Zabranjeno pušenje formed in 1980 as a "garage" band composed of the kids who went to Sarajevo high school and lived on the same street.

They called their themselves the "New Primitives" giving their work doses of irony and satire in their music. Goran Bregovic, one of the most popular musicians from the region, calls them the only original response to Punk in this part of Europe.

in 1984, ”Jugoton Records" released the first album "Das ist Walter". The album sublimated the energies and desires of a whole generation of young people in ex-Yugoslavia. The album, with an initial circulation of 3,000 units, went on to sell in excess of 100,000 units in record time which has still not been broken.

Zabranjeno pušenje moved on to a major YU tour (60 concerts) in the largest halls across Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Macedonia to become one of the largest Yugoslav rock attractions.

In addition to music, members of the band also we a part of a humorous show on TV in

collaboration with young Sarajevo actors which went on to become one of the most popular

programs across ex-Yugoslavia.

Their 1987 tour was their biggest tour to date. The band performed in cities that until then had

never had the opportunity to see a live Zabranjeno pušenje concert which in that time launched the group into popularity as one of the largest YU rock institutions, alongside Azra, Bijelo Dugme, Parni Valjak and Riblja Čorba.