a place to openly share ideas we can make discoveries that have the ability to blossom and unexpectedly come to fruition in the future. Remember Napster? Yea man it completely transformed what I thought was possible. Music, poetry, old time radio, lectures....freedom! I mentioned in my last post about years ago discovering Frank Zappa and how it led to watching his interviews and learning more about censorship in the United States. Over the last few days I checked out some of the more rare finds I discovered back in those days. One of the bands I was intrigued with at the time was The Plastic People of the Universe. I had no idea what their lyrics were all about, but the music was so strange I had to find more. It's like there was a Twilight Zone meet up at the Mos Eisley Cantina and they just happened to be playing that night. After looking into them again I found out that they were influenced by Frank Zappa back in the 1970's. I'm sure this is how they wound up on my Napster radar. Looking into this some more I also found out that they spent some time in jail for playing at underground venues after the police state tried to crush their spirit. I learned about the poet Egon Bondy and how he contributed so many of the lyrics to their songs. I found a documentary on the Czech republic and how the people lived in a state of tyranny during the 70's and 80's. I also found a link to everipedia.org and their telegram chat. The seeds planted long ago continue to bare fruit in spite of tyranny. Thousands of years and thousands more to come I find hope and joy that this will always be the case.
https://everipedia.org/wiki/The_Plastic_People_of_the_Universe/