As Yugoslavia’s mainstream society grew increasingly patriarchal during the 1980s, some of the country’s rock bands would routinely perform songs that spoke about same-sex love. Bosnian rock star Sejo Sexon, leader of the legendary Sarajevo band Zabranjeno pušenje, recently reminded music lovers of this, explaining that the group’s 1989 hit song “Javi mi” (“Let me know”) was about love between two men.

In an interview with music journalist Boro Kontić, published in the book “Pamtim to kao da je bilo danas” (“I remember it as if it were today”), Sexon explained:

The text of the Bosnian version is similar to Lou Reed’s lyrics, in the form of a message between two estranged men; however, it includes the notion that the second man is living in a mock marriage, camouflaging his sexuality under suspicion by the neighbors:

‘Proof of the power of love’

Sexon noted that – for over 30 years – nobody seems to have noticed that the song is about two men, which he calls “proof of the power of love.” Since the emotional element is universal, such nuances have been missed by many in their audiences.

Although the Yugoslav Communist Party’s authoritarian system was less repressive than the totalitarianism of the Soviet Bloc on the other side of the Iron Curtain, for most of its existence the state formally criminalized homosexual relations. During the 1970s and ’80s, however, there was a growing movement towards greater freedoms – including LGBTQ rights – most prominently in Slovenia.

While still shunned in the mainstream, homosexuality was not a taboo topic in the music sphere. LGBTQ+-themed foreign music videos like “Smalltown Boy” by Bronsky Beat regularly featured in music shows on public TV. Mentions of the alleged homosexuality or bisexuality of foreign celebrities like Freddie Mercury or David Bowie were also common in the music press. Sometimes, such articles had a dose of irony. On December 1, 1982, for instance, the No. 80 edition of the weekly music magazine Rock 82, published in Belgrade, reported:

‘Free male love’

In their book, Sexon and Kontić explained that while “Javi mi” may have been the first Bosnian ode to homosexual love, it was not the first Yugoslav rock song about it. That honour appears to to go the 1979 song “Neki dječaci” (“Some boys”) by the Croatian band Prljavo Kazalište. A feature of the band’s punk phase, the song describes the relationship between two young men, one of them being an occasionally spurned lover. It was famous for the chorus, “Ja sam za slobodnu mušku ljubav” (“I’m all for free male love”):

Soon after that, in 1980, the Serbian band Idoli produced what is possibly the most famous Yugoslav song alluding to homosexuality, “Retko te viđam sa devojkama” (“I rarely see you with girls”). The lyrics take the form of dialogue between two friends, alluding to the need to hide one’s sexual orientation:

Women not forgotten

Some songs also addressed the love between women. The song “Ana,” released in 1984 by the Slovenian band Videosex, mentions the social restraints and legal provisions that once criminalized homosexual relations in Yugoslavia, legislation that was gradually lifted from the 1970s onward:

Another song about lesbian love, released in 1983, is “Moja prijateljica” (“My female friend”) by the Croatian band Xenia:

The pendulum swings

Despite progressive bands in 1980s Yugoslavia singing songs about homosexual love, the next decade saw a sort of reversal. As the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia broke up, the music industries of newly independent ex-Yugoslav countries turned to turbo-folk and other genres of commercial production that were compatible with rising nationalism and populism, promoting social conservatism through the 1990s.

Songs of that period often promoted homophobia under the guise of humor. The chorus of the 1994 regional hit “Mala, mala” (“Small, small”) by the Serbian band Familija, includes the line “Small group of faggots was bothering us for too long.”

The 1994 song “Pedro” by Risto Bombata i Kučeška Tenija, a Macedonian band, ridiculed homosexuals with lyrics that bordered on vulgarity, complete with a video clip featuring one of the most popular comedy actors of the time. The Spanish name in the title alludes to a derogatory term for “faggot” – “peder” – with the chorus concluding that Pedro should “run away from us.”

Various internet sources have since opined that many other well known songs from Yugoslavia had LGBTQ+ themes – making song lists based on inferences, individual perceptions, and interpretations. Many of these include songs about friends of the same gender that do not explicitly refer to sexuality, and do not have the benefit of their writers later revealing what they were really about, like Sejo Sexon did.

This article was written by Global Voices Central & Eastern Europe and originally published by Global Voices on 28 June 2025. It is republished here under the media partnership by Shouts and Global Voices.

𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘁𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗯𝘆 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗼𝗻! 𝗪𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝘀𝗼 𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮, 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗰 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂!