YU-Rock: A brief history

by Rüdiger Rossig, Berlin

Introduction - How Rock and Roll happened in Yugoslavia

Smile! – Rock in the sixties: The sound of modernisation

What would you give to be in my place? - SFRJ Rock in the seventies

No problems in my neighbourhood - Punk, New Wave and the eighties in SFRJ

Twilight Zone - The crisis of Titoist’ Socialism

Dum Dum - Rock and the war in former Yugoslavia

Take me away from this city - Post-SFRJ Rock between resistance and emigration

Don’t Happy, Be Worry - Perspectives

The history of Yugoslav Rock and Roll culture begins in the late fifties. The Socialist country was moving away from post-war poverty and a legacy of political repression. In May 1955, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visited Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito in the capital Belgrade – only 7 years after the Soviet controlled Communist Information Bureau, COMINFORM, rejected the Yugoslav party for "Bourgeois Nationalism". Such a visit from Moscow can be considered a de facto recognition of the Yugoslav Communists’ autonomy – and as an invitation to rejoin the Eastern block. However during the years since their break with Moscow, the Socialist Federative Republic Yugoslavia SFRJ had changed considerably. Under constant fear of a possible Russian attack, the country had already undertaken a westward shift. This change of heart was not exclusively confined to the realms of politics, economy and defence, but naturally infiltrated culture, too.

The Communist League of Yugoslavia SKJ governed Yugoslavia since the end of World War II. But unlike Communist parties in other countries, the SKJ had long ago ceased to enforce a cultural monopoly. As early as 1953, Yugoslav Jazz musicians were allowed to establish their own Association - a freedom quite unthinkable in other Socialist states at that time. As for Rock music, it was certain people within party organisations such as the Council of Socialist Youth SSO, state-controlled newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations who promoted this new style of music at such an early period, along with state owned record companies who had been continually publishing various Western music productions ever since the late nineteen-fifties. Interestingly, as controlled as the Yugoslav radio stations were by the party and related bodies concerning the political content of their programme, musical editors were given a free rein to play whatever they wanted. A freedom that was used.

Also, right until its’ break up in 1991, the SFRJ , while continuing to resemble other Communist-ruled countries in many aspects, held clear advantages for fans of Rock music. For instance, SFRJ citizens had the easiest access to Rock music of all the Eastern Europeans. The early sixties saw the liberalising of the country’s border regime and, in the course of the sixties, the red passport emblazoned with six flames – the SFRJ coat-of-arms – became a respected travelling document in most countries of the bipolar world. Therefore, many people from the Socialist Republics of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonian took the opportunity to travel or live and work abroad. Owing to the millions of Yugoslav workers who went to West Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands and other countries in Western Europe, from the mid-sixties onwards, Yugoslavia was steadily exposed to Western Pop music – in times, when Pop in almost all cases was Rock and Roll.

Moreover, the general federalisation of the SFRJ’s society introduced by the SKJ, also led to a de-centralised cultural infrastructure. Instead of the mass festivals typical for other Socialist countries, in Titoist SFRJ every local party secretary once a year organised a small annual festival for the youth of his town or region. Politics did not play a big role in most of these events – even though many of them took part to celebrate historical dates such as Liberation Day, Tito’s birthday or other Socialist holidays. Most festivals took place in the capitals of Yugoslavia’s federal republics, Ljubljana, Zagreb, Sarajevo, Belgrade, Skopje and – more rarely – Titograd. By the mid seventies, all of the larger cities in the SFRJ had their own Rock music venues.

Last but not least, in the course of the sixties and seventies the SFRJ’s economy performed well and living standards started to rise. This development led to the emergence of a new middle class: people with a Western orientation who enjoyed flaunting what they have by sending their children on seaside vacations or to Rock concerts. Consequently, a new social profile started to attract Yugoslav public interest: the ”tinejdžeri”(teenager), young people who had enough time and money to waste by hanging around and listening to Western music. Western fashion, films, literature and music became an integral part of the SFRJ’s everyday life.

The first Rock music was heard at private dance parties in Belgrade and Zagreb in the late fifties. As borders were still closed at this point, the sources for the new style were Western Radio stations like Radio Luxembourg or Voice of America. Soon, local musicians started covering Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Nina Simon, The Platters or The Shadows. As the English language was not then common in the SFRJ, the first Yugoslav Rockers translated foreign songs into Serbo-Croat – a standard practise for many Western European musicians as well.

Unlike their Western counterparts, SFRJ musicians who wanted to play Rock and Roll were facing a major problem: it was almost impossible to get equipment. Consequently, the first Rock concerts were performed using acoustic instruments only.With time, musicians started creating their own electric guitars by fitting home made pick-ups – basically small microphones – inside the bodies of acoustic guitars. Radios were used as amplifiers. The first real electric guitars arrived in the early sixties, with the liberalising of the country’s border regime.

