Czech Pop Music in 1968
The atmosphere of liberation of Prague Spring was expressed in pop music. Its heyday started in the middle sixties and mainly thanks to small groups that were created within so called low budget theatres (Semafor, Rokoko) and which were quickly approached by media. It is also interesting that in 1968 singers became kind of mascots of the current politicians.
Who ruled the world
Kings of pop in those times were the Beatles and from the USA, the Monkees. Elvis Presley celebrated the birth of his daughter Lisa-Marie and announced his 26 th movie as well as a big comeback. The fortnightly magazine Rolling Stone started to be issued in San Francisco which influenced pop-music trends for the following decades. The musical Hair had its premiere in Broadway and in Europe the popularity of the Bee Gees and Tom Jones was rising. The latter one beat all his competitors in hit parades with his hit Delilah (Czech singer Gott sang it with the name Time of Roses) and Help Yourself. Tom Jones released in 1968 a selection of his greatest hits and was at the peak of his career. Elton John made his debut at that time. The hippie’s philosophy was best expressed by the vocal group The Mamas and The Papas which had its heyday in 1968 even though they also experienced their first disagreement at the same time. The best USA hit of 1968 was the song “I heard it through the Grapevine” from Marvin Gaye which until even now belongs among most often recorded songs.
Let’s go clubbing
The Czech music scene has been growing since the middle of the sixties and already in 1967 music fans were of the opinion that Czechoslovakia is in this field second best after England. Prague youth came to listen to beat and rock at the club Olympik in Spálená Street which gave its name to the Petr Janda’s band. They would also visit Music F Club that was later renamed to Club Futurum.
In 1968 the magazine Pop Music Express started to be issued by United Prague’s clubs. This monthly magazine illustrated by Kája Saudek unfortunately ceased to exist in 1970. Young people also admired bands such as Flamengo and the Matadors which swapped their singers in 1966 when Viktor Sodoma came to the Matadors and Karel Kahovec went to Flamengo. It was at this time when Kahovec composed his greatest hit Svou lásku jsem rozdal (I gave my love away). Flamengo at this time arranged a performance in West Germany. Kahovec managed to get married on 27 th August 1968 and in the afternoon the band left for Germany to perform in local bars.
Source: Greatest hits, Jaroslav Císař, Cage for nightingale, Jan Krůta, All happens only once, Jaroslav Kříženecký
Berta Štenclová