Popular music in Yugoslavia includes the pop and rock music of the former SFR Yugoslavia, including all their genres and subgenres. The scene included the constituent republics: SR Slovenia, SR Croatia, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SR Montenegro, SR Macedonia and SR Serbia and its subunits: SAP Vojvodina and SAP Kosovo. The pop and rock scene was a part of the general Music of Yugoslavia, which also included folk, classical music, jazz etc. Within Yugoslavia and internationally, the phrases ex-YU or ex-Yugoslav Pop and Rock both formally and informally generally to the SFRY period, though in some cases also to its successor the FR Yugoslavia including Serbia and Montenegro which existed until 2006 (such as the book title Ex YU rock enciklopedija 1960 - 2006).
Although sometimes considered as an Eastern Bloc country, the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was a founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement and as such, it was far more open to western influences compared to the other socialist states. Yugoslavs enjoyed freedom of travel greater than that of other socialist states and had an easy access to Western popular culture. The western-influenced pop and rock music was socially accepted, the Yugoslav pop and rock music scene was well developed and covered in the media, which included numerous magazines, radio and TV shows. Numerous artists even played for president Josip Broz Tito himself, notably Bijelo Dugme, Zdravko Čolić and Rani Mraz. SFR Yugoslavia was the only communist country which was taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest. It joined in 1961 even before some Western and NATO nations such as Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Turkey, which joined in 1964, 1965, 1974 and 1975 respectively.
One of the first stars in the former Socialist Yugoslavia and one of its first internationally acclaimed artists, was the traditional pop singer Ivo Robić from Croatia, who emerged in the Yugoslav music scene in the late 1940s. Later, he went abroad, where he made a successful international career. He was the original performer of the Strangers in the Night song by Bert Kaempfert, predating Frank Sinatra who recorded his version later in 1966.
Robić closely cooperated with Kaempfert throughout most of his career. In the early 1960s, after seeing a promising young act from England performing at the Top Ten Club in Hamburg, Robić convinced Kaempfert, who was Polydor's agent, to help those youngsters in their career. Kaempfert accepted and thanks to him the group was hired to record together with the then popular Tony Sheridan. The young group was The Beatles. Those were their first commercial recordings ever, including "My Bonnie", "Ain't She Sweet" and "Cry for a Shadow". That album was released in numerous versions such as In the Beginning (Circa 1960), The Beatles' First and Beatles Bop - Hamburg Days.
The rock and roll scene in Yugoslavia started to emerge in the 1950s influenced by the classic rock and roll and rockabilly acts such as Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Bill Haley, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly and others. Many young people started to play this new "electric music", as they called it, naming themselves "električari", but one of the first who rose to prominence was the guitarist Mile Lojpur from Belgrade (born in Zrenjanin in 1930). He was tributed by many musicians later, notably by Nikola Čuturilo. Other eminent act that started in the 1950s rock 'n' roll scene was Karlo Metikoš from Zagreb, who after moving to Paris started an international career under the pseudonym Matt Collins. He recorded for Philips Records and had an opportunity to meet legends such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Paul Anka.
A notable singer who emerged in the late 1950s was Đorđe Marjanović, who became the first Yugoslav megastar.
The beginning of the 1960s saw the emergence of numerous bands, many of them initially inspired by the then-popular Cliff Richard and The Shadows: in 1960 Uragani were formed in Rijeka,[1][2] Bijele Strijele and Siluete, formed in 1961; the Zagreb-based Crveni Koralji and Belgrade's Zlatni Dečaci in 1962; in 1963 two other important Belgrade bands were formed, Samonikli and Crni Biseri, the latter featuring Vlada Janković-Džet, a prominent Yugoslav musician, who got his nickname after Jet Harris. The Zagreb-based Delfini were also formed the same year. After the British invasion, many of these bands later moved on to British rhythm and blues. In Skopje, a popular 1960s rock 'n' roll group was formed named Bisbez who were considered "The Macedonian Beatles". They were formed by merging two already existing bands Biseri and Bezimeni.
The 1960s also saw the expansion of Beatlemania. Many new bands formed influenced by The Beatles or by the Rolling Stones, both of whom had large fanbases in SFR Yugoslavia. There were frequent arguments between the fans of both groups, though not necessarily violent. One of the important source of information for the youths to stay up-to-date with the rock music developments around the world was Radio Luxembourg. Certain British artists held concerts in Yugoslavia (e.g. The Searchers, The Hollies) and also Yugoslav artists performed around Europe, especially neighbouring Italy and Austria. On the border with Italy, several Yugoslav-Italian beat music festivals took place.
