Ljubljana Punk: Ironists and Conceptualists
Joshua Rosenthal
Ljubljana is the birthplace of Yugoslav punk, a tradition that started in the 1960’s during the period of a united, socialist Yugoslavia and continues to this day. In this article, I give a brief overview of how this vibrant punk scene emerged in a socialist state, evolved, and continues to this day.
Yugoslavia emerged from the ashes of the Second World War. Its future ruler, a charismatic revolutionary named Josip Broz Tito, largely led its fight for liberation from the Nazi occupation. Tito founded the socialist Yugoslavia, which aligned neither with the Soviet Union nor the capitalist West. People were allowed to leave the country, travel to the nearby West, and experience its culture. Furthermore, while the constitution guaranteed free speech, censorship was still prevalent. These facts resulted in a situation where punk could be imported from the west, into socialist Yugoslavia, and punk bands could even be signed to a state record label, despite being critical of the state. Now the stage has been set for punk to enter Ljubljana.
Pankrti, "Gospodar," 1983.
According to Oskar Mulej, punk first arrived in Ljubljana in the 1970’s, as a new, rebellious musical style freshly imported from the capitalist United Kingdom. From this influence arose the Slovenian punk band Pankrti, meaning “The Bastards.” Pankrti was one of the first punk bands in the Ljubljana scene. As pointed out by by Mulej in the paper ““A Place Called Johnny Rotten Square: The Ljubljana Punk Scene and the Subversion of Socialist Yugoslavia,” Pankrti’s style was modeled largely on The Sex Pistols. So while this was not terribly innovative on a global scale, it did solidify the place of punk in Ljubljana.
Although Pankrti’s sound was derivative, the political message both was and wasn’t derivative. Pankrti, much like its main influence, The Sex Pistols, promoted a distinctly anti-establishment message. However, unlike The Sex Pistols, this anti-establishment message was rarely directly stated as criticism of the state, even if it was obvious to the fans of the band. This can be seen with Pankrti’s album cover for Darlings of the State, in which the lead singer is kissing the boots of a statue, implied to represent Tito, then the state’s leader. Of course, as Pankrti are not darlings of the state, it’s an ironic message that proudly proclaims that they aren’t going to be bootlickers for Tito or the state. Despite the anti-establishment message, a statue of someone other than Tito was used for the photo, to avoid censorship and excessive controversy. This sense of irreverence towards authority continues with their song “Master” in which they sing: “If I didn’t bow down // who would pat me on the head” and “everyone needs a master” (Lyrics translated by Gavrilo Došen). It was through this ironic praise of authority and western-derived sound that early punk in Ljubljana made its mark.
Otroci Socializma, "Soldier," 1983.
It didn’t take long for punk in Ljubljana to evolve and innovate its own sound. In this next phase of Ljubljana punk, Otroci Socializma, literally “The Children of Socialism,” led the way of innovation in Yugoslav punk. The most obvious of these innovations was the new sound, diverging from British influence to make something uniquely Slovenian. The sound itself is noticeably darker, so to speak. Mulej notes that the major development in this new era of Ljubljana punk was that the lyrics in many bands, most notably Otroci Socializma, became much more overtly political. To understand what this means, listen to “Vojak,” or “Soldier,” and compare that to Pankrti’s “Master.” The lyrics have also changed in style from the previous era of Slovene punk. Here are the lyrics from the 1983 song “Vojak”: “My homeland has bred a fighting spirit for some time now. // And me too, and me too, and me too. // And I, too, want to be a soldier. // What is wrong, what is wrong, what is wrong with me? // And me too, and me too, and me too, // And I, too, want to be a soldier.” So with Otroci Socializma the style of punk lyrics had changed in this new phase, from the clear cut and ironic to the more cryptic, political, and dark undertones present in “Vojak.”
At no point did punk stop evolving as the engine of cultural production known as Ljubljana. In Ljubljana, an increased presence and awareness of LGBT people in Yugoslavia was making itself clear. As the website B-turn points out in their article, “Hard Boson: top pro-gay tracks from ex-Yugoslavia,” it was in mid-80’s Ljubljana that the first LGBT film festival in Eastern Europe, Magnus, was established. Naturally out of this growing expression of LGBT identity in the mid 80’s came an incorporation of queer themes into music. Thus, Borghesia arose in the mid 80’s imbuing new Western influences into the local punk scene and adding an anti-nationalist and queer aesthetic. Along with the stylistic elements in lyrics pioneered by Otroci Socializma, Borghesia took influence from Joy Division and brought dark wave to Yugoslavia. The combination of innovations in Ljubljana’s punk scene, the stylistic influences of British post-punk, and a general sense of alienation from the dominant society led Borghesia to release “A.R.”. This song rejects the fundamental building blocks of a heteronormative society: marriage, family, and homeland. This rejection of heteronormative society was present throughout the work of Borghesia, from songs such as “Night Walks,” eventually turned into a music video with gay and BDSM imagery to shocking album covers that defy hetero-normative gender presentation.
There is one band that doesn’t really fit into this evolutionary framework of punk in Ljubljana, and that band is Laibach. Laibach was started in 1980 as an avant-garde punk band. Since its inception Laibach has been the subject of controversies usually accusing the avant-garde band of promoting totalitarianism in some form. So why do people think that Laibach is promoting totalitarianism? First of all, the group's namesake, Laibach, is what the occupying Nazis called Ljubljana. Secondly many of Laibach’s videos have a Nazi aesthetic so to speak. This point can be seen in the music video for “The State,” which uses the Nazi artistic principle of the “total work of art,” incorporating elements of many art forms into one. In the video, Laibach combines ballet, visual art, music, and theater all into one complete work of art. As recently as last year, Laibach even went to North Korea to perform for the state’s celebration of Liberation Day, which worried the late-night TV host John Oliver. So does this 80’s Slovenian avant-garde punk band really promote totalitarianism? Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek, would say not exactly. Rather they are subverting totalitarianism by overidentifying with it. According to this interpretation, Laibach is subverting totalitarianism because it is taking the system more seriously than the system takes itself. For example, Laibach covered a happy, apolitical Austrian song, “Life is Life,” to make a music video that almost seems to be about the Nazi idea of Lebensraum, and used much of the same imagery of Nazi propaganda promoting the idea. This was done without changing any of the lyrics, implying that some of the elements of this totalitarian ideology were always present in the music. Laibach exposed those totalitarian elements by bringing them to the forefront in their cover of the song. So it seems that Laibach’s aim is to expose totalitarianism present throughout everyday life through “overidentification.”
Laibach, "The State," 1985.
Works Cited
Bulc, Gregor. "Hard Bosom: Top Pro-gay Tracks from Ex-Yugoslavia (Part Two)." BTURN. N.p., 21 May 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2017.
Lydiya. “Slovenian Punk: A Brief Introduction.” MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL, 28 Oct. 2014, www.maximumrocknroll.com/slovenian-punk/. Accessed 26 Apr. 2017.
Mulej, Oskar. "A Place Called Johnny Rotten Square: The Ljubljana Punk Scene and the Subversion of Socialist Yugoslavia." A European Youth Revolt (2016): 189-202. Web.
What the Hell Is Laibach All About? Perf. Slavoj Zizek. Youtube. N.p., 11 Mar. 2009. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.
Wolfson, Richard. “Warriors of Weirdness.” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 4 Sept. 2003, www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3601856/Warriors-of-weirdness.html. Accessed 26 Apr. 2017.