They were soon joined by guitarist Momčilo Bajagić "Bajaga", the new lineup releasing the album Kost u grlu (1979), which was, due to their gritty hard rock sound and Đorđević's social-related lyrics, a huge commercial and critical success.

Until the end of the decade and the breakup of Yugoslavia, the band managed to sustain their popularity, but after the beginning of Yugoslav Wars it heavily declined in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, due to Đorđević's support for Serbian nationalism.

Đorđević's lyrics were praised by music critics, as well as by academic circles, and he became a prominent public figure in Yugoslavia and its successor countries, especially Serbia, where his controversial political statements had caused large attention during the past two decades and contributed to the decline of Riblja Čorba's popularity.

[5] The fact that the audience knew all the lyrics was a huge surprise for both the band members and the media; it was later revealed that the fans were recording Đorđević's radio interviews, during which parts of the songs were broadcast.

[8] It brought about a number of hits: "Zvezda potkrovlja i suterena" ("Star of Attics and Basements"), "Egoista" ("Egoist"), "Ja sam još ona ista budala" ("I'm Still the Same Old Fool"), and "Ostani đubre do kraja" ("Remain Scum to the End").

[8] At the end of July 1980, Đorđević and Kojić, both still serving the army, appeared in Belgrade to record the song "Nazad u veliki prljavi grad" ("Back to the Big Dirty City") with Bajagić and Milatović.

[8] After his return to Sarajevo, Kojić was sent to army jail for two weeks; although he managed to smuggle himself back into the barracks, his superior saw a photograph of the band sitting in Kafana Šumatovac in a newspaper.

The concert featured guest appearance by Gillan bass guitarist John McCoy, who would produce the band's following album, on the cover of ZZ Top song "Tush".

[12] On the last of the concerts, held on April 11, the band recorded their first live album, U ime naroda (In the Name of the People), the title alluding to the political scandal around "Na zapadu ništa novo".

[12] Several days after the album release, Riblja Čorba, alongside Radomir Mihajlović "Točak", Aki Rahimovski and Električni Orgazam, performed on a large concert on the Square of Marx and Engels in Belgrade, organized as a sign of support for the Palestinian people.

[12] As a sign of his appreciation, Đorđević wrote a joking poem "Domaćice, skinite gaćice, ja volim vaše flanelske spavaćice" ("Housewives, take off your panties, I love your flannel nightgowns"), which the magazine refused to publish.

[12] Prior to leaving to serve the army, Milatović started a side project: he formed the heavy metal band Ratnici (later known as Warriors) with the vocalist Dušan Nikolić, but recorded only an EP with them.

[12] Immediately after the album was released, state's censors declared songs "Mangupi vam kvare dete" ("Bad Boys Are Spoiling Your Kid") and "Besni psi" ("Rabid Dogs") "ethically unsuitable".

[13] Prior to joining Riblja Čorba, Čuturilo was a member of the bands Kredit (which would later evolve into Laki Pingvini), Bicikl, Zamba, Siluete, and, for only couple of months, Električni Orgazam.

)[13] However, Đorđević had to alter the "'Alo" lyrics, replacing "S planine šakal zavija, tamo je Jugoslavija" ("A jackal is howling from the mountain, over there is Yugoslavia") with "Ja iz dalekih predela posmatram tuđa nedela" ("From the faraway lands I'm watching their misdeeds").

[16] On the Bosnian winter tour that followed the album release and featured concerts in small town Bileća and villages Donja Mahala, Matuzići and Tišina, the former YU Grupa bass guitarist Žika Jelić replaced Aleksić, who was not able to perform due to illness.

(Ja ću da pevam)" ("South Africa '85 ("I'm Gonna Sing)"), although no more explicit than songs from previous Riblja Čorba albums, had a hard time finding the way to the listeners because of the radio editors' self-censorship.

[17] The songs "Nesrećnice nije te sramota" ("Miserable Woman, Aren't You Ashamed") and "Zašto kuče arlauče" ("Why the Dog Howls") were released on a 7-inch single, which was given as a gift to the buyers of the first 1,000 copies of the album.

[17] During these couple of years, Čuturilo started composing and writing lyrics for acts like Dejan Cukić, YU Grupa and Kerber, and in 1988, he released his first solo album 9 lakih komada (9 Easy Pieces).

[17] The album also featured appearances by Branko Marušić "Čutura" (harmonica), Mirko Tomić (pedal steel guitar), Srđan Đoković (trumpet) and Slavolub Kolarević (saxophone).

[15] During the same year, Milatović released his second solo album, a children's music album entitled Dečaci o devojčicama (Boys about Girls), which featured Đorđević, Bajagić, Žika Milenković (of Bajaga i Instruktori and Babe), Dejan Cukić, Zvonimir Đukić "Đule" (of Van Gogh), Igor Blažević "Blaža" (of Prljavi Inspektor Blaža i Kljunovi), Miodrag "Pile" Živanović (of Alisa), Đorđe David and Billy King as guest vocalists.

The concert featured a large number of opening acts: Negative, Prljavi Inspektor Blaža i Kljunovi, Bjesovi, Alogia, Roze Poze, Abonos, Kraljevski Apartman and Đorđe David.

[45] During the same month, Radio Television of Serbia broadcast a four-part documentary about Đorđević and the band, entitled Uporno dozivanje anđela (Persistent Invocation of Angels), written by and directed by Slobodan Simojlović.

[60] In the mid 1980s, Bora Đorđević was the unequaled populist tribune of SFRY rock 'n' roll, Bruce Springsteen from Belgrade, the rock-mammoth respected by all, the idol of (sub)urban working class and student masses, and the dream of high school girls from Vardar to Triglav.

Then, however, came The Happening of the People in Serbia, and Bora Čorba – with symptoms of patriotic fever already noticed earlier – joyfully rushed to the "Invading Vulgarity" (Merezhkovsky), trying somehow to place himself on the spearhead of its musical section.

Thus began the still-lasting sad rambling and the social self-collapse of a (the) authentic monument of Serbian rock-mainstream: from public support to Slobodan Milošević when he had just come to power, over idealistic love towards Vuk and Šešelj from their where-there-are-Serbian-graves-there-should-be-Serbian-land phase, and then Karadžić, Mladić, Arkan, and, generally, anyone who "at that point", as it seemed to Đorđević, had the capability and will to rightfully expand the borders of Serbia from Ancona to Ankara.

- Teofil Pančić in 1999 The tradition of poetic expression in our rock music leads from Dedić, over Mlinarec, Topić, Bregović, Štulić, Balašević, Šifrer, Bajagić, Predin, Mladenović, Karajlić, then Rambo, Cane, Kanjevac and Kebra to Marčelo.

Inside him awakened the Šumadija destroyer, endlessly gifted and stubborn, untypical, but leaning towards romantic-loser poetry of these lands, of diverse verse, of authoritative lingo, of immeasurable imagination and unstoppable tongue.

Riblja Čorba songs were covered by acts such are Prljavi Inspektor Blaža i Kljunovi,[75] Zaklonišče Prepeva, Sick Mother Fakers,[76] Six Pack,[77] Alogia,[78] Bjesovi,[79] Del Arno Band[80] and others.

[88] In 2011, "Pogledaj dom svoj, anđele" and "Lutka sa naslovne strane" were polled, by the listeners of Radio Beograd 202, two of 60 greatest songs released by PGP-RTB/PGP-RTS during the sixty years of the label's existence.