Rock and Roll was steadily becoming a mass phenomenon. As early as 1962, Belgrade bands such as ”Zlatni Dečaci” (Golden Boys) and ”Siluete” (Silhouette) performed to audiences featuring hundreds of young, screaming girls. In Zagreb, "Bijele Strijele" (White Arrows) shared similar experiences. The growing desire to hear the latest Rock music at home, meant that many Yugoslavs imported records privately. Consequently, the Croatian capital’s record company "Jugoton" (Jugo- or South-Sound) signed a deal with the US-American RCA to release some of Elvis Presley’s records followed by a domestic pressing of Chubby Checkers' "Let’s Twist Again". Their Belgrade counterpart PGP-RTB, who were actually the Yugoslav capital’s radio station pressing unit, put "Twisting The Rock" by the French Rock performer Jonny Hallyday on vinyl – only one year after the song was released in the West

In 1964, Karlo Metikoš from Zagreb recorded a cover-version of Buddy Holly’s "Peggy Sue" on a single called "Matt Collins Sings Rock’n’Roll" - the first domestic Yugoslav Rock and Roll recording ever released. In the previous year, Metikoš together with the bands "Crveni Koralji" (Red Corals), Bijele Strijele and "Delfini" (Dolphins) took part in the first Rock and Roll tour to take place in the SFRJ - some 150 concerts in all republics of the federation. In 1964, the tour was repeated with even greater success. Obviously, the SFRJ had developed a domestic Rock scene - a network of musicians, artists, managers, record labels, media and, of course, fans.

Rock enthusiasm wasn’t limited to Zagreb and Belgrade. The most important nineteen-sixties band came from Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia-Herzegovina: "Indexi" (Indexes). In 1964, they won second place in the first "gitarijada", a festival competition held in Belgrade, including guitarists and bands from all over the SFRJ. The prize was being invited to record a single in the RTB studios. Typical for Yugoslav Rock musicians at that time, Indexi decided for instrumental interpretations of three international hits: "The Magnificent seven", "Teensville tonight" and "Atlantis". Only the fourth song, "Nikada" (Never) was their own composition. Indexi’s success encouraged other Yugoslav musicians to turn to Rock and Roll. Apart from playing Rock music, the band members were also influential in other cultural areas such as "Shlager", film and theatre performances.

In 1968, Indexi-keyboarder Kornelije Kovač left the band, moved to Belgrade and founded his own "Korni Grupa" - one of the major Rock acts of the years to come and the first successful musical project with members from two Yugoslav cities. That was not the only sign of ongoing cultural integration. The satellite broadcast of the Beatles’ "All You Need Is Love" on June 25^th 1967 was seen by an estimated 150 million people around the world - including several hundred thousand Yugoslavs, as the SFRJ TV stations participated in the broadcast. By October that year, Jugoton had released a domestic pressing of "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band". "A Collection of Beatles Oldies", the Beach Boy’s "Greatest Hits" and Jimi Hendrix’s "Are You Experienced?". In November 1968, the first Yugoslav Rock LP was recorded in Zagreb by the local "Grupa 220": "Naši Dani" (Our days). A year earlier, the band began by recording 7 Singles at Jugoton with great success - approx. 50.000 copies were sold.One of those singles recorded in March 1967 "Osmijeh" (Smile), can be considered as the first authentic Rock and Roll song in Yugoslavia’s history.

Obviously, by the end of the sixties, Yugoslavia and the Yugoslavs had caught up to the international mainstream. Local bands were almost exclusively orientated towards American and British repertoire. Some of them, in particular "Elipse" from Belgrade, "Uragani" (Hurricanes) from Rijeka, "Roboti" (Robots) from Zagreb and "Mi" (We) from Šibenik became interested in the black music of the sixties i.e: Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, and Otis Redding. At the beginning, Yugoslav Soul bands translated US-songs into Serbo-Croat and later, they started writing lyrics in their own language

The official Communist dominated culture reacted flexible to the obvious success of the new music. SSO-organised festivals originally intended for Folk or Shlager music, became Rock happenings. Astonishingly, even religious content was tolerated. In 1966, ”Žeteoci” (Harvest Workers) started playing Rock music with Christian lyrics – their first name was ”Bijeli kolari" (White Collars) as all of the band members were theological students at Zagreb University. After playing at several university parties, the band was invited to play at TV Belgrade’s "Koncert za mladi svet" (Concert for young people). As their first and only LP was released just a few weeks after Grupa 220’s ”Naši dani” in 1969, Žeteoci missed out on the honour of having released Yugoslavia's first Rock and Roll album and came an historic second.

In May 1966, the first pop music magazine, "Džuboks” (Jukebox) was published in Belgrade. Together with radio, the new promotional medium of music specialised press, led to the enormous popularity of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones in Yugoslavia. Just like elsewhere during the sixties, these two major bands were incredibly influential in the SFRJ. Even in the eighties, the question as to whether one preferred The Beatles or the Stones was more passionately discussed in urban circles, than any topics regarding political or national preferences. As well as closely following US and British trends, Yugoslav Rock musicians began experimenting and specialising in the early seventies. The previously mentioned Kornelije Kovač tested Rock music limits, by composing Rock symphonies and songs of 20 minutes length. His Korni Grupa also became the first Yugoslav band to release a record internationally, with an Album produced by Carlo Alberto Rossi in Milan.

