Being a punk in SoCal during the early 80’s was not an easy thing to do or be, but compared to other parts of the world, we had it pretty good! I’m just saying – yeah, some of us came from fucked up hoods with mad gangs, but places like Yugoslavia were communist and dealing with a police state that brutally oppressed its people. None of this could stop the power of punk, because from the photos of Jože Suhadolnik you can see they had a killer scene during the 80’s. He said he knew people that were actually jailed by the secret police for being apart of this sub culture…Peep what he said about his own encounters with the boys in blue – “I got a pretty huge police file that I found later in 1992 when police files were opened after Slovenian independence. My file contains some 400 plus pages just because I was photographing punks, concerts and hanging around with, at that time, dissident poets and writers.” When I look at his work from this era, it’s hard not to notice how fucking stylish these kids were – you can really see the influence of Robert Smith and Siouxsie. Jože collected all of his photos into a book called Balkan Pank, which was published by Akina Books but is now sold out. Check out these stellar portraits of Yugoslavian Punks below…
Branko Nikolić
August 27, 2015 at 9:12 am
Dear Sean, you can’t imagine how it was. Beautiful days of my youth. You need to know that beeing a punk wasn’t a problem. It was really a joy. The other side of story is music scene in Yugoslavia. I must say that our scene was the strongest music scene in Europe after Brittish. No doubt about it. If you ever decide to visit this part of Earth I recomend Punk rock holiday. It is music festival in Tolmin, Slovenia. There we can meet and talk about unforgettable days from the 20th century. All the best from Belgrade,Serbia. And … don’t miss DEAD TO ME. They are back after two years, stronger than ever.
pailhead
August 27, 2015 at 9:01 am
The regime wasn’t actually that brutal and oppressive. Sure they compiled files, but I believe it was mostly because this was something new and unknown.
Also, the authorities in Slovenia were more liberal than in other republics (especially Serbia). I think i read an interview with the singer from Pekinska Patka (Novi Sad), where he mentioned being arrested or at least brought in for questioning. I think he said thats the reason behind their lyrics being so mellow. As long as it’s not challenging the establishment, it’s ok.
Again, this is something new and unknown, not a force that would bring down the communist order.
“Do you hate our great leader? No? Ok, go back to making that ruckus.”
Being a punk in Yugoslavia in the 80s must have been amazing, (just being in YU in the 80s would have been), but in the 90s and 2000s… it wasn’t 🙁
Effy Moon
August 27, 2015 at 5:54 am
Andrés
Robert Hecimovic
August 27, 2015 at 2:33 am
<3
https://sexa.bandcamp.com/album/u-ivo-iz-kopra-1986
Oana
August 27, 2015 at 1:35 am
Sean, in the 80’s, and even before that, no one was oppressed, really. Our parents that remember this time could travel, had work, went to amazing concerts. Our music scene was overall great, and musicians were respected members of the society. I could easily say that 90% of people would swap this quasi-democracy we now have for that communist period anytime.
xxxduf
August 26, 2015 at 5:25 pm
Well it was not really a police state…Yugoslavia was not part of eastern communist block. They had their own socialism and it was kind of pretty liberal if you compare it with other countries at that time. Actually whole point of yugoslavia is that it was independent from other communist countries, and thats why it was so proggresive in all aspects: economic, cultural…
Sergio Wiesengrund
August 26, 2015 at 2:46 pm
Carla Alfaro :))) hablando de
Carla Alfaro
August 26, 2015 at 6:24 pm
Esa es la galería que decía 🙂
Rusmir Murguz
August 26, 2015 at 10:10 am
kool
Yane Mendoza
August 26, 2015 at 8:16 am
Leitanm Reptil Neurotico <3
Kevin Gonzalez
August 26, 2015 at 8:11 am
Andrés Romero Michael Martin
Wiktor Skok
August 26, 2015 at 7:50 am
wattie exploited and animal from anti nowhere league as “yugo punks”? hahha
Arijana Karma Kovacevic
August 26, 2015 at 4:51 am
All of my yes!
Jonny Streety
August 26, 2015 at 4:33 am
Cool
Bianca Isabela
August 26, 2015 at 4:31 am
Goran
Šaran Somić
August 26, 2015 at 4:28 am
virgin prunes held a concert in yugoslavia?
Marko Pavlovic
August 26, 2015 at 4:07 am
Very cool.
Jake Welham
August 26, 2015 at 2:41 am
Jack Pitt This is around your area of interest, is it not?
Jack Pitt
August 26, 2015 at 4:27 am
It is! Did a blog about it myself ha. Cheers for the heads up though.
Jake Welham
August 26, 2015 at 4:29 am
I’ve not read it, just skimmed the photos, but I thought you might find it interesting haha
Jack Pitt
August 26, 2015 at 4:30 am
I interviewed the guy who took the photos as while back as well, just haven’t written anything up yet!
Jack Pitt
August 26, 2015 at 4:33 am
The stuff about Yugoslavia being brutally oppressive is a bit overboard tbh, the UK has Thatcher at the same time and she wasn’t much better.
Ivan K. Maras
August 26, 2015 at 2:19 am
Kurac too much <3
Marko Pavlovic
August 26, 2015 at 4:07 am
Hahaha.
Dean Frank
August 26, 2015 at 2:09 am
Kurac too much.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkHY7WR1j90
Sasha Li
August 26, 2015 at 1:25 am
Patrick Dooley
LumpySpaceKing
August 26, 2015 at 12:44 am
Fuck yea. And if anybody is interested in some decent yugoslavian punk check out bands like Pankrti, Pekinska Patka, Satan Panonski, elektricni orgazam, paraf, dobri isak…
Stefan Baumgartner
August 26, 2015 at 12:15 am
Chilli Ćevapčići
Markøö Tremi
August 26, 2015 at 12:04 am
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SpmBm792kY
David Muerte
August 26, 2015 at 12:11 am
awesome
Markøö Tremi
August 26, 2015 at 12:11 am
yugoslavian GG Allin
Gradimir Nadzor
August 26, 2015 at 2:14 am
Satan was indeed a really intriguing person
Reilly Deacey
August 26, 2015 at 12:04 am
Daniel Curtis
Ashleigh Stewart
August 26, 2015 at 12:03 am
Wonderful ♡ good share.