In the mid-1960s many bands such as Džentlmeni, Roboti and the reformed Siluete were influenced by the rhythm and blues artists, while others were more pop oriented. Mod oriented bands also emerged. The most popular foreign bands were The Animals, The Byrds, The Monkees The Kinks, The Who, Manfred Mann and others. The garage rock sound (also labeled as "1960s Punk") was also popular. The charismatic frontman of Siluete, Zoran Miščević, became an idol of the new generation and a sex symbol. The band had a bad reputation for causing scandals and riots at their concerts. Their main rivals were the group Elipse, which, after getting a new vocalist, the African student from Congo Edi Dekeng, went on to play soul music.
The prominent Croatian singer Tereza Kesovija represented Monaco at the Eurovision Song Contest 1966.
One of the most eminent and influential former Yugoslav group formed in the 1960s was Indexi. They were formed in Sarajevo in 1962. In their early beginnings they were notably influenced by The Shadows and later by The Beatles. Along with the numerous evergreen songs they wrote featuring Davorin Popović's trademark nasal voice, they also covered the Beatles song "Nowhere Man". In some of their songs they also experimented with the sound in a similar way to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Indexi gradually moved to a more psychedelic sound, with more complex guitar and keyboard solos adding occasional folk and even classical music elements. One of the band's notable members Kornelije Kovač, left Indeksi to form another legendary band, Korni Grupa, in Belgrade in 1968.
As the end of the 1960s was approaching, the hippie movement expanded around the world as well as in SFR Yugoslavia. Notable group was the Croatian-based Grupa 220, which during a certain period featured Piko Stančić. Later he rose to one of the most important musicians, producers and arrangers in the whole former Yugoslav scene.
Under influences such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, many young people embraced the acoustic sound and thus were called "akustičari" contrary to električari" (transl. electricians). Prominent acoustic artist was Ivica Percl, formerly of Roboti. He was an acoustic musician and peace activist playing guitar and harmonica influenced by Bob Dylan and Donovan.
The year of 1968 was marked by youth protests around the world including massive student demonstrations in many cities all over SFR Yugoslavia.
Another popular act at the time was the group Ambasadori. One of the members of both Ambasadori and Korni Grupa was Zdravko Čolić, who went solo later and was acclaimed as the biggest pop star in the former Yugoslavia. The most notable female vocalist was Josipa Lisac who still enjoys huge popularity across the former SFR Yugoslavia. Boba Stefanović was one of the most prominent Yugoslav male solo vocalists.
The Hippie era was marked by the musical Hair. Numerous subsequent productions were staged around the world since its American debut in 1967, for example in Germany, France, Italy, Switzerland, Brazil, Argentina, Israel and Japan. The Yugoslav production was the first staged in a Socialist state, and it was highly praised by the Hair's original authors Gerome Ragni and James Rado, who were travelling from one country to another to watch each of the performances. As Ragni said, they found the Belgrade show "so beautiful, so spontaneous that we had to go right on the stage to share their enthusiasm". While being in Belgrade he also added "There exist no middle-class prejudices here".[1]
Many pop music festivals existed across SFR Yugoslavia including the Split Festival, Opatija Festival, Beogradsko proleće in Belgrade, Skopje Fest, Vaš šlager sezone in Sarajevo, and later also Makfest in Štip was established. The family-friendly pop music played at those festivals was comparable to older Eurovision Song Contests, the German schlager genre, the Italian Sanremo Music Festival or the adult oriented pop music category.
