Brodarić started his career in his home city Split in the early 1970s, joining the band Metak in 1978 as guitarist.
In mid-1980s, he dedicated himself to album production, producing works by a number of prominent acts of the Yugoslav rock scene, including Haustor, Regata, Animatori, D' Boys, Đavoli, Crvena Jabuka, and others.
[2] After Metak was joined by Zlatko Brodarić (guitar) and Doris Tomić (keyboards), the band recorded two studio albums and two 7-inch singles, achieving significant popularity on the Yugoslav rock scene.
[2] The album was well received by the Yugoslav audience, with the songs "Majmun radi što majmun vidi" ("Monkey See, Monkey Do"), "U krivom snu" ("In a Wrong Dream"), "Pokrivaš lice" ("You're Covering Your Face"), "Meni je dobro" ("I Feel Fine") and a new version of Metak's old song "Split at Night" receiving large airplay.
[2] Metak's biggest hit was the song "Da mi je biti morski pas" ("Wish I Were a Shark"), released on a 7-inch single in 1980.
[2] The song was covered by Croatian and Yugoslav hard rock band Osmi Putnik on their 1987 album Glasno, glasnije (Loud, Louder), by Serbian and Yugoslav funk rock band Deca Loših Muzičara, for Srđan Dragojević's 1994 film Dva sata kvalitetnog TV programa (Two Hours of Quality TV Program), and by Croatian rock band Lili Gee, for the 2023 White Shark campaign, dedicated to preservation of sharks.
[3] The lyrics of Metak's 1979 song "Nalazim nebo" ("I'm Finding the Sky"), authored by Željko Brodarić, are featured in Petar Janjatović's book Pesme bratstva, detinjstva & potomstva: Antologija ex YU rok poezije 1967 - 2007 (Songs of Brotherhood, Childhood & Offspring: Anthology of Ex YU Rock Poetry 1967 – 2007).
[5] The list of 100 Greatest Yugoslav Albums published by the Croatian edition of Rolling Stone in 2015 features two albums produced by Brodarić: Haustor's Treći svijet, polled No.8, and Animatori's Anđeli nas zovu da im skinemo krila (Angels Are Inviting Us to Take Their Wings Off), polled No.80.