Aerodrom

Aerodrom is a rock band from Zagreb, Croatia, formed in 1978 by guitarist, singer and songwriter Jurica "Jura" Pađen. Pađen had already made his name in Grupa 220 and as a co-founder of Parni Valjak, and when Parni Valjak went on hiatus in 1978 he started a band of his own. The first line-up had Zlatan Živković on vocals, Remo Krstanović Cartagine on bass, Paolo Sfeci on drums and Mladen Krajnik on keyboards. The name came from Pađen's relationship with a stewardess.

Aerodrom began as a progressive rock band. They played the BOOM Festival in Novi Sad in December 1978, opened for Bijelo Dugme in Belgrade in 1979 and signed to Jugoton, which released their debut album, Kad misli mi vrludaju, late in 1979, produced by Vedran Božić. Sfeci then left for Parni Valjak and Branko Knežević took over the drums.

The second album, Tango Bango (1981), recorded in Milan and produced by Piko Stančić, turned the band towards new wave and pop rock and gave them radio hits such as "Tvoje lice" and "Dobro se zabavljaj". Živković left that year and Pađen took over as lead singer. The third album, Obične ljubavne pjesme (1982), recorded in Sweden, became the band's biggest commercial success.

After Pađen's army service and a spring 1984 tour with Azra, Aerodrom released Dukat i pribadače (1984), produced by Rajko Dujmić, with "Fratello" and "Digni me visoko". Trojica u mraku (1986) was made as a trio, with Živković back on drums and vocals and Pađen producing, and when Živković moved to Australia in 1987 the band stopped.

Pađen then rejoined Azra, playing on Između krajnosti (1987) and the live Zadovoljština (1988), and in 1993 formed Pađen Band, which made three albums. In 2000 he brought Aerodrom back with Krajnik, bassist Tomislav Šojat and Živković, and the band has since released Na travi (2001), Rock @ Roll (2007, the first credited to Jurica Pađen & Aerodrom), the live Hitovi i legende (2009), Taktika noja (2012) and Dnevni rituali (2019). Pađen also played in the supergroup 4 Asa with Vlado Kalember, Alen Islamović and Rajko Dujmić, and his instrumental solo album Žicanje (2003) won a Fender award for best Croatian instrumental album.

Among the band's other well-known songs are "Što si u kavu stavila", "Otkazani let", "Stranac" and "Pozdrav sa bardo ravni". In the Rock Express Top 100 Yugoslav Rock Songs of All Times, compiled in 2000 by the Serbian magazine Rock Express from the votes of readers, critics and musicians, "Fratello" was ranked 87th.