The group's musical style primarily consists of a distinctive garage rock sound with folk influences, often featuring innovative production and complex storytelling.

The band was formed contrary to the then prevalent Yugoslav punk rock and new wave, closely associated with the New Primitivism cultural movement and the radio and television satire and sketch comedy show Top lista nadrealista.

The band's first lineup, originally named Pseudobluz bend Zabranjeno Pušenje, featured guitarist Sejo Sexon and vocalist Nele Karajlić, alongside drummers Fu-Do then Šeki Gayton, bassist Munja Mitić, keyboardist Seid Mali Karajlić, saxophonist and flutist Ognjen Gajić, guitarist Mustafa Čengić, and synthesizerist Zoran Degan.

Their subsequent album Dok čekaš sabah sa šejtanom (1985), also released through Jugoton, was boycotted by the mainstream media due to troubles with Communist authorities.

In 1986, Šeki Gayton, Mitić and Čengić chose to leave the group, while drummer Faris Arapović, bassist Darko Ostojić, guitarist Kowalski and keyboardist Dado Džihan joined in.

During 1992, the band split followed the Bosnian War, Nele Karajlić continued working in Belgrade under the names Nele Karajlić & Zabranjeno Pušenje and Emir Kusturica & The No Smoking Orchestra, while Sejo Sexon and other members rejoined in Sarajevo, using the original name, continuing the band's career[2] released the fifth studio album Fildžan viška (1997) with the changed lineup.

In the mid-2000s, Dragianni, Bobić, and Urlić chose to leave the group, while guitarist Toni Lović, bassist Dejan Orešković, and violinist Robert Boldižar came to their seats.

Both possessing very limited musical knowledge, despite displaying boundless enthusiasm, the duo struggled with everything from simply tuning their instruments to producing the simplest of melodies.

[6] The event would be the band's first-ever live public performance though they did play a small show at Sarajevo's Fifth Gymnasium for their social circle a few days earlier on 30 November 1980 as preparation for the Dom mladih gig.

Held at Skenderija sports arena on 3 October 1981, it was the band's biggest show to date and the youngsters left a memorable impression as singer Karajlić and drummer Đozić were about to leave for their mandatory army services just as guitarist Sexon was completing his.

[9] The band performed around Sarajevo for two years before beginning to record material for a debut album during Fall 1983 in producer a modest studio owned by "Paša" Ferović.

The shambolic recording process took seven months before the album named Das ist Walter got released by Jugoton in April 1984[10] in the small print of 3,000 copies, clearly indicative of the label's extremely low commercial expectations.

They were rescued by some leading liberal intellectuals, and magazines such as Polet, Mladina and Slobodna Dalmacija, who raise their voices in the defense of the group members and that affair snaps without prison sentences.

Following promotional tour had extreme difficulties due to concern of the concert hosts and the enormous presence of the state police, as a reflection of the Marshall Affair.

[8] Despite several top concerts such as at Pionir Hall in Belgrade, Poljud in Split or Dom Sportova in Zagreb, tens of thousands sold tickets, the tour had a rather disappointing conclusion as the following year Šeki Gayton and Mustafa Čengić left the band in search of a more secure means of making a living.

[16] This refreshed lineup, in collaboration with some studio musicians such as bassist Dragan Bobić and back-vocalists Dado Džihan and Darko Ostojić, released Pozdrav iz zemlje Safari (transl.

The album again included a number of hit songs, such as "Pišonja i Žuga", "Hadžija ili bos", "Fikreta", "Dan Republike", and returned the band to stardom.

The album featured opera singer Sonja Milenković, violinist Dejan Sparavalo and Goran Bregović as backing vocal and guitar player.

[11] Nele Karajlić and Sejo Sexon, the band's leading duo, were getting on increasingly colder terms and the Yugoslavia-wide tour with Bombaj Štampa and Top lista nadrealista during early 1990, though hugely commercially successful, only exacerbated their fractured business and personal relationship.

[12] In that time, Sejo Sexon and Ostojić worked on their solo record for Diskoton, but that studio album went unreleased due to the start of the Bosnian War.

[a] Sejo Sexon, along with Elvis J. Kurtović, Zenit Đozić, Boris Šiber and the band's album cover designer Srđan Velimirović, remained in besieged Sarajevo, taking part in the wartime spinoff of Top lista nadrealista.

After reunion of the band in 1996, Sejo Sexon and Elvis J. Kurović had more than 300 occasions where then performed live Top lista nadrealista across Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Germany, Austria, Denmark, and Switzerland.

Production know-how from Top lista nadrealista has proven to be valuable in recording music videos,[12] which were rated very well in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Slovenia where the band performed regularly.

Touring musicians were Sejo Sexon, Elvis J. Kurtović, Predrag Bobić, Zoran Stojanović, Nedžad Podžić, Marin Gradac, Bruno Urlić and Branko Trajkov, while Samir Ćeramida and Đani Pervan performed occasionally.

A Secret Force Agent) began immediately following the culmination of the promotional tour for Fildžan viška, in the start of 1999, at the Bjelolasica Olympic Centre in Gorski kotar, Croatia.

In the meantime, the band got a new member; world-class percussionist Albin Jarić, better known as Jimi Rasta, who worked previously with musicians such as Dave Stewart and Eric Clapton.

In a short period without guitarists and violinists, Sejo Sexon, Trajkov, and Bobić began the writing and formation on sketches of something that will evolve in three years to the double-full-length studio album.

[22] On that project he got an opportunity to collaborate with prominent musicians of different genres, such as: Halid Bešlić, Arsen Dedić, Lucija Šerbedžija, and the Mosque Choir Arabeske.

The band appeared on two biggest Serbian music festivals in 2017, they performed live at the EXIT Summer of Love 2017[49][50] in Novi Sad, and at the Belgrade Beer Fest.

This movement, for the most part, centered on simple, youthful, garage rock, with folk influences and a distinctive Sarajevo urban feel called New Primitivism.