50 years ago yesterday, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to ever venture into space. To celebrated this monumental occasion, I made a list of every rock ‘n’ roll band I could think of that originated from behind the Iron Curtain. It was a short list. In fact, even though my rock knowledge is practically limitless–as is the Internet’s–I could think of only one that really mattered: The Plastic People of the Universe.

This band, formed in Prague during the late 1960s is probably one of the strangest bands I have ever had the chance to listen to. Influenced by “Western artists” such as the Velvet Underground and Frank Zappa, the band’s fusion of rock and classical elements can only be described as zany. With a variety of instruments beyond guitars and drums–violins, saxophones, clarinets, synthesizers, and the dreaded Theremin–The Plastic People of the Universe sound like a unique Eastern European mishmash of early punk and psychedelic rock. While the Plastic People’s music will never be considered influential–or even good–the band’s cultural influence in the Czech Republic is hard to deny.

The Plastic People formed mere months after a Soviet and Warsaw Pact military intervention in the Czechoslovakia and would became a symbol of dissidence in Czechoslovakia’s underground art scene. Their strange brand of rock music was considered rebellious to a communist regime that thought jazz was barely tolerable. As a result, the Plastic People were banned from playing in the country and band members were arrested on multiple occasions.

These arrests would inspire Vaclav Havel, the eventual first president of today’s Czech Republic, to form a civil rights movement that would ultimately lead to the Velvet Revolution. The revolution would later peacefully overthrow communism in Czechoslovakia.

While I know these history lessons have been boring, the point is that rock ‘n’ roll music can actually make a difference. How often does a rock band nowadays actually influence anything besides the shutdown of Napster? Even if you ignore the cultural influence of the Plastic People of the Universe though, you’ll probably still like them if you’re a Velvet Underground fan.

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