In the Beginning Was the Word Were Hells Devils
In the Beginning Was the Word Were Hells Devils

Author(s): František Stárek Čuňas
Subject(s): Cultural history, Music, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), History of Communism
Published by: Ústav pro studium totalitních režimů
Keywords: Czechoslovakia; underground movement; artists; music; 60s; Devils; Greate Hells Devils; communist regime;
Summary/Abstract: The frequently asked question about the start of the Czech underground movement can’t be answered without a definition of what the “underground” actually is. The discussion of this definition, however, still hasn’t concluded. I recently criticized Ivan Martin Jirous (Magor) for stressing too much in his Report on the Third Czech Musical Revival – probably under the influence of the Knights of the Cross School – the role of artists as an element forming the underground community. I had prepared an argument that the underground community, as evidenced by time, was (is) rather composed of individuals who didn’t (don’t) have artistic ambitions. But Magor disarmed me before I could use them by saying: Alright, I was wrong. I wrote it in 1975. So it is quite obvious that any definition will have to assume that there is no underground without freaks.

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