Mladen Bodalec

Prljavo Kazalište
Prljavo Kazalište logo
Background information
Origin	Zagreb, Croatia
Genres	Punk rock, new wave (early), rock, pop rock
Years active	1977 - present
Labels	Jugoton, Suzy, Crno Bijeli Svijet Records, InterService, Croatia Records, Dallas Records
Associated acts	Ciferšlus, Parni valjak, Dorian Gray, ZOK, Patrola, ITD band
Members	Mladen Bodalec Jasenko Houra Nino Hrastek Tihomir Fileš Damir Lipošek Kex Jurica Leikauff
Past members	Davorin Bogović Zoran Cvetković Zlatko Bebek Fedor Boić Mario Zidar Marijan Brkić Brk

Prljavo kazalište is a rock band from Zagreb, Croatia. Since its formation in 1977, the group changed several music styles and line ups but remained one of the top acts of both the Croatian and the former Yugoslav rock scenes.

Prljavo kazalište was formed in 1977 in Dubrava, part of Zagreb, the capital of the then SR Croatia. Founding members included: Jasenko Houra (rhythm guitar), Zoran Cvetković a.k.a. Zok (lead guitar), Nino Hrastek (bass guitar) and Tihomir Fileš (drums). Its first vocalist became Davorin Bogović, although they were thinking about taking Davor Gobac (later of Psihomodo pop) instead. All of them, except Houra, previously played in another band called Ciferšlus (Zipper), but after he joined them to form a new group, they opted for the name Prljavo kazalište (meaning in Croatian language: Dirty Theatre) after an episode of the satirical Italian comic book Alan Ford, which was very popular in the former Yugoslavia.

In its early beginnings, Prljavo kazalište's was a punk band, although they initially wanted to sound like The Rolling Stones for whom they maintained a great admiration. The group performed live for a first time in 1978 at a gig organized by the magazine Polet where they were noted for their furious punk image and stage performance. In the same year, Prljavo kazalište released its first single, the punk rock sounding Televizori for the major record label Jugoton. It featured three songs: Televizori, Majka and Moje djetinjstvo. In 1979, Suzy Records released their second single Moj je otac bio u ratu. That song was included in the compilation album Novi Punk Val compiled by Igor Vidmar, along with Pankrti, Paraf and other prominent artists of the former Yugoslav punk scene.