Zdeněk Fikar

“Back in eighth year we already started secretly attending big beat events. You weren’t allowed to, right, at any kind of party, they alůways checked whether you were fifteen or older. And another funny thing was that say on the Střelák [Střelecký Island - trans.], they had these afternoon tea-dance parties. And all the young people wanted to go there, but the boys were not allowed to wear jeans, they had to wear Tesil trousers [a type of polyester fabric typical for Communist Czechoslovakia - trans.], which were ironed with a crease. And if you didn’t have creased trousers, they wouldn’t let you in.”

“The band Pražský výběr [Prague Choice - trans.] started playing, and they wowed the whole country. And boys who hadn’t started playing yet, it was all kind of dying off, big beat was, and suddenly a huge number of bands popped up, there were lots of groups even here in Hradec. And everyone wanted to be like Pražský výběr, play in masks, prance around and do stuff on the stage.”