The Rock scene was very active at this point, with Rock bands dominating all the country’s music charts, Rock fashion being worn all over the SFRJ and Rock bands like the famous "YU Grupa" from Belgrade or "Smak" from Kragujevac touring all over the country. In Sarajevo, bands like ”Kodexi” (Codexes), and ”Čičak” (Burdock) tended towards progressive Rock, with Kodexi-singer Željko Bebek especially showing his affection for the styles of the US-American Jimi Hendrix or the British band Cream. In 1969, Bebek's Kodexi were joined by a young guitar player who would soon become the Balkan’s first and maybe only superstar: Goran Bregović.

Actually, it seems as if Bregović had played with just about every important Sarajevo bands before founding his own "Bijelo Dugme" (White Button) on January 1^st 1974. The band would become a Yugoslav version of the Beatles, Deep Purple and The Clash rolled into one. At the time, Bregović was already experimenting with folk tunes – something that the musical supervisor at the newly founded Sarajevo recording company Diskoton, didn’t like at all. He told the band that their songs ”Top” (Cannon Gun) and ”Ove ću noći naći Blues” (Tonight I Will Find The Blues) – were too heavy and that it would take at least half a year until they could be released. The decision turned out to be THE major mistake of Yugoslav Rock history: That same day, Bregović signed up with Jugoton.

The first record became a mass seller. That year, Bijelo Dugme toured all over Bosnia and played at all of the bigger festivals in Yugoslavia. In spring, the band was touted as the next big thing at Ljubljana’s BOOM!-festival. Bijelo Dugme spent the following summer on the Croatian coast, playing major hotels and working on their first LP. In late November, the album "Kad bi bilo bijelo dugme" (If I Was A White Button) was released. The music on the record included many folk elements – which inspired the Zagreb Rock critic Dražen Vrdoljak to refer to Bijelo Dugme’s music as "pastirski rok" (shepherd’s Rock).

The new sound however, was to attract a very broad audience: In the spring of 1975, Bijelo Dugme was elected the most popular band of the SFRJ. The media started hyping the word "Dugemanija". Their second LP ”Šta bi dao da si na mom mjesto” (What would you give to be in my place) sold 200.000 copies within three months, a phenomenal success that forced Jugoton to quickly invent the ”Dijamantska ploča” (Diamond record). In 1977, the band toured Poland and the USSR. In June 1978, Bosnia’s youth party organisation SSO bestowed Bijelo Dugme with an honorable medal. At that point, they were certainly the most successful band in SFRJ history – a position they held until Bregović left the country in 1992.

In the course of the seventies, a second generation of Yugoslav Rockers took over from the first. In 1974 Kornelije Kovač for example, stepped out of the spotlight to devote himself to music production – a career that was to become a model example for many Yugoslav Rock musicians from the sixties and seventies who later became the main managers, promoters and producers for Yugoslav New Wave music in the eighties.

Punk music hit the SFRJ in 1978 – a little earlier than most other continental European countries. The new sound arrived via Yugoslav Rock fans living in London and others who were in regular contact with the British capital. When the music media picked up the trend, Punk rapidly found public attention. By 1979, Punk concerts were a regular occurrence in cities including Ljubljana, Zagreb, and Belgrade. Radio-Televizija Ljubljana (Radio-Television Ljubljana, RTL) pressed the first single from the Slovenian Punk band "Pankrti" (Bastards) and from Zagreb’s "Prljavo Kazalište" (Dirty Theatre). It was also the same year that the Skinhead-Punk outfit "Pekinška Patka" (Bejing Duck) from Novi Sad released their first single "Bela Sljiva" (White Plum) on Zagreb’s Jugoton.

Obviously neither the Yugoslav audience nor the established music industry had problems with accepting Punk. In spring 1981, Zagreb’s Jugoton released their ”Paket Aranžman: Beograd” (Package Deal: Belgrade), a compilation LP introducing the capital’s best punk bands: ”VIS Idoli” (Vokalni Instrumentalni Sastav ”Idoli”, Engl.: Vocal-instrumental Set ”Idols”), ”Električni Orgazam” (Electric Orgasm) and ”Šarlo Akrobata” (Charles the Acrobat). Only a few weeks later, RTL Ljubljana released "Novi Punk Val" (New Punk Wave). Both albums popularised Punk and new Wave throughout the country.

Before Punk came along, lyrics hadn’t been paid very much attention in SFRJ Rock music. Though there had always been an indirect pressure on musicians to write about Socialist and patriotic topics, most Yugoslav Rock lyrics were love songs. Suddenly there was a whole new movement of vital, young musicians communicating a very new kind of sensibility that was characterised by ground breaking frankness. The Slovenian band Pankrti became famous for songs like ”Ne računajte na nas” (Don't count on us), a parody of a famous Titoist anthem ”Računajte na nas” (Count on us) by chansonier Djordje Balašević from Novi Sad and a clear statement towards the Communist authorities.

