Idoli

Idoli were a Serbian new wave band from Belgrade, officially formed at their first rehearsal on 1 March 1980 as VIS Idoli. The first line-up was Vlada Divljan on guitar and vocals, Zdenko Kolar on bass, Boža Jovanović on drums, Srđan Šaper on percussion and vocals and Nebojša Krstić on percussion. Divljan and Kolar had played together in Zvuk Ulice, and in 1979 the first Idoli line-up appeared in a youth magazine as "Dečaci" while graffiti announced the band around Belgrade.

They first played live at Belgrade's SKC in June 1980, released the single "Pomoć, pomoć" / "Retko te viđam sa devojkama" with the magazine Vidici, and won a prize at Festival Omladina that autumn with "Zašto su danas devojke ljute?". In 1981 they shared the compilation "Paket aranžman" with Električni Orgazam and Šarlo Akrobata, contributing four songs, among them "Maljčiki", whose video was banned on national TV after the Soviet embassy objected. The EP "VIS Idoli" (1981), produced by Ivan Stančić Piko of Film, followed, and Kokan Popović became the drummer that summer.

"Odbrana i poslednji dani" came out in early 1982: a concept album based on Borislav Pekić's novel of the same name, recorded over more than 400 hours with Goran Vejvoda. In 1998 YU 100 ranked it the greatest Yugoslav popular music album. In July 1982 Kolar was drafted and Branko Isaković of Bulevar took over the bass. "Čokolada" (1983), recorded in London with producer Bob Painter, went platinum, and its title track was the band's biggest commercial hit; "Bambina" came out as a single. After a concert in Ljubljana the band broke up in March 1984, and the soundtrack "Šest dana juna", mostly written by Divljan, with guest vocals by Mišo Kovač, came out under its name in 1985.

Divljan went on with a solo career, children's albums with Srđan Gojković Gile and the Old Stars Band, while Šaper and Krstić formed Dobrovoljno Pevačko Društvo in 1995. Vlada Divljan died in Vienna on 5 March 2015.

In the Rock Express Top 100 Yugoslav Rock Songs of All Times, compiled by the magazine Rock Express and published in 2000 from a poll of readers, journalists, critics and musicians, "Maljčiki" was ranked 32nd and "Kenozoik", from "Odbrana i poslednji dani", 55th. Idoli are also remembered for "Čokolada", "Bambina" and "Zašto su danas devojke ljute?".