page_title: Bijelo Dugme
section_title: "Shepherd rock" years: rise to fame and "Dugmemania" (1974–79)
hierarchical_section_title: Bijelo Dugme / History / Željko Bebek years (1974–84) / "Shepherd rock" years: rise to fame and "Dugmemania" (1974–79)
caption_attribution_description: Bosanski: Veljko Despot i Bijelo dugme, 1975. English: Veljko Despot and Bijelo dugme, 1975.
context_page_description: Bijelo Dugme was a Yugoslav rock band, formed in Sarajevo, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bijelo Dugme is widely considered to have been the most popular band ever to exist in the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and one of the most important acts of the Yugoslav rock scene.
  Bijelo Dugme was officially formed in 1974, although the members of the default lineup, guitarist Goran Bregović, vocalist Željko Bebek, drummer Ipe Ivandić, keyboardist Vlado Pravdić and bass guitarist Zoran Redžić, were previously active under the name Jutro. The band's debut album Kad bi bio bijelo dugme, released in 1974, brought them nationwide popularity with its Balkan folk-influenced hard rock sound. The band's future several releases, featuring similar sound, maintained their huge popularity, described by the media as "Dugmemania", and the band's work, especially their symphonic ballads with poetic lyrics, was also widely praised by the critics. In the early 1980s, with the emergence of Yugoslav new wave scene, the band moved towards new wave, managing to remain one of the most popular bands in the country.
context_section_description: In January 1974, with Borota, the band finished their work on the "Top" and "Ove ću noći naći blues" recordings. The band and Borota offered these recordings to the Sarajevo-based record label Diskoton. The label's top executive Slobodan Vujović refused them, stating that there was already a great number of signed acts and that Bijelo Dugme would have to wait for at least six months for the single to be released. This is widely considered the greatest business mistake in the history of Yugoslav record publishing. On the same day the band were refused by Diskoton, they were offered a five-year contract with Zagreb-based Jugoton. On March 29, 1974, "Top" and "Ove ću noći naći blues" were released on a 7" single. Bijelo Dugme's first release would be sold in 30,000 copies.
  The band started promoting the single, performing mostly in smaller towns. Stanković, unsatisfied with the agreement that only Bregović would compose the band's songs and feeling he did not fit in with the rest of the members, continued to perform with Bijelo Dugme, but avoided any deeper relations. Soon after, Bregović, Bebek, Ivandić and Pravdić decided to exclude him from the band. Redžić was invited to join the band, which he accpeted, despite his previous conflict with Bregović. The following 7" single, featuring songs "Glavni junak jedne knjige" ("The Main Character of a Book"), with lyrics written by poet Duško Trifunović, and "Bila mama Kukunka, bio tata Taranta" ("There Was Mommy Kukunka, There Was Daddy Taranta"), was almost at the same time released by both Jugoton and Diskoton, as Bregović signed contracts with both of the labels. This scandal brought huge press covering and increased the record sale.
  The band had their first bigger performance at the 1974 BOOM Festival in Ljubljana, where they were announced as "the new hopes". The live version of "Ove ću noći naći blues" appeared on the double live album Pop Festival Ljubljana '74 - BOOM. This was also Bijelo Dugme's first performance on which the members of the group appeared in their glam rock outfits, which brought them new attention of the media. The band spent the summer performing in Cavtat and preparing songs for their first album. They soon released their third single, with the songs "Da sam pekar" ("If I Was a Baker") and "Selma". "Da sam pekar" was musically inspired by the traditional "deaf kolo", while "Selma", with lyrics written by poet Vlado Dijak, was a hard rock ballad. Some 100,000 copies of the single were sold, becoming Bijelo Dugme's first gold record.
  During September, the band performed as the opening band for Tihomir "Pop" Asanović's Jugoslovenska Pop Selekcija, and during the October, in studio Akademik in Ljubljana, they recorded their debut album Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme. Several days before the album release, wanting to appear in the media as much as possible, Bijelo Dugme performed at the Skopje Festival, playing the song "Edna nadež" ("One Hope") by composer Grigor Koprov. Bregović later described this event as "the greatest disgrace in Bijelo Dugme's career". Bebek sung in bad Macedonian, and the band did not fit in well in the ambient of a pop festival. On the next evening, the band performed, alongside Pop Mašina, Smak and Crni Biseri, in Belgrade's Dom Sindikata, on the Radio Belgrade show Veče uz radio (Evening by the Radio) anniversary celebration, and managed to win the audience's attention. At the time, Bijelo Dugme cooperated with manager Vladimir Mihaljek, who managed to arrange the band's performance as an opening band on Korni Grupa's farewell concert in Sarajevo's Skenderija, which won them new fans, as about 15,000 people in the audience were thrilled with Bijelo Dugme's performance.
  Kad bi' bio bijelo dugme, featuring a provocative cover designed by Dragan S. Stefanović (who would also design covers for the band's future releases), saw huge success. It brought a number of commercial hard rock songs with folk music elements, which were described as "pastirski rok" (shepherd rock) by journalist Dražen Vrdoljak. This term was (and still is) sometimes
caption: Bijelo Dugme and collaborators in London's AIR Studios on Oxford Street in November 1975 during the recording of Šta bi dao da si na mom mjestu; from left to right: sound engineer Peter Henderson, producer Neil Harrison, Ipe Ivandić, Goran Bregović, Željko Bebek, Vlado Pravdić, and Jugoton executive Veljko Despot.
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