Pankrti were one of the first SFRJ bands to write lyrics that directly and angrily clashed with state pressure against the control that the party's administration had over cultural production. Bands like "Paraf", "Azra", "Film" and "Haustor" (Housegate) from Zagreb or Idoli, Električni Orgazam and Šarlo Akrobata from Belgrade, also joined the trend. It must be said that all of these young Rock and Rollers were almost certainly influenced by the legendary band "Buldožer" (Bulldozer), who in 1975, were the first to tackle societal topics in a cynical and analytical way. They were a particularly important source of inspiration for the Belgrade Punk outlet "Partibrejkers" (Gate Crashers) .

Branimir Štulić alias ”Johny”, the lead singer/songwriter and guitarist in the band Azra, probably had the most universal opus related to politically orientated songs. He was the first to write songs with a critical stand on Tito's absolutism, state police methods and the helplessness of the individual in the Socialist system. Simultaneously with New Wave bands like Azra, ”Riblja Čorba” (Fish Soup) from Belgrade developed a more traditional style of Rock music. The Band's leader, Bora Djordjević, became famous throughout Yugoslavia owing to the directness and originality of his lyrics. The respect was so great that he was even welcomed to take up membership with the Serbian (state) Association of Writers. His lyrics, as one journalist describes them, are "a chronicle of the dark side of life in Real Existing Socialism".

Although the spirit of the times meant rebellion for rebellion’s sake, the frank nature of bands such as Azra or Riblja Čorba continued to be an exception. It wasn't until 1987 – a time in which Serbian strongman Slobodan Milošević had just come to power - that Bijelo Dugme’s leader Goran Bregović recorded his first political song: the Yugoslav federal anthem ”Hej, Sloveni” (Hey, Slavs). In Bosnia and Herzegovina, there were plenty of writers who followed suit, imitating the Yugoslav nationalism of Bijelo Dugme. Most famous of which was from the Sarajevo Pop-Rock outfit "Plavi Orkestar" (Blue Orchestra) who released an album in 1988 entitled "Smrt Fazimu - Sloboda Narodu" (Smash Fascism - Freedom For The People) – which was the Yugoslav partisan greeting from World War II. Their version of The Mamas and the Papas‘ "California Dreaming" was given a similar Yugoslavian treatment: "Ljubi se istok i zapad" (May East And West Kiss Each Other).

When Tito died in 1980, Yugoslavian Rock and Roll culture had been cruising"On the sunny side of the street" for some twenty odd years. SFRJ Rockers believed that their music scene was comparable to a Western, or rather West-continental European scene, than that to be found in East European countries. Indeed: When viewed from a Rock perspective, Yugoslavia seemed to be a modern, European country with great perspectives. Throughout the eighties, bands like Plavi Orkestar or Bijelo Dugme regularly carried out two month tours while performing in more than 60 places. Some of their albums sold as many as 500.000 copies.

However, there was another side to the rosy picture of Yugoslavian cultural life. Economical crisis started to regularly shatter the country. Yugoslavs were coming to understand that they were not living in a model system between capitalism and socialism as they were taught - and as many people abroad had also believed. Middle class citizens who would regularly be buying the latest Rock records and taking an annual trip to the coast, started to feel the impact of the country’s serious economic defects – defects that resulted in the highest unemployment rate in Europe and inflation of up to 2.500 percent in 1987.

It was not only the economy in Yugoslavia that was suffering a crisis – but the whole system. From the mid eighties, a series of corruption scandals shattered the SFRJ. People in all parts of the SFRJ started losing faith in the country’s ability to reform - a feeling which was also reflected in Rock music. Founded in 1980, the Slovenian Industrial Rock band "Laibach" shocked the first Yugoslav and later the international public, with their obvious connotations to fascism as well as socialism.

With the middle classes struggling amidst crisis, the late nineties saw the demise of Rock and Roll in Yugoslav music and youth culture. Neo- or "Turbo-folk", a mix between Balkan Folk, Western Disco and Dance-floor rhythms, which until then had only been popular amongst Yugoslav workers in other countries and in the rural areas of the SFRJ, had arrived in the country’s urban centres. Private taxi and bus companies that were set up by Yugoslav migrants returning from abroad, helped propagate the new trend. Finding an audience amongst the domestic provinces and peripheries of the SFRJ cities, to the "Gastarbajter" (guest worker) colonies in West Europe, Neo-folk became the best-selling and most widely diffused genre in Yugoslavia.

The sound was closely linked to a new youth subculture: The "Dizelaš" (named after their preferred brand of jeans), whom a Belgrade Rock musician describes as "a bald-headed guy wearing gold, driving a Mercedes with lots of ammo in his pockets". Yugoslav Rockers were shocked by this development. For twenty years, their music and culture had formed the Yugoslav mainstream. From the mid seventies, they had come to rely on being considered as one of continental Europe’s most creative scenes. In 1981, Belgrade‘s "Akademija" had been listed as one of the finest clubs in Europe by the British magazine "New Musical Express". Električni Orgazam lead singer Srdjan Gojković - ”Gile” describes the influence of Rock culture at that time: ”In my highschool, there were maybe three unfortunate types who listened to folk, and they were completely written off"."

