Atheist Rap

Atheist Rap

Atheist Rap is a punk group from Novi Sad, Serbia. Formed in 1989, it begins as a collaboration between Aleksandar Popov, known as Dr. Pop, and Vladimir Kozbašić, known as Pećinko, who join with members of the hardcore band Fluorel Tačkaš: Vladimir Radusinović (Radule), Zoran Zarić (Zare) and Aleksandar Milovanov (Atzke). The group remains active from 1989 to the present.

Style and lyrics

The band is associated with punk and is often described as “happy punk” because of its upbeat music and vocals. Its songs commonly mix social and political criticism with humour and observations from ordinary life. A recurring feature of its writing is the use of familiar material from other songs and bands in altered or parodic form.

Early recordings and lineup changes

Atheist Rap makes its first recordings in 1990. These recordings are intended for release through Jugoton in Zagreb, but the album does not appear because of the war. Zoran Zarić dies in 1997 and is replaced by Zoran Lekić, who previously plays in Luna and Obojeni Program. Vladimir Kozbašić leaves the band in 2001 but continues as its manager.

Notable songs and albums

Among the band’s better-known songwriting examples are three songs centred on the Wartburg and Trabant vehicles: “Wartburg limuzina”, “Blue Trabant” and “Car Core”. Other examples of its borrowing and parody include “Tomi Gan”, which uses the theme of The Clash’s “Tommy Gun”; “Pomocni - đubre”, which begins with a recognisable riff from “Smoke on the Water” and uses the phrase “o, da li?” from Obojeni program’s song of the same name; and “Tetoviranje”, which echoes Ekatarina Velika’s “Tattoo” while changing the lyric about a tattoo on the chest to one about a tattoo on the ass.

The group’s discography includes Maori i Crni Gonzales, first issued by Scorned Records in 1992 and later appearing on tape and CD through Take It or Leave in the mid-1990s; Ja eventualno bih ako njega eliminišete, released by PGP RTS in 1996 and arranged as an acronym reading “Jebanje”; II Liga Zapad; Osveta crnog Gonzalesa; and Price Matorih Pokvarenjaka.