Egon Bondy R.I.P.

Left to right: The Plastic's Milan Hlavsa and Egon Bondy

Thought I'd post a short tribute to Prague underground legend, philosopher, writer, and poet Egon Bondy, who passed away on April 9. In addition to his influential writing, Bondy also contributed lyrics to The Plastic People of the Universe, a Czechoslovakian non-conformist band who was forced to go underground under the hard-line communist rule of the 70's and 80's, only to experience the fromation of an entire cultural movement around them. The Plastic's debut was titled Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned as a tribute to Bondy.

Robert Christgau has championed the record, and Woebot wrote in a record guide on his blog in October 2003:

"The recording (is) wonderfully barbaric and raw, brutally metronomic and pulsating with a vicious energy."

Rock matters. Indeed.

Update (April 18th 2007): Two obituaries (thanks to an anonymous reader) here and here.