Dragan Ambrozić from the Belgrade cult opposition Radio B-92 explains the difference between urban Yugoslav youth and their counterparts in other Socialist countries before Turbo-folk: "In all Eastern European countries, it’s as if pop culture started in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin wall. In Hungary, they really couldn’t tell the difference between the Rolling Stones, the Sex Pistols and Jethro Tull – it was all Rock and Roll to them. But in Belgrade it was not only important which group you liked, but which record by that group." It’s therefore not surprising to hear that Yugoslav Rockers never expected Turbo-folk to supersede their hegemony: From their point of view, the popularity of the "villagers’" sound was incomprehensible.

There is however, a sociological background to this process. As in most European cities, Yugoslav urban areas had (and continue to have) a mixed urban and rural character. After World War II, the population of cities increased dramatically. In 1948, Belgrade had 385.000 inhabitants. By 1961, the population had grown to 843.209 and by 1981, 1.470.073 people were living in the Yugoslav capital. The numbers for other SFRJ cities are comparable. This booming urban growth can mostly be attributed to the migration from surrounding rural areas. For example, in 1971 only 38,84 percent of the Belgrade citizens were actually born there. Yugoslavia’s cities were turning into giant villages.

In Sarajevo, Punk and Rock musicians inventively reacted to the cultural clash between "seljaci" (villagers or peasants) and the "gradska raja" (urbane): They founded the "Novi Primitivci" (New Primitives), a cultural movement satirising the cultural and political backwardness of a increasing number of their fellow citizens. The main New Primitives bands, ”Zabranjeno Pušenje” (Smoking prohibited) and ”Elvis J. Kurtović & His Meteors” went so far as to imitate their opponents’ outer appearance, by wearing ill fitting designer clothes. With their lyrics and TV programmes - "Top Lista Nadrealista" (Top Ten of Surrealism) for Sarajevo TV – they honed-in on late eighties, everyday life in Yugoslavia.

By losing its’ dominant role in public culture, the late eighties Rock and Roll went back to its sub-cultural roots. The Rock bands of 1989 may have still been indebted to the heritage of Yugoslav Punk and New Wave music, but by being reduced to a cultural minority - were far too adventurous to be satisfied by playing punky versions of old Rock songs. "Disciplina Kičme” (Discipline Of The Spine) from Belgrade, started experimenting with samples and symbols from the past and present. There were two drummers in the band and instead of a guitarist, they had a bassist who played (and continues to play) the four bass strings like Jimi Hendrix with six. "There sound was feral and primitive; wrapped James Brown funk crossed with Hendrix‘ psychedelia and the blaring horns of a traditional Serbian brass band". The band’s musicians came from Serbia and from Croatia – something uttelry normal until then. Now, it became a factor to break bands apart.

When war began on June 26^th 1991, Yugoslav Rock and Roll had been a trans-national phenomenon spanning more than three decades - in a country of 24 million inhabitants. Considering that none of the SFRJ’s urban centres were strong enough to independently sustain the media, clubs, and recording studios etc. necessary for a vital domestic Rock scene, co-operation was crucial. For Yugoslav Rock musicians, the break-up of their country effectively meant the break-down of their market. In the years to follow, many left the respective parts of what used to be known as the SFRJ, either in fear of mobilisation or – like Bregović, Disciplina Kičme’s bass player Dušan Kojić alias ”Koja” or Azra‘s Johny Štulić - out of sheer disgust for the situation. As the war years continued, a majority of people involved with the Rock music industry left for economic reasons: they feld perverty.

Although it would have enabled them to stay and perhaps even make a living as musicians again, very few rockers involved themselves in Nationalist politics during the post-Yugoslav years. The new respective regimes may have followed the old Titoist policy of not suppressing the Rock scenes, but as far removed as Rock and Roll is from Nationalist culture, neither Milošević’s Serbia nor Franjo Tudjman’s Croatia encouraged that particular music. Consequently, having been displaced from the cultural mainstream meant that the alternative margins were strengthened.

On the other hand, Nationalism and war did drive the (Ex-) Yugoslav rock culture further towards politics. On the Serbian side, most of the bands that were active in the early nineties were descendants of the Punk movement and – apart from a few examples - were traditionally against any regime. As many of their followers lived in Yugoslav cities outside of Serbia, they had recognised the hazard of Nationalist politics, ever since it appeared within the county’s political and cultural arena. Understandably, hardly anyone within the establishment thought of using these Rock musicians for propaganda purposes.

In the spring of 1992, Električni Orgazam and Partibrejkers, together with the Belgrade Art Rock band ”Ekatarina Velika” (Katherine the Great) formed the anti-war ensemble ”Rimtutituki” and recorded the anti-war song "Mir, Brate, Mir" (Peace, brother, peace). The song became the hit of the 1992 anti-war demonstrations which took part under Pankrti’s old motto "Don’t count on us". Though Rock and Roll was no longer the leading style in music and culture, the clear anti-war stand taken by some of the greatest early eighties pop idols, made an impact on Belgrade’s youth. Many Rock fans made their war protest public by leaving the country. The Yugoslav People's Army JNA weren’t able to mobilise more than 30 percent of the Serbian capital’s youth in 1991/92.

