Doživjeti stotu
Encyclopedia
Doživjeti stotu is the fifth studio album released by Yugoslav
rock band
Bijelo dugme
. The album is noted for the band's change of direction towards new wave
, in contrast to folkish
hard rock
on their previous releases.
Doživjeti stotu was being prepared and eventually released in the wake of the Yugoslav lifetime president Josip Broz Tito
's death. His passing on May 4, 1980 triggered an extended mourning period that saw most of the entertainment activities throughout the country temporarily quiet down.
Pre-recording rehearsals were held in Goran Bregović
's chalet
on Jahorina Mountain
, before actual sessions began at Radio Belgrade
's Studio 4 on October 6, 1980. Exactly two months later, on December 6, in anticipation of the album release, the 7" single "Dobro vam jutro Petrović Petre"/"Na zadnjem sjedištu moga auta" appeared in stores containing a song off the coming album as well as a B-side from the previous one
.
's death". Also, once the album itself came out, some complained about what they saw to be the "morbidity" of its three part sleeve, which depicts a cosmetic surgery
in line with the album's 'fear of getting old' theme. The sleeve was done by graphic designer Mirko Ilić
, artist closely associated with Yugoslav New Wave scene.
Unlike with previous studio albums, promoting Doživjeti stotu also included selling the shocked public on the whole new sound and radically different look.
Except for "Pristao sam biću sve što hoće" and "Pjesma mom mlađem bratu" every single track sounded much different from what came to be expected as Bijelo dugme sound over the previous 6–7 years, which is why the album was met with a lot of scepticism. However, bandleader Bregović was unapologetic as the group prepared to start a tour:
Still, many critics were not convinced, speculating the real reasons for the radical musical shift lay in Bregović feeling the creative heat from emerging Yugoslav acts at the time such as Riblja Čorba
and Azra
. Both of those bands exhibited clear social awareness with a pronounced political component in their lyrics, which is something Bregović tried to replicate for the very first time in his career on the track "Tramvaj kreće" and "Ha, ha, ha". Critics further accused Bregović of posturing and pandering
to a younger audience, speculating that his motives for latching on to the fresh New Wave sound have to do with his fear of Bijelo dugme seeming over the hill and out of touch, especially when compared to many younger, popular, and critically acclaimed Yugoslav New Wave
bands like Prljavo kazalište
, Šarlo Akrobata
, Film, Idoli, Haustor
, etc.
Other critics, however, found it conceivable that following a pinnacle year Bijelo dugme had in 1979 and the commercial heights they reached with Bitanga i princeza
album, Bregović sincerely wanted a change of pace, all of which he himself alluded to when he commented on how Doživjeti stotu fits in the group's overall opus:
As mentioned, the new album also brought a whole new look. Željko Bebek
shaved off his famous bushy mustache, while everyone in the band cut their hair short and started wearing white shirts and thin ties instead of the usual hard rock/glam rock outfit. Their signature platform boots and bell-bottoms
got replaced by sleak running shoes and tight pants.
The refrain
lyrics of their ska
themed "Ha, ha, ha" were used as a title for the New Wave various artists compilation album
Svi marš na ples!
.
Unlike the new sound which found some, albeit less vocal, sections of support, the reaction to the new visuals was much more unynamous - both the fans and the media pretty much hated it. Different press outlets had a field day ridiculing the band's new look with even the somewhat more serious Politika ekspres, daily that usually stayed away from such prosaic topics, proclaiming Bijelo dugme members to be "pale copies of Spandau Ballet
and Duran Duran
".
In the end, it wasn't just the press and dissatisfied fans taking shots at Bregović. Even his longtime collaborator and former Bijelo dugme drummer Milić Vukašinović
chimed in through a song on his new hard rock band Vatreni Poljubac's 1982 album Živio rock'n'roll. The album's title track features the following lyric:
In Serbo-Croatian language
:
Translation:
Note: Jasenko Houra was a member of the New Wave group Prljavo Kazalište
.
