Since the 1980s, lyricist Michal Horácek has slowly transformed the way music is heard in the Czech Republic. Not long after the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia in the 1960s, Horácek made his way through guile and pluck through a tour of the United States, soaking in the culture and music of the early '70s. He partnered with hitmaker and composer Petr Hapka, and the team of Horácek and Hapka proved unstoppable, pumping out hit after hit for artists across the Czech pop spectrum. Their music proved truly different from the predominant pop effluvia of the time due to the element of lyrical depth that Horácek provided. ~ Adam Greenberg