their appearance in many music festivals and the recording of their first album, the self-titled Līvi, released in 1983. Latvia at that time was a part of the Soviet Union, and rock bands were censored by the Communist Party. The Soviet regime saw a potential enemy in the rebellious Latvian rockers, and in 1981 it banned Līvi from playing any concerts. Līvi responded in 1982 with a new hit single, "Zīlīte." In 1984, Līvi was featured in Riga Film Studio's musical comedy, Vajadzīga soliste (Soloist Needed), performing the song Amors Superstars on stage. The film also featured a variety of bands from Latvia's pop and rock scene of that era. Šterns later returned to the band, but Pavītols and Ķiģelis continued to feud, leading the former to leave the band forever. His wife followed, not fitting in with the band's harder music. She still participated, however, in recording for Līvi's second album, Aprīļa pilieni (April's Raindrops). The band was briefly joined by keyboard player Tālis Pusbarnieks. Together they successfully record another album—Iedomu pilsēta (Phantasm City) and became the most popular band of that time. Pusbarnieks, Fomins, Šterns, and Kreiviņš left the band in 1984 in order to pursue their own musical projects. Ķiģelis saved the band by hiring vocalist Aivars Brīze (later to become known as "the voice of Latvian rock"), keyboardist Guntars Mucenieks, and drummer Valdis Štarks. In 1985, however, Ķiģelis died in a car accident after a concert. 1986–2010 Ķiģelis's protégé Ainars Virga became the band's new leader in 1986. Virga was a fan of heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath, Scorpions, Deep Purple, and Led Zeppelin, so he set out to make Līvi more like them, with a harder sound, more guitar solos, and rebellious attitudes. His first song was "Dzimtā valoda", an emotional ballad and an appraisal of Latvian language and culture. In 1987 Štarks was replaced by Ainars' younger brother Dainis, and in 1989, Tomass Kleins joined the band as a regular guitarist. At the time of the fall of the Soviet Union, Līvi had recorded dozens of hits and featured their most stable lineup, consisting of Brīze, Ainars Virga, Kleins, Grodums, and Dainis Virga. In 1988 Līvi released their second studio album LIVI. Half of the songs being Ķigelis' last compositions, the other half being new Virga, Grodums and Mucenieks songs. In 1994 Līvi released the studio album Karogi (Flags), their second recording since