Harbingers of the something fresh, rebellious and immensely different from stale toothless pop served at the time, Belgrade's rock band "Idoli" were caught here in the first bloom of the most appealing chapter in any musicians life, that initial energy and nerve that wants to break all the rules and barriers. It was the most inauspicious debut - simple, mini album with only six songs that Siniša Škarica from Zagreb's "Jugoton" somehow recognised as worth promoting and releasing on the most important recording company in the country.
Only six songs, but oh, what a collection. Today when we have artists overloading their CD albums with twenty-plus filler, this appears as genuinely encapsulation of everything that is essential about the band: fierce musicianship, sneering vocals and off-the-wall sense of humour. Considering that during the previous decade country was enamored of rough and decidedly rural "shepherd's rock" by Goran Bregović and his band "Bijelo Dugme" this was something completely different and urban. You can immediately tell that Vlada Divljan and his guys are not shepherds but city guys, probably nerdy students obsessed with girls and sex. Considering that these young punks wanted to turn they backs away from schlager establishment its somehow ironic that their biggest hit and song that put them on the map was old 1961. number by Đuza Stojiljković ("Devojko Mala") but to their defence it must be said they performed it without irony, with genuine sincerity and it it was a massive radio hit. (My music teacher in elementary school never recovered from it and she played it non-stop for in the breaks between the classes. Not surprisingly, at the ceremony of her retirement she made the assembled choir singing it.) On the other hand, me and my little pals in the school screamed "Malena" everywhere, it was just the coolest thing we ever heard, although we were just eleven and didn't even know what sex actually is, but we took it in all seriousness (today I find it hilarious).
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