Yugo Rock 103: The HIstory of Jugoton

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It's been a while since we've discussed a portion of the history of the music of my homeland (former Yugoslavia), so in this blog post, I will go over the history of perhaps one of the greatest, if not THE GREATEST record labels that has a rich 45-year history.

The Beginnings:

 The record label emerged shortly after World War II. In just its first year of existense, they managed to sell 33,000 copies - mainly from Dalmation (Croatian) artists. By 1957 they released their first EPs and by the early 60s, they had competition from another popular ex-Yugoslav record label, PGP-RTB, based in the nation's capital city Belgrade (which now is the capital city of Serbia). Over the years, they've also had competitors with Belgrade's Jugodisk, the minor Zagreb area Suzy Records (notable for signing Priljavo Kazalishte - Dirty Theatre), and Sarajevo's Diskoton records, which most noteably released Bijelo Dugme records since Zeljko Bebek's departure in 1983.

In the 1960s, Jugoton signed deals with German's Polydor Records, the UK's Decca Records, and RCA Victoria. Thanks to these newfound licenses, they began releasing LPs from the likes of Little Richard and Elvis Presley. Over the years, Jugoton would gain popularity and attain further licenses to issue records from prominent worldwide acts (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Eurythmics, Deep Purple, etc.). Now if only it had also been done the other way around - today classic rock stations, in my opinion, could use a LOT more diversity especially now that classic hits and rock stations are becoming repetitive.

During the 1970s and 80s, Jugoton constantly released many of the highly successful records by highly successful Ex-Yu bands such as; Bijelo Dugme, Crvena Jabuka (through 1992), Haustor, and Azra. The first ever rock issue by Jugoton was Zagreb area band Grupa 220 (The 220 Group) with their debut record Nashi Dani (Our Days). Jugoton also released many hits from more pop-oriented artists such as Hari Mata Hari or Zdravko Cholich. (Chola).

In 1991, Yugoslavia began breaking up as a result of the political instability. Being based in Zagreb, they changed their name to Croatia Records and transferred their former customers such as Crvena Jabuka. Since the war ended in 1995, Croatia Records continued to grow and on the Net TV Channel 300, they air a lot of the former (and current) artists signed to Jugoton (later Croatia Records).

In 2001, a Polish tribute album, Yugoton, was released in tribute to the original label. The album features many Polish acts.

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