Under the stage name of "Rambo Amadeus", the singer Antonje Pusic was another major voice against the Serbian regime. Rambo began his career by playing a style he called "Turbo Folk" – a name that was later adopted by the Neo-folk scene. The first time that Rambo was truly recognised by a larger audience, was during the December 1992 election campaign at the live national telecast of the "Beogradski Rock" concert at the Serbian capital’s "Sava centar" Hall. He interrupted Pop singer Bebi Dol’s performance by taking the microphone from her and screaming to the audience: "What’s up, mother-fucking stupid election body? Having fun while they are bombing Dubrovnik, Vukovar and Tuzla?" After which Rambo threw the microphone onto the stage and stepped back. Due to this incident the broadcast was interrupted – a heavy blow to Serbia’s regime who controlled the country foremost through media manipulation.

Developments in Croatia were rather different. Unlike Serbia, where no fighting erupted, in 1991 the breakaway Republic had become the victim of war. Clashes between the newly formed Croatian forces and JNA and Serb allies, were perceived by most Croatians as a personal attack. Consequently, many Croatian Rock musicians joined the patriotic lines. In 1991 and ‘92 Croatia Records (ex-Jugoton), launched a series of patriotic recordings, under the motto "Rock Za Hrvatsku" (Rock for Croatia). Famous bands including Prljavo Kazalište and "Psihomodo Pop" contributed songs such as "Hrvatska Mora Pobijediti" (Croatia has to win) and even ad hoc bands with famous singers were especially formed in order to take part in the project. Considering the fact that the people behind the project were former Communist cultural administrators now turned heavy Nationalists, it is not too astonishing that most of the material can be described as a mixture of kitsch and Socialist realism.

Patriotism amongst Rock musicians diminished with the ending of the war in December 1991. The Croatian music scene suffered the loss of their original Trans-Yugoslav market. It quickly became apparent that this newly independent country was too small to be self sufficient, a realisation that led to the departure of many Croatian musicians. Others started to mix in with the local pop and even folk scenes in order to survive, a fusion that produced a particularly new style. It became Croatia’s answer to the Serbian Turbo-folk: cheaply produced Pop music with Dance floor and Disco elements. Differences aside, since the disassembling of the SFRJ, Croatia’s music scene had been suffering from exactly the same problems as Serbia’s. In October 1994, the members of the Punk outfit "KUD Idijoti" (Cultural Artistic Association "The Idiots") from Pula, told the Belgrade "YU rock magazine", that they had sold 10.000 copies before the war when they were now selling only 1.000

In neighbouring Bosnia, owing to conflicts between the JNA and regional forces in the spring of 1992, cultural life was almost completely brought to a standstill. The Belgrade bands Partibrejkers and Električni Orgazam had just finished playing in the republic‘s capital Sarajevo, when fighting erupted. It was to be the last concert to feature foreign bands for a long time. Throughout the war however, local Bosnian bands regularly played in urban centres such as Sarajevo, Tuzla or Banja Luka. With but a few exceptions, such as "Protest" and "Sikter" (Fuck You), most of Bosnia’s wartime bands ended their careers with the culmination of the war. Their music can be heard on "Rock Under The Siege", the live recording of a concert organised by the independent Radio station "Zid" (Wall) on January 14^th in the "Sloga" (concord) hall in Sarajevo’s centre - the first CD to be released in independent Bosnia-Herzegovina.

With the outbreak of war, all things integral for sustaining the Yugoslav music scene had become unfeasible. When in late 1990, private record companies had been gaining ground with unknown but promising bands, one year later the Rock and Roll infrastructure had almost completely disintegrated. This was particularly obvious in Bosnia, where the war had continued for nearby four years. "The scene was physically deserted, people were liquidated, eliminated”, says journalist Amir Misirlić a former cultural editor at the Sarajevo daily newspaper ”Oslobodjenje” (Liberation). ”During the war, many musicians left. Some didn‘t want to take part in the fighting, others had psychological problems. As a matter of fact, ahead of all other categories of people, it was musicians who left Sarajevo."

This is probably true for the whole of the former SFRJ. When the war in Bosnia ended in late 1995, there were colonies of former SFRJ Rock aficionados living in most of the larger European cities, as well as those parts of the country where fighting had not taken place. Back home, due to almost five years of conflict the society that had produced and nurtured Rock culture had ceased to exist. Nevertheless, Yugoslav Rock music never completely died out.

As it was impossible to stage concerts in the war-ridden cities of previous years, Slovenia - where war had taken only eleven days - became the first stronghold of a ”Yugo-Rock” revival. Already by the end of 1992, Rock fans such as the aforementioned Bosnian Misirlić, who were living as refugees in the newly independent republic, started to work as DJs. They organised dance parties that featured music from SFRJ’s happier years. The need for conciliatory get-togethers where such music could be heard, meant that "YU-Rock" parties soon became popular amongst Ex-Yugoslav refugees living in various European cities.

