The Plastic People of the Universe are a Prague rock band founded in September 1968 by bassist Milan Hlavsa, just weeks after the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia. They became the defining voice of the Czech underground, and their 1976 trial on charges of 'disturbing the peace' directly sparked the formation of Charter 77. Musically rooted in psychedelic rock, avant-garde and free jazz, with lyrics by poets Egon Bondy and Ivan Martin Jirous, the band has continued performing since Hlavsa's death in 2001, though a 2016 internal split produced two rival factions.
Former band members concluded the PPU Egon Bondy Tour 2024 with a December concert in Hradec Králové on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the recording of the album Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned.
The PPU Egon Bondy Tour 2024 launched a series of sixteen concerts with a sold-out performance at the Prague Palác Akropolis.
In November 2024, a joint concert of The Plastic People of the Universe with the bands Fish Flesh Field and Henry Dollar took place at the Prague KD Barikádníků.
In 2016, the band split into two factions: the original lineup around Josef Janíček and Vratislav Brabence and the PPU/New Generation offshoot led by Jiří Kabeš and Josef Karafiát.