The specific Dalmatian pop sound featuring local folk elements performed at festivals held along the touristy Adriatic coast was very popular and some of its most notable exponents were Oliver Dragojević and Mišo Kovač. Dragojević's first performance was at the "Split Children's Festival" in 1961 with the song "Baloni". In a competition of amateur singers, his cult band from Split, "Batali" won first place for their rendition of "Yesterday", a Beatles classic. In 1972, Oliver went abroad to further develop his craft. He played in clubs across Germany, Sweden and Mexico. His solo singing career began in 1974 at the Split Festival, where he won with the song "Ča će mi Copacabana".[3]
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A year later, composer Zdenko Runjić and Dragojević, released the song "Galeb i ja". It proved to be a big hit across the former SFR Yugoslavia and made Dragojević a household name. This was followed by hits "Romanca", "Oprosti mi, pape", "Stari morski vuk". Between 1975 and 1980, the Dragojević/Runjić duo dominated the music scene of the former SFR Yugoslavia. Part of the secret of their success was a third contributor, Jakša Fiamengo, who wrote the lyrics to some of Dragojević's most iconic songs, namely: "Nadalina", "Piva klapa ispod volta", "Karoca", "Ništa nova", "Infiša san u te", and "Ostavljam te samu".[4] In 1990, Dragojević won the Split Festival with Ti is moj san, and got third place at the Yugoslav selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Sreća je tamo gdje si ti, both in collaboration with Zorica Kondža.[5][6] His style blended traditional klapa melodies of Dalmatia with jazz motifs wrapped up in a modern production. For his influential musical career, he reached critical and commercial acclaim in Yugoslavia and later Croatia, and his music continues to be popular today in the ex-Yugoslavian countries. Dragojević achieved numerous accolades, including numerous Porin and Indexi awards. He is one of the few Croatian musicians who performed at major international venues such as Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall, L'Olympia and Sydney Opera House.[4]
The 1970s were marked by rock genres such as hard rock, progressive rock, jazz rock, art rock, glam rock, folk rock, symphonic rock, blues rock and boogie rock. In that period, some of the greatest Yugoslav stadium rock bands emerged: YU grupa, Time, Smak, Parni valjak, Atomsko Sklonište, Leb i Sol, Teška industrija and Galija.
In 1974 one of the most renowned rock groups ever formed in SFR Yugoslavia came to prominence, the Sarajevo based Bijelo Dugme, with Željko Bebek as its first singer.
Many foreign pop and rock stars visited Yugoslavia, including the Deep Purple concerts in Zagreb and Belgrade in 1975 with the local support acts Hobo and Smak in each of the cities respectively, and the Rolling Stones concert in Zagreb in 1976.
Several rock music festivals existed of which BOOM was one of the most popular. A rock music event that marked the decade, but also the Yugoslav rock history in general, was the Bijelo Dugme's concert at Hajdučka česma in Košutnjak Park in Belgrade on August 22, 1977, which was attended by around 80,000 people. (Parts of) the recorded material were released on the live album Koncert kod Hajdučke česme.
1975 saw the emergence of a very influential act, Buldožer from Slovenia, noted for its experimental rock, which was a reaction pointed against the musical scene of the time.
The Yugoslav scene also featured several notable singer-songwriters, who emphasized their poetry over music, and usually performed accompanying themselves by an acoustic guitar or piano. Some of them were inspired by the French chanson or folk rock. One of the first critically acclaimed singer-songwriters was the Croatian artist Arsen Dedić who started his career in the 1960s and is still popular in his homeland and around the former Yugoslav countries, especially among the older generation. Another important author was also Đorđe Balašević from Novi Sad. He started his music career in the 1970s as a member of Žetva and Rani Mraz, before beginning a very successful solo career that continued up to his death in 2021. Despite being into acoustic rock initially, later he often used various elements of pop and rock often spiced up either with typical Vojvodinian humour or a ballad type of melancholy. A notable female artist in this category was Jadranka Stojaković from Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. She was an author of the main music theme for the 1984 Winter Olympics held in Sarajevo. Since 1988, she resides in Japan. An artist notable for socially engaged lyrics was Marko Brecelj, formerly a member of Buldožer.
The disco craze spread around the world in the 1970s, conquering Yugoslavia as well. Similarly to the disco movie Saturday Night Fever, Zdravko Čolić became a sort of "Yugoslav John Travolta" dancing in stadiums across the country, dressed in a tight white suit and the then-fashionable bell-bottoms. At the legendary concert at the Belgrade stadium Marakana on September 5, 1978, about 70,000 people gathered to see him. The concert was also attended by representatives of a West German record label. Impressed by Čolić's popularity they offered him a record contract. He released the songs "Jedina" and "Zagrli me" for the Western German market and also an English language single featuring the songs "I'm not a Robot Man" and "Light Me". Čolić was offered to move to West Germany and start a career there, but he refused favouring the popularity he had at home. His song about a relationship with a posh girl "Pusti, Pusti modu" became a nationwide disco megahit in 1980. Despite that the disco fashion soon faded, Čolić continued his successful career as a pop music singer occasionally using folk music elements and remained popular in the former Yugoslav countries up to this day.