With the former SFRJ republics now official enemies, the first Ex-Yugoslav Rock concerts were held on neutral ground. Berlin and Prague played host to the "Ko to tamo pjeva?" (Who sings there?) concerts that took place in September 1993. The line-up included Ekatarina Velika, the Partibrejkers, Električni Orgazam and Zagreb’s Vještice (Witches) – an anti-war benefit raising money to help refugees from all sides and all nationalities. An event that was particularly risky for the Croatians involved, as co-operation with Serbs at that time, was generally considered as undesirable by many of their countrymen. However at the end of both concerts, Vještice enthusiastically joined in the Rimtutituki Band’s anti-war song "Mir, Brate" Mir" together with fellow musicians from Belgrade.

From 1993/94, bands from Serbia started to regularly play in Slovenia’s capital Ljubljana again. Later, the concerts that were held in smaller towns along the border to Croatia - where Serbian citizens were not allowed to enter - became frequent triumphs for bands from Belgrade, Novi Sad or Subotica as people from both republics were able to come, including the Bosnian refugees living in Croatia as well as Slovenia. The "Zgaga"-festival in particular, became a platform for bands from all parts of the former SFRJ. Due to the peaceful manner in which these supposed enemies came together in Zgaga, the festival was nick-named "Balkanski Vudstok" (Balkan Woodstock).

Several ex-Yugoslav Rock musicians living abroad became anti-war activists. In 1993, a CD and LP called "The Dignity Of Human Being Is Vulnerable" was released in the Netherlands It Included songs by various international Punk Rock acts and was accompanied with a punk-style booklet featuring strong anti-war texts, pictures and cartoons. The project was organised by Momir Stošić, a Punk Rocker and former fanzine editor from Novi Sad who was the guitarist in the local band ”The Refugees” before the war began. In 1991, Stošić left his country when the JNA tried to mobilise him to fight in Croatia. In the Dutch city of Groningen, he founded ”Anti-War-Action” (AWA), an association of musicians, promoters and fans in exile, to help finance and promote Ex-Yugoslavia’s anti war movement.

With the war ending in late 1995, a handful of the remaining Rock musicians and fans in Sarajevo founded "B.o.c.k.", an association set up to revitalise the city’s once vivid music scene. Under the name "Blues akšam" (Blues evening), B.o.c.k. organised the first club concerts in the basement bar of the Bosnian capital’s ”Centar za Fizičku Kulturu” (Centre for physical culture, FIS). Local and foreign musicians working for the International Community agencies or Non-Governmental Organisations who were active in Bosnia, also took part. They were joined by very young musicians who had been stuck in Bosnian enclaves on Serb and Croat territory during the war and who were now drifting into Sarajevo, the country’s only remaining urban centre.

Rock musicians abroad also offered their support to the Ex-Yugoslav Rock scene. At the beginning of 1996, various Punk musicians involved with the Berlin squatter scene, invited three bands from Sarajevo to play under the motto "Berlin Bands for Bosnia". Only a few months after fighting had ceased in the spring of 1996, the "Moron Brothers", Protest and Sikter came to perform and record in the German capital. In return, the Punk band "Berts Rache" (Bert’s Revenge), the German-Russian Fusion line up "C.W. Moss" and the Ska and Reggae bands "Time Tough" and "Raggatacke" played in the Croatian town of Pula and the Bosnian cities Mostar, Tuzla and Sarajevo in the summer of the same year.

However, the very first foreign band to play the capital of independent Bosnia came from ex- Yugoslavia. Slovenia’s Laibach were invited to perform in Sarajevo by Radio Zid, on November 20^th and 21^st 1995 – just a few days after the fighting stopped in and around Sarajevo. Recordings from both appearances are to be found on the band’s album "Occupied Europe Tour NATO 1994-95" – the title showing the band’s dedication to politics with a continuing criticism of ideologies that had not weakened with the fall of Communism. The second foreign act to visit Bosnia was also Slovenian: ”Lačni Franz” (Hungry Francis) from Maribor played Sarajevo’s ”Akademija” club in April, 1996.

In Serbia and Montenegro, the major function of Rock music during the years of war was to give a voice to those who stayed even though they were against the Milošević regime’s battles in Croatia and Bosnia and - at the sam time - victims of the economical and social breakdown this involvement caused. An estimated 400.000 people left Serbia in the nineties. Although there was no fighting, the country was a mess. The regime was hard to differentiate from the internationally wanted criminals like Željko Ražnjatović ”Arkan” it obviously hosted and even protected. Crime became an everyday phenomenon in the two republics now known as the "Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" SRJ. Vladimir Jerić, the singer of the Belgrade band "Darkwood Dub" describes the connection between his band and their audience: "The only thing we have in common is that we’re still here, still alive and still making music".

