Mrtva priroda

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 in which Deep Purple recorded Deep Purple In Rock, but refused, 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 and "Na zapadu ništa novo" scandal

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" (named after Erich Maria Remarque's novel All Quiet on the Western Front) was the band's first song with political undertones. Young Communist League of Yugoslavia's Bosnia-Herzegovina branch demanded Mrtva priroda be banned because of the lyrics "za ideale ginu budale" ("only fools die for their ideals") and "kreteni dižu bune i ginu" ("idiots organize uprisings and get killed") from the song. Arriving to Sarajevo to perform a concert during the album tour, Đorđević had to write an explanation for these problematic lyrics. The show organizers also made him sign a liability waiver regarding the performance of "Na zapadu ništa novo".

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 (YU 100: The Best albums of Yugoslav pop and rock music).

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:

Covers