This era also brought in a one-hit wonder called Mirzino Jato, labeled by the media as kitschy euro disco band obviously influenced by Boney M., who were quite popular in Yugoslavia, especially after their only male member Bobby Farrell married a girl from Skopje's predominantly Romani inhabited municipality Šuto Orizari.[2] Mirzino Jato's style encompassed the deep, subwoofer shaking voice of Sarajevo opera and classical choir singer Mirza Alijagić and the three sexy back vocalists called "Jato" (trans. Flock). Music was written and produced by Divlje Jagode guitarist Sead Lipovača, while the author of most lyrics was Marina Tucaković, who later wrote lyrics for other musical styles. Despite their huge popularity at the time, Mirzino Jato never got past the first album. Its only considerable hit was "Apsolutno tvoj".
One of the best known dance songs in this period was also the Dado Topić's opening track of the 1979 film Nacionalna klasa starring Dragan Nikolić as Floyd, the fanatic car racer.
Gordi were one of the first Yugoslav heavy metal bands and are considered one of the pioneers of classic heavy metal in Yugoslavia. Hard rock group Riblja Čorba, known for their provocative social-related lyrics and controversial political attitudes of the band's frontman Bora Đorđević was one of the most important groups of the Yugoslav and Serbian rock in general. Riblja Čorba drummer Vicko Milatović formed heavy metal band Warriors, which later moved to Canada and recorded an album for the foreign market. The eminent heavy metal group Divlje Jagode from Bihać, led by guitarist Sead "Zele" Lipovača started a short-lasting international career in 1987 under the name Wild Strawberries. Another notable Bosnian hard rock group was Vatreni Poljubac led by charismatic Milić Vukašinović, formerly a member of Bijelo Dugme. Other notable hard rock and heavy metal bands include Generacija 5, Rok Mašina, Kerber and Griva from Serbia; Atomsko sklonište, Osmi Putnik (whose frontman Zlatan Stipišić Gibonni, later started a successful pop music career) and Crna Udovica (later changed their name to Big Blue) from Croatia; Pomaranča from Slovenia, and others. Yugoslav glam metal scene featured few acts, most notable being Krom, Karizma and Osvajači.
The Yugoslav punk rock scene emerged in the late 1970s, influenced by the first wave of punk rock bands from the United Kingdom and United States, such as Sex Pistols and The Clash and others, but also the proto-punk bands such as MC5, The Stooges and New York Dolls. The DIY punkzine scene also started to develop. The Yugoslav punk bands were the first punk bands ever formed in a socialist state. Some of the first ones were formed in SR Slovenia and SR Croatia: Pankrti from Ljubljana (formed in 1977) and Paraf from Rijeka (depending on the source, formed in 1976 or 1977). The Slovenian and Croatian scene of that period is featured in the compilation album Novi Punk Val, compiled by Igor Vidmar. Late 1970s-early 1980s Belgrade scene included: Urbana Gerila, Radnička Kontrola and many others. This generation of bands was included on the Artistička Radna Akcija compilation. Pekinška Patka was a cult band coming from Novi Sad. Some of the notable punk bands in SR Macedonia included: Fol Jazik, arguably the first punk band in Skopje, formed in 1978; Afektiven naboj from Struga formed in 1979 feat. Goran Trajkoski; Other notable acts from Skopje included Badmingtons and Saraceni, both led by Vladimir Petrovski Karter. In Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, the following artists emerged: Ozbiljno Pitanje (which later evolved into the pop-rock star band Crvena Jabuka), Ševa (which later evolved into Bombaj Štampa led by the charismatic Branko Đurić), and the cult band Zabranjeno Pušenje. These Sarajevian bands later formed the punk-inspired New Primitives movement, an important phenomenon in the former Yugoslav culture.
In the late 1970s, some punk bands were affiliated with the new wave music scene, and were labeled as both punk rock and new wave. During a certain period, the term "new wave music" was interchangeable with "punk".
The end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s saw the emergence of various subgenres of punk rock, such as street punk and Oi!. Later came hardcore punk, followed by various extreme styles such as crust punk, crossover thrash all the way to grindcore. Notable hardcore punk acts during the 1980s included: