YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike (trans. YU 100: the Greatest Yugoslav Rock and Pop Music Albums) is a book by Duško Antonić and Danilo Štrbac, published in 1998.[1] It features a list of top 100 former Yugoslavpopular music albums, formed according to the poll of 70 Serbian music critics, journalists, artists and others.[2][3]
The voters were music critics, journalists, artists closely associated to the former Yugoslav popular music scene, and others. There are only several musicians among them. Each of them suggested ten former Yugoslav popular music albums he considers the greatest, and the second part of the book features short biographies of every one of them, and each one's choice of ten albums. The list was completed according to their suggestions.[4] The voters were:
In his 2010 book Smijurijada, former Azra frontman Branimir Štulić commented on the book:
Funny thing, if you take these top ten albums of Yugoslav rock (out of one hundred of them) and apply the weighted points system that gets used for those sort of lists (ten points for the first spot, nine for the second, eight for the third, one for the tenth), turns out Azra gets the top spot (as it should, although that wasn't the intention of the people who organized the voting that was, by the way, limited to the local Belgrade cocoon), which is something that occurs to no one because, naturally, in the actual list Idoli are on top, then comes the Belgrade trio [Šarlo Akrobata, Električni Orgazam, Idoli], followed by the rest of the acts. While among the one hundred albums, Dugme have the most entries, then Čorba, then me (no, I'm not bitter). So, another proof that neither myself nor Tesla belong in that company.[5]
To be honest, it doesn't mean much to me because it doesn't quite match my own opinion. For instance, in my view Kako bubanj kaže didn't quite turn out the way we wanted it to. Although there are good songs on it that we still play, I believe it's one of the two weakest Orgazam albums. I think Lišće prekriva Lisabon is much more deserving of being on that list.[6]
Zdenko Kolar
In 2013, for the book's 15th anniversary, Balkanrock.com webzine interviewed some of the musicians whose work made the list. Zdenko Kolar (who played on Idoli albums Odbrana i poslednji dani and VIS Idoli, ranked No.1 and No.71 respectively, as well as on the split album Paket aranžman, ranked No.2) stated:
On the one hand, I was glad – it's nice when someone remembers you, when you hear that someone appreciates your work; "It was not all in vain", as they say – and on the other hand, I believe that lists and similar 'rankings' don't reflect reality. Sure, this is a collection of a great number of relevant people's opinions, but if it were another hundred people being polled, or had the poll been organized a few years earlier, the result might not have been the same. [The fact that Odbrana i poslednji dani is ranked No.1 and Paket aranžman is ranked No.2] doesn't mean much to me. It was a long time ago, after all, and life goes on, bringing new things that are more current and contemporary, which from this point of view seem more important to me and have, I think, been more fulfilling to me. [...] It's interesting that the ranking of the [Idoli] albums on this list is inversely proportional to the number of copies they sold. I really couldn't tell you if the list is fair, or whether some album is missing, or if some of those that made the list are overrated/underrated. It's just a matter of taste after all, and in matters of taste...[7]
In my opinion, it includes everything that was important on the Yugoslav rock scene. [...] From this point of view, I think Teška Industrija could have been ranked a bit higher. Anyway, I'm glad that we're among the 100 most important.[8]
Nikola Čuturilo "Čutura"
Further on in the same piece, Nikola Čuturilo (whose solo album 9 lakih komada was ranked No.99 and who played on Riblja Čorba albums Istina and Osmi nervni slom, ranked No.43 and No.83 respectively) stated:
I never attached all that much importance to these types of lists because, in the end, it's just a collection of individual viewpoints. Of course, having said that, back 15 years ago when they told me I made the list, I was a bit surprised, and it wasn't like I wasn't glad. My thinking is similar today [15 years later], some things have definitely been unjustly omitted, and a lot of the overrated albums have been included. Besides, you can just glance through the list and look at each album individually for a few moments, and ask yourself 'how many of these songs have successfully stood the test of time', 'how many of them are still alive today'. The answer explains a lot of things... My 98th [sic!] spot is great, as far as I'm concerned [...] The Istina album features "Pogledaj dom svoj, anđele", and it's been ranked at No.43... That made me laugh...[9]
100 Best Serbian Albums Published after the Breakup of SFRY
In 2021 Antonić published the book Kako (ni)je propao rokenrol u Srbiji (How Rock 'n' Roll in Serbia (Didn't) Came to an End). Besides Antonić's essays on Serbian rock scene, the book also features a list of 100 best Serbian rock albums published after the breakup of SFR Yugoslavia. The list was formed according to a poll of 58 Serbian music journalists, critics, artists and others related to Serbian rock scene, conducted in a similar way to the poll in the book YU 100: najbolji albumi jugoslovenske rok i pop muzike.[10]