Presenting a clear disparaging reference to Bregović's new image posturing.http://www.inet.hr/~oberic/vatreni_poljubac.html Vukašinović further lampoons Bregović's sudden turn-around in another song ("Poštovani ska ska") from the same album:
In Serbo-Croatian:
Translation:
Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the Yugoslav state that existed from the abolition of the Yugoslav monarchy until it was dissolved in 1992 amid the Yugoslav Wars. It was a socialist state and a federation made up of six socialist republics: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia,...
rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme
Bijelo dugme was a highly influential former Yugoslav rock band, based in Sarajevo. Active between 1974 and 1989, it is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock...
. The album is noted for the band's change of direction towards new wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
, in contrast to folkish
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
on their previous releases.
Doživjeti stotu was being prepared and eventually released in the wake of the Yugoslav lifetime president Josip Broz Tito
Josip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
's death. His passing on May 4, 1980 triggered an extended mourning period that saw most of the entertainment activities throughout the country temporarily quiet down.
Pre-recording rehearsals were held in Goran Bregović
Goran Bregovic
Goran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...
's chalet
Chalet
A chalet , also called Swiss chalet, is a type of building or house, native to the Alpine region, made of wood, with a heavy, gently sloping roof with wide, well-supported eaves set at right angles to the front of the house.-Definition and origin:...
on Jahorina Mountain
Jahorina
Mount Jahorina , is a mountain in south-eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina, located southeast of Sarajevo within Republika Srpska. It borders fellow Olympic mountain Trebević...
, before actual sessions began at Radio Belgrade
Radio Belgrade
Radio Belgrade is a state-owned and operated radio station in Belgrade, Serbia.The predecessor of Radio Beograd, Radio Beograd-Rakovica, started its program in 1924 and was a part of a state wireless telegraph station. Radio Beograd, AD started in March 1929...
's Studio 4 on October 6, 1980. Exactly two months later, on December 6, in anticipation of the album release, the 7" single "Dobro vam jutro Petrović Petre"/"Na zadnjem sjedištu moga auta" appeared in stores containing a song off the coming album as well as a B-side from the previous one
Bitanga i princeza
Bitanga i princeza is the fourth studio album released by Yugoslav rock band Bijelo dugme.It is highly regarded as the band's most mature effort and is considered by both fans and critics alike to be one of Bijelo dugme’s finest works...
.
Reception and reaction
Immediately, the new song about a fictional character Petar Petrović received a radio ban due to the lyric "sve u finu materinu", which some found inappropriate "especially in the sensitive time following TitoJosip Broz Tito
Marshal Josip Broz Tito – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. While his presidency has been criticized as authoritarian, Tito was a popular public figure both in Yugoslavia and abroad, viewed as a unifying symbol for the nations of the Yugoslav federation...
's death". Also, once the album itself came out, some complained about what they saw to be the "morbidity" of its three part sleeve, which depicts a cosmetic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
in line with the album's 'fear of getting old' theme. The sleeve was done by graphic designer Mirko Ilić
Mirko Ilic
Mirko Ilić is Croatian and Bosnian graphic designer and comics artist based in New York.-Yugoslavian period:...
, artist closely associated with Yugoslav New Wave scene.
Unlike with previous studio albums, promoting Doživjeti stotu also included selling the shocked public on the whole new sound and radically different look.
Except for "Pristao sam biću sve što hoće" and "Pjesma mom mlađem bratu" every single track sounded much different from what came to be expected as Bijelo dugme sound over the previous 6–7 years, which is why the album was met with a lot of scepticism. However, bandleader Bregović was unapologetic as the group prepared to start a tour:
Still, many critics were not convinced, speculating the real reasons for the radical musical shift lay in Bregović feeling the creative heat from emerging Yugoslav acts at the time such as Riblja Čorba
Riblja Corba
Riblja Čorba is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band. Their presence on the scene has lasted from 1978 to today. They reached their peak of popularity in the 1980s, but it has declined in the 1990s, partly due to controversial political attitudes of the band's leader Bora Đorđević...
and Azra
Azra
Azra was a rock band from Zagreb that was popular across Yugoslavia in the 1980s. Azra was formed in 1977 by its frontman Branimir "Johnny" Štulić. The other two members of the original line-up were Mišo Hrnjak and Boris Leiner . The band is named after a verse from "Der Asra" by Heinrich Heine...
