Plavi Orkestar Hit Song Was Banned in Former Yugoslavia

The iconic song "Bolje biti pijan nego star" (Better to be drunk than old) by the band Plavi Orkestar, a massive hit in the former Yugoslavia, faced a surprising ban, reaching the public prosecutor's office.

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The matter even reached the public prosecutor, and the broadcast of that song was banned. At that time, we had a big tour across the former state, and municipal workers had to tape white tape over already posted posters nationwide because the tour was called 'Better to be drunk than old'.

Band frontman Saša Lošić Loša recalled the repercussions of the ban, initiated by the Pensioners' Association of Novi Sad. "The matter even reached the public prosecutor, and the broadcast of that song was banned," Loša recounted. "At that time, we had a big tour across the former state, and municipal workers had to tape white tape over already posted posters nationwide because the tour was called 'Better to be drunk than old'."

Loša shared anecdotes about the song's inspiration, including a personal encounter with a girl named Buca. He described a youthful disappointment when she didn't meet him as promised, leading him to get drunk for the first time and repeatedly utter the phrase that would become the song's title. He reflected that the experience taught him about unrequited love and the allure of wealth.

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You know that situation when you return from the sea, and you are all tanned, until you lose your color and become that old loser? One year in September, this Buca told me – “Oh, buttercup, how sweet you are, look how tanned he is”. She asked me where I had been, I said in Hvar. She told me: “Do you want me to cut your hair?” She told me she would wait for me at the bridge that separated the boys' and girls' high schools. I waited for her exactly at five o'clock, but she didn't come.

He also noted a fan's observation about an apparent lyrical contradiction in the song, questioning how the singer could lament being "just good friends" in one part and refer to a "happy couple" in another. Loša acknowledged the song's irrationality, which perhaps contributed to its controversial reception.

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I wouldn't want to bother you, but how is it possible that Loša sings in the first part – I'm sorry we were just good friends, and in the second – wine doesn't know that we were once a happy couple.