Mrtva priroda


Mrtva priroda is the third studio album from Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band Riblja Čorba, released in 1981.
In 1998, the album was polled as the 19th on the list of 100 greatest Yugoslav rock and pop albums in the book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike. In 2015, the album was pronounced the 22nd on the list of 100 greatest Yugoslav albums published by Croatian edition of Rolling Stone.

Background and recording

For the first time, a Riblja Čorba album featured a song written entirely by the guitarist Momčilo Bajagić, "Ja sam se ložio na tebe". Nevertheless, Riblja Čorba frontman Bora Đorđević remained the band's main author, with six songs written by him.
The album was produced by John McCoy. In his 2011 book, Šta je pesnik hteo da kaže, Đorđević recalls how the band decided to hire McCoy:
Đorđević also states that the band was offered to record the album in one of the studios where Deep Purple had recorded Deep Purple In Rock, but turned it down, as PGP-RTB had just bought new equipment for their Studio V, so McCoy and Tony Taverner, who was in charge of recording, travelled to Belgrade.
Đorđević states that he did not want to put "Vetar duva, duva, duva", a short humorous song about cannabis, on the album, but was persuaded to do so by the rest of the members.

Album cover

The album cover was designed by Jugoslav Vlahović.

Personnel

Guest musicians

Additional personnel

Reception

Three weeks after the album was released it sold 100,000 copies, which made Mrtva Priroda the fastest-selling album in the history of Yugoslav rock music. By the end of the year it sold more than 450,000 copies. Several songs became hits: "Neću da ispadnem životinja", "Pekar, lekar, apotekar", "Volim, volim žene" and "Na zapadu ništa novo".

"Na zapadu ništa novo" scandal

"Na zapadu ništa novo" was the band's first song with overt political undertones.
As a result, Yugoslav Socialist Youth League's Bosnia-Herzegovina branch demanded Mrtva priroda be banned because of its lyrics "za ideale ginu budale" and "kreteni dižu bune i ginu". Arriving to Sarajevo in late February 1982 for a show at Skenderija as part of the album tour, Đorđević was forced into writing a public explanation for these specific lyrics that were deemed problematic. Still afraid that performing the song at the show might result in legal prosecution by the local communist authorities, the show organizers also made him sign a liability waiver in which he explicitly assumes any and all responsibility in a potential legal process.

Legacy

In 1998, the album was polled in 1998 as the 19th on the list of 100 greatest Yugoslav rock and pop albums in the book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike.
In 2015, the album was pronounced the 22nd on the list of 100 greatest Yugoslav albums published by Croatian edition of Rolling Stone. The magazine wrote:
In 2015 Mrtva priroda album cover was ranked the 8th on the list of 100 Greatest Album Covers of Yugoslav Rock published by web magazine Balkanrock.

Covers

  • Serbian girl group Aska included passages from "Volim, volim, volim, volim žene" and "Pekar, lekar, apotekar" into the medley "Koktel" on their 1982 album Disco Rock.
  • Serbian hardcore punk band Sick Mother Fakers released a cover of "Odlazak u grad" on their 1998 album Lako ćemo.
  • Serbian punk rock band Six Pack released a cover of "Na zapadu ništa novo" on their 2000 album Minut ćutanja.
  • Serbian pop punk band Lude Krawe released a cover of "Vetar duva, duva, duva" on their 2007 cover album Sve tuđe.