. Both of those bands exhibited clear social awareness with a pronounced political component in their lyrics, which is something Bregović tried to replicate for the very first time in his career on the track "Tramvaj kreće" and "Ha, ha, ha". Critics further accused Bregović of posturing and pandering
Pandering (politics)
Pandering is the act of expressing one's views in accordance with the likes of a group to which one is attempting to appeal. The term is most notably associated with politics...
to a younger audience, speculating that his motives for latching on to the fresh New Wave sound have to do with his fear of Bijelo dugme seeming over the hill and out of touch, especially when compared to many younger, popular, and critically acclaimed Yugoslav New Wave
Yugoslav New Wave
New Wave in Yugoslavia was the New Wave music scene of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
bands like Prljavo kazalište
Prljavo kazalište
Prljavo kazalište is a rock and roll band from Zagreb, Croatia. Since its formation in 1977, the group changed several music styles and line ups but remained one of the top acts of both the Croatian and the former Yugoslav rock scenes.-Beginnings:Prljavo kazalište was formed in 1977 in Dubrava,...
, Šarlo Akrobata
Šarlo Akrobata
Šarlo Akrobata were a seminal Yugoslav rock band often categorized as late punk or New Wave, particularly art-oriented. Short-lived but extremely influential, in addition to being one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav New Wave scene, the three piece left an indelible mark on the entire...
, Film, Idoli, Haustor
Haustor
Haustor was a rock band from Zagreb, SR Croatia, a member of the Novi val movement, and an important act of the former Yugoslav Rock scene.- Biography :...
, etc.
Other critics, however, found it conceivable that following a pinnacle year Bijelo dugme had in 1979 and the commercial heights they reached with Bitanga i princeza
Bitanga i princeza
Bitanga i princeza is the fourth studio album released by Yugoslav rock band Bijelo dugme.It is highly regarded as the band's most mature effort and is considered by both fans and critics alike to be one of Bijelo dugme’s finest works...
album, Bregović sincerely wanted a change of pace, all of which he himself alluded to when he commented on how Doživjeti stotu fits in the group's overall opus:
As mentioned, the new album also brought a whole new look. Željko Bebek
Željko Bebek
Želimir "Željko" Bebek is a popular Bosnian Croat singer most notable for being the lead vocalist of Bijelo dugme from 1974 to 1984....
shaved off his famous bushy mustache, while everyone in the band cut their hair short and started wearing white shirts and thin ties instead of the usual hard rock/glam rock outfit. Their signature platform boots and bell-bottoms
Bell-bottoms
Bell-bottoms are trousers that become wider from the knees downward. Related styles include flare, loon pants and boot-cut/leg trousers. Hip-huggers are bell-bottomed, flare, or boot-cut pants that are fitted tightly around the hips and thighs.-Naval origins:Bell-bottoms' precise origins are...
got replaced by sleak running shoes and tight pants.
The refrain
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
lyrics of their ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
themed "Ha, ha, ha" were used as a title for the New Wave various artists compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
Svi marš na ples!
Svi marš na ples!
Svi marš na ples! is a compilation album released by Jugoton in 1981 in SFR Yugoslavia.The compilation features various pop and rock artists, mostly from the local new wave scene...
.
Unlike the new sound which found some, albeit less vocal, sections of support, the reaction to the new visuals was much more unynamous - both the fans and the media pretty much hated it. Different press outlets had a field day ridiculing the band's new look with even the somewhat more serious Politika ekspres, daily that usually stayed away from such prosaic topics, proclaiming Bijelo dugme members to be "pale copies of Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet
Spandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...
and Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
".
