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Džuboks (Serbian Cyrillic: Џубокс, trans. Jukebox) was a Yugoslav music magazine. Launched in 1966, it was the first magazine in SFR Yugoslavia dedicated predominantly to rock music and the first rock music magazine to be published in a communist country.
The cover of the 24 September 1982 Džuboks issue featuring Pete Townshend. | |
| Categories | Music magazine |
|---|---|
| Frequency | Monthly |
| Publisher | NIP Duga (1966-1969) NIP Dečje novine (1974-1986) |
| Founded | 1966 |
| First issue | 3 May 1966 |
| Final issue | March 1986 |
| Country | SFR Yugoslavia |
| Language | Serbo-Croatian |
| Website | Džuboks archive at Popboks.com Džuboks 1966 and 1967 archive at Digitalna biblioteka |
Džuboks was launched during spring 1966 by the Belgrade-based Duga publishing company[1] in the aftermath of the three-day Gitarijada music festival, whose large attendance and euphoric atmosphere several months earlier at the Belgrade Fair were indicative of the rising popularity of rock music locally.[2] The idea for a monthly rock music magazine came from Duga staff journalists that had already been writing for the company's weekly film magazine, Filmski svet (Film World); they now felt that an entirely new publication catering to the growing number of rock music fans in Yugoslavia could prove successful.[3] As Duga employed no rock music writers or reviewers among its staff at the time, they decided to reach out to Nikola Karaklajić—local radio personality in his early forties who had already been involved with rock music in Belgrade in organizational and promotional capacity—with an offer of becoming the Džuboks' editor-in-chief. Karaklajić—who in addition to his Radio Belgrade job also pursued chess professionally, becoming the national champion and member of the Yugoslav national chess team—accepted the offer and set about creating a rock magazine.[3]
Although not the first popular music magazine to be published in Yugoslavia (it was preceded by the jazz and popular music magazine Ritam),[4][5] Džuboks was the first magazine dedicated specifically to rock music in Yugoslavia as well as in a post-World War II socialist state.[4][3][6]
Due to being able to get my hands on foreign [English language] music magazines, I picked up the tricks used by NME, Melody Maker, etc. And we put together a magazine that ended up reaching a circulation of 100,000 copies, each issue flying off the newsstands within three days of appearing.
-Džuboks' original editor-in-chief Nikola Karaklajić on his approach to editing a music magazine.[7]
The first issue came out on 3 May 1966.[1] There was a huge discussion among the editorial staff whether the Beatles or the Rolling Stones should appear on the cover of the first issue, and the opinion favouring the Rolling Stones prevailed.[3]
Initial Džuboks issues were published with the "Filmski svet's special supplement" inscription printed at the bottom of each cover, a practice that would soon be dropped. The magazine received no negative reactions from the ruling Yugoslav Communist League (SKJ), though it did from conservative cultural circles.[8] According to Karaklajić, there was no political interference into the editorial policy.[8] Karaklajić further stated that the only political interference occurred after the magazine's launch via an SKJ representative asking for a meeting with the editors to "see what was going on and to advise us to be cautious, so as not to be regarded as someone's agency".[8]
In December 1966, following the 9th issue, Karaklajić left the editor-in-chief post and was replaced with Sava Popović whose first issue came out in February 1967.
