Plavi Orkestar

Plavi Orkestar are a pop rock band from Sarajevo, led by singer and guitarist Saša Lošić, and one of the most popular and best-selling acts of 1980s Yugoslav music. Lošić started the band in 1981, at sixteen, as Ševin Orkestar with drummer Admir Ćeremida, and by 1983 the steady line-up had come together with guitarist Mladen "Pava" Pavičić and Admir's twin brother Samir on bass. Since 1998 the band has been based in Slovenia.

"Goodbye Teens" first appeared on a Diskoton compilation in 1984. The debut album Soldatski bal came out on Jugoton in the spring of 1985, with guests including Nada Obrić, and by September Jugoton claimed 300,000 sales, the best-selling debut in Yugoslav pop history. Its hit "Bolje biti pijan nego star" drew criticism from cultural circles. That June the band played Red Star Stadium at YU Rock Misija, and on 14 September 1985 some 11,000 people filled Tašmajdan in Belgrade.

The second album, Smrt fašizmu! (1986), took up the "New Partisans" idea, a term coined by Goran Bregović of Bijelo Dugme, and was harshly reviewed. The band came back with the sentimental pop rock of Sunce na prozoru (1989), whose biggest hit was "Kaja", and Simpatija (1991), with "Sačuvaj zadnji ples za mene" and "Ljubi se istok i zapad", a version of "California Dreamin'". The war stopped their last Yugoslav tour, and after peace concerts in early 1992 the band ended.

In Slovenia Lošić wrote songs for Crvena Jabuka, Severina and Tanja Ribič, whose "Zbudi se" was Slovenia's Eurovision entry in 1997, and film music such as Pjer Žalica's Gori vatra. In 1998 he reunited with both Ćeremida brothers and guitarist Saša Zalepugin for Longplay, with "Ako su to samo bile laži", followed by Beskonačno (1999) and Sedam (2012), which featured Dragana Mirković. In 2025 the classic line-up, Pavičić included, played Arena Zagreb on 14 February, its first show together since 1992.

Soldatski bal was ranked 97th among the 100 greatest Yugoslav albums by Rolling Stone Croatia in 2015, B92 placed "Goodbye Teens" 97th on its list of domestic songs, and Teška Industrija covered "Bolje biti pijan nego star" in 2011. In the Rock Express Top 100 Yugoslav Rock Songs of All Times, chosen in 2000 by readers, critics and musicians, "Bolje biti pijan nego star" was ranked 75th.