I witnessed their historic performance at Workers University Mose Pijade concert hall in Zagreb, 1986: their trademark background movie theme for that event was combination of a film about post-war Yugoslav development and a hard-core porno. Coincidence allowed for Tito's speech against nationalism to overlap with a guy jerking-off his dick (close-up). The night after that performance, fleeing possibility of arrest, they started a tour around Occupied Europe' with a British industrial band, and made NME.
In the years since, they learned how to play (although singer still did
not start singing), so today they sound as well rehearsed
professionals. Still, their best compositions are remixes of
other people's songs. They were always very eclectic:
something like Europe's Marilyn Manson, sort of a moshing
band for intellectuals with an attitude. Instead of calling their
album Anti-Christ Superstar, they called their tour Jesus
Christ Superstar and then they subtly played a remix of the March on
River Drina (Serbian military march song, infamous in non-Serb parts of former Yugoslavia). The mostly American public at Irwing Plaza stood silent - chilled and mesmerized by the tune. It is the concept that counts
- music is just one of the tools. Laibach is also a State. Neue
Slowenische Kunst Staat. State that does not have borders
since it does not have any territory. It is a global state and
you can apply for citizenship.
Laibach has changed musically a lot: their new songs are more poppy and dancey, as if they also bought into that techno-rave craziness that rules Europe today- why not - even Bono's U2 came up with an album like that. Conceptually, however, they kept the same for more than ten years: they still start late whiling our time with their videos; they still blind the public with reflectors and fry fans intestines by extreme low frequency sounds.
Return to Ljubljana.