Darkwood Dub is one of the most original new sounds in the whole of Ex-Yugoslavia. Inspired by Sonic Youth, Can, Captain Beefheart, the Velvet Underground and, as their name suggests, dub reggae, they began to assemble a fractured, spindly Jazz-Punk-Funk, layered with cryptic poetry. Together with acts like ”Deca Loših Muzičara” (Children Of Bad Musicians) or the Belgrade Ska / Oi! outfit ”Direktori”, Darkwood Dub played a crucial role in the demonstrations against Milošević’s election fraud in 1996/97. On the other side of the former frontline, Croatian Rock bands played out manifestations against their regime when authocratic President Franjo Tudjman tried to close down Zagreb’s critical student "Radio 101" station in 1997. The band "Pips, Chips and Video Clips", dedicated their Punk anthem "Dinamo, ja te volim" (Dynamo, I Love You) to the country’s protesting football fans, after Tudjman renamed the capital’s soccer club from "Dinamo" to "Croatia Zagreb".

For the Ex-Yugoslav Rock scene, war finished on June 19^th 1998. On this date, two and a half years after fighting had stopped in Bosnia, Belgrade’s Rambo Amadeus played Sarajevo - the first Serbian musician since 1991. The concert in the traditional Rock and Jazz Sloga hall was a triumph – and broke the last ice separating the Bosnian and the SRJ’s Rock scenes. With his concerts on former enemy soil, anti-war activist Rambo had showed that it was not dangerous for Serbian musicians to play in Bosnia any more. His example was soon followed by other Rock singers and bands from Serbia and Montenegro. In return, Sarajevo’s legendary Indexi payed a first post-war visit to SRJ. In 1998, they played in the Montenegrin towns of Nikšić and Podgorica, followed by a spectaculous concert in Belgrade’s Sava Centre. In terms of Rock music, Yugoslavia was reunited.

The Kosovo war of 1999, during which the Western military alliance NATO bombed the SRJ, only briefly interrupted this reconciliation process. Very few Rock musicians fell for the regime’s trap of joining patriotic lines. On November 29^th 2000, Rambo Amadeus had the honour of being the first Rock musician to welcome the fall of Serbia’s strongman Milošević - from the stage amidst the masses of people who had gathered in front of the Yugoslav parliament in Belgrade. Now, the Serbian audience were able to enjoy their post-war Rock and Roll freedom, too. At the beginning of December 2000, the aforementioned KUD Idijoti from Pula, were the first Croatian act to play Serbia since 1991 – again a band who had, in their homeland Croatia, been harsh critics of their Nationalist regime.

Only a few weeks later, Darko Rundek, the former front man of Zagreb’s Rock and Reggae legend Haustor, played two concerts in Belgrade’s "Studentski Kulturni Centar" SKC (Student Cultural Centre). The former stronghold of the Milošević regime was packed with fans of all ages, crying when Rundek sang ”Ona se budi” (She gets up), a song originally by Ekatarina Velika’ s Milan Mladenović who had died in 1994. As the tickets for Rundek’s two concerts had sold out within three hours, the organisers rushed to organise another venue for an additional concert. If at all possible, Rundek’s third stage appearance in post-war / post-Milošević Serbia, held on 23^rd December 2000, was an even greater success than the previous two concerts.

Since then, most of the well known musicians from Zagreb have played Belgrade and other cities in Serbia. Perhaps even more importantly, bands who had just began when Yugoslavia broke up, started touring the new neighbouring countries. Young bands from Croatia, some ten years after the break up of united Yugoslavia, find out what Croatian Rock musicians in SFRJ had already known in the sixties: That the best audience is in Belgrade. Piecing things together, Belgrade Rock journalist Petar Janjatović said in a radio interview in winter 2001: ”I guess that what happened to the Serbian Rock scene in the course of the last 10 years, is much better than we deserved. Indeed, a very lively Rock and Roll scene emerged from the years of war."

Although there’s a certain revival of Rock and Pop culture that can be observed since the borders within the former SFRJ have become passable, perspectives for the Post-Yugoslav Rock scenes don’t look too bright. Firstly, this part of Europe has become one of the economically weakest places on the continent. According to the International Community’s High Representative in Bosnia, Wolfgang Petritsch, 75 percent of the ex-Yugoslav republic are unemployed. There are only three factories in Bosnia, and 90 percent of the existing jobs are linked directly or indirectly to the International Community. The figures for other parts of the former SFRJ are just as bleak. From an economic perspective, it seems that the Slovenian market is the only market that’s strong enough to really support a music scene.

In the previous ten years, going to concerts, buying albums and travelling to events in larger cities has become such a luxury. Contact between the various Ex-Yugoslav cities has been dramatically reduced due to poverty and travelling restrictions. Perhaps even more importantly, Ex-Yugoslavia has lost touch with the culture in West metropolis, too. New styles from New York or London, which had previously arrived within the course of a week, are now coming to the Balkans years later. Aside from this, tens of thousands of Ex-Yugoslav rockers have moved to Western Europe, Canada, the USA, Australia and other places remote from their areas of origin. Most of them can not afford to visit their homeland. At least something’s helping the distribution of (Ex-) Yugoslav Rock and Roll: Even the rarest of recordings are now easily obtainable via World Wide Web. However, a real revival of the Ex-Yugoslav scene can only be expected when living standards in post-Yugoslav countries return to at least a modest European level.

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