He was best known as leader of the alternative rock band Psí vojáci (Dog Soldiers),[1] but he also performed as a solo artist.
He started playing piano as a child and was introduced to the Czech intellectual and artistic underground movement while he was still very young.
[3] He made his solo public début at the age of 13, as an opening act before the first performance of the Plastic People of the Universe's Passion Play.
The band and other Topol's activities, as well as his family background and ties with the illegal Charter 77, attracted the attention of StB, the Czechoslovak secret police.
His piano playing style was very expressive and wild during that period; sometimes he broke his knuckles during concerts and left his instrument dipped in blood.