In the end, it wasn't just the press and dissatisfied fans taking shots at Bregović. Even his longtime collaborator and former Bijelo dugme drummer Milić Vukašinović
Milic Vukašinovic
Milić Vukašinović, a.k.a. Mitch Valiant is a musician from Serbia of Yugoslavian ethnicity. He was the founder of the rock band Vatreni Poljubac and drummer of the famous Yugoslav band Bijelo dugme.Born in Belgrade, he moved with his family to Peć when he was 6 years old...
chimed in through a song on his new hard rock band Vatreni Poljubac's 1982 album Živio rock'n'roll. The album's title track features the following lyric:
In Serbo-Croatian language
Serbo-Croatian language
Serbo-Croatian or Serbo-Croat, less commonly Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian , is a South Slavic language with multiple standards and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro...
:
-
- I moj stari drug se šiš'o
- sad maše gitarom k'o Houra
- nije to zbog love, nije,
- on se samo osjeća mlad
- sutra i da glavu brije
- on će prvi biti rad.
Translation:
-
- My old friend got a haircut too
- now he's fooling around with the guitar like Houra
- its not about the money, oh not at all
- he's just feeling young
- even to shave his whole head tomorrow
- he will be the first one to gladly do it.
Note: Jasenko Houra was a member of the New Wave group Prljavo Kazalište
Prljavo kazalište
Prljavo kazalište is a rock and roll band from Zagreb, Croatia. Since its formation in 1977, the group changed several music styles and line ups but remained one of the top acts of both the Croatian and the former Yugoslav rock scenes.-Beginnings:Prljavo kazalište was formed in 1977 in Dubrava,...
.
Presenting a clear disparaging reference to Bregović's new image posturing.http://www.inet.hr/~oberic/vatreni_poljubac.html Vukašinović further lampoons Bregović's sudden turn-around in another song ("Poštovani ska ska") from the same album:
In Serbo-Croatian:
-
- Poštovani ska ska, frizura ti je kratka, ti si šik
- Poštovani ska ska, sad ekranom vlada tvoj lik
- Žao mi je ali ipak ne možemo ja i ti.
Translation:
-
- Dear Mr. SkaSkaSka |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
Ska your haircut is short, you are chicChic (style)Chic , meaning 'stylish' or 'smart', is an element of fashion.-Etymology:Chic is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s... - Dear Mr. Ska Ska, now your face is on every screen
- Sorry, but we cannot go along anymore.
- Dear Mr. Ska
Track listing
- "Doživjeti stotu" (Bregović) – 3:12
- "Lova" (Duško TrifunovićDuško TrifunovicDuško Trifunović was a Serbian poet and writer....
, Bregović) – 2:49 - "Tramvaj kreće (ili Kako biti heroj u ova šugava vremena)" (Bregović) – 3:14
- "Hotel, motel" (Bregović) – 3:33
- "Pjesma mom mlađem bratu (iz Niša u proljeće '78)" (Bregović) – 4:14
- "Čudesno jutro u krevetu gđe. Petrović" (Bregović) – 2:29
- "Mogla je biti prosta priča" (Bregović) – 2:47
- "Ha, ha, ha" (Bregović) – 3:10
- "Zažmiri i broj" (Bregović) – 3:45
- "Pristao sam biću sve što hoće" (Trifunović, Bregović) – 3:01
Band members
- Goran BregovićGoran BregovicGoran Bregović is one of the most internationally known modern musicians and composers of the Balkans. He currently splits his time between Paris and Belgrade, where he settled down during the Yugoslav Wars.Bregović has composed for such varied artists as Iggy Pop and Cesária Évora...
- guitar - Željko BebekŽeljko BebekŽelimir "Željko" Bebek is a popular Bosnian Croat singer most notable for being the lead vocalist of Bijelo dugme from 1974 to 1984....
- vocals - Zoran RedžićZoran RedžicZoran Redžić is a Bosnian musician, best known for playing the bass guitar in the popular Yugoslav rock band Bijelo Dugme....
- bass - Điđi Jankelić - drums
- Vlado PravdićVlado PravdicVlado Pravdić is a Bosnian musician most famous as the organist of the Yugoslav rock group Bijelo dugme from 1974 to 1976 and again from 1978 to 1987....
- keyboard