Pērkons (Latvian: thunder) is one of the most important and scandalous Latvian rock bands of the 1980s and is still performing in concerts.
Their songs became the folklore of the youth, speaking about things nobody else dared to speak about. The band was for no expressed reason banned by the Soviet power in 1983.
The texts of their music are at least as rebellious as the music itself, mostly written by Māris Melgalvs, one of the best known examples is Balāde par gulbi.