Višnja Marjanović, Džuboks' editor-in-chief from February until June 1969,[1] talked about the magazine during her appearance in the Rockovnik documentary series:
Back then, the things we did in that magazine—publishing a photo of a bunch of shaggy-haired guys on the cover, writing about foreign musicians, publishing entire issues without mentioning a single Yugoslav singer, publishing sheet music along with English language lyrics so that local Yugoslav bands could cover those songs easier—were considered to be borderline scandalous in Yugoslavia [...] It was pretty revolutionary and unusual... The inaugural issue with the Rolling Stones on the front cover sold out immediately. The day after its release, you couldn't find the issue anywhere on the market. There was a big hunger and need for those sorts of magazines.[9]
Historian Radina Vučetić, in her book Koka-kola socijalizam (Coca-Cola Socialism), wrote:
During the 1950s, the Ideological Commission [of the League of Communists] often discussed the Western influences, considered 'decadent' and dangerous even after 1948, while during the 1960s these subjects remain almost unmentioned. During the 1960s, the [Communist] Party's main worries were dissidents and the rise of nationalism, as threats to the inviolable brotherhood and unity and the unquestionable Marxist dogma. It was probably estimated that a magazine dedicated to young audience could even prevent these dangers and that, by offering an abundance of rock sound and colorful pictures, it could diminish other problems. [...] Generally, there was nothing in the concept of Džuboks which could indicate that it was published in a socialist country — there weren't glorification of Tito, mention of the Party, Yugoslav self-management or the youth work actions, and all of it, from the front to the back cover, could have been printed in any Western country. Džuboks wasn't meant for young communists only, it was meant for young people.[10]
The magazine's circulation was 100,000 copies. In comparison, the circulation of all youth magazines published by Yugoslav university organizations (for about 150,000 university students Yugoslavia had at the time) was about 80,000.[6] Džuboks published the top list of Yugoslav hit singles.[6] The magazine also published top lists from the United States, United Kingdom, France and Italy, later joined by Dutch, Belgian, Norwegian and Brazilian top lists, and on several occasions the magazine published top lists from the Philippines and Singapore.[11] During the first three years of the magazine's run, posters of foreign and domestic stars as well as flexi discs featuring international rock hits of the day were often distributed with the magazine.[1] The discs were published in cooperation with the Jugoton record label, which at the time had a licence contract with EMI.[12] The magazine also advertised Western radio stations (publishing their frequencies and program) and music magazines (publishing information about ways of ordering them).[13]
After the 39th issue, released in June 1969, Duga stopped publishing the magazine.[1]
During spring 1968, Duga launched Mini Džuboks, which, beside music, covered other aspects of the entertainment industry, including fashion.[1] Its first editor-in-chief was Sava Popović, and was succeeded by Višnja Marjanović.[1] The first issue of Mini Džuboks was released on 9 May 1968. After the 33rd issue, released on 20 February 1969, Mini Džuboks was discontinued.[1]
In the summer of 1974, more than five years since the magazine's demise, the Dečje novine publishing company from Gornji Milanovac renewed Džuboks under the Ladin Džuboks (Lada's Džuboks) name as a supplement to the Lada women's magazine.[14] Though the publisher was based in Gornji Milanovac, the magazine's newsroom was in Belgrade. The renewed publication's first issue appeared on 1 July 1974 featuring established film and television star Milena Dravić and rising pop star Zdravko Čolić on the cover. Now published under the Jugoslovenski muzički magazin (Yugoslav Music Magazine) slogan, the publication expanded its scope beyond just rock music, so that musical genres such as pop, jazz, and classical music also began to be covered. Additionally, adjacent artistic endeavours that fall under the category of film, photography, comics, and literature also found coverage.
By August 1976, the magazine appeared as an independent publication outside of Lada under just the Džuboks name.[1] The first editor-in-chief was Vojkan Borisavljević, and he was followed by Milisav Ćirović, Peca Popović and Branko Vukojević.[1] The first issue was released on 1 July 1974, and the last, 171st, on 22 July 1983.[1]
In late 1983, Džuboks resumed publishing once again, this time run by editor-in-chief Ljuba Trifunović. It was discontinued in 1986.[1]
Some of the journalists and contributors to Džuboks during its activity include:
In 2004, the online magazine Popboks was founded, containing a digitalized archive of Džuboks issues released between 1974 and 1985.[15]
In her book Koka-kola socijalizam Radina Vučetić wrote:
The covers of Džuboks printed in color, its gift posters and records were meant to indicate the Yugoslav high standard and to demonstrate both to the East and the West the special version of Yugoslav modernity, openness and liberalism. [...] The Western influences were visible on Džuboks covers, featuring color photographs of the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, Donovan, the Mamas and Papas, Sonny and Cher, Cliff Richard..., but also in interviews with leading American and British stars, in texts on their lives, in English language lyrics and sheet music... As — according to the memories of the contemporaries — only a small number of Yugoslav rockers at the time spoke English, all of that made a contribution in raising the domestic rock 'n' roll to a higher level.[16]
In 2017, Serbian news magazine Nedeljnik proclaimed the 1974 renewed publishing of Džuboks one of 100 Events that Changed Serbia.[17]
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