At the beginning of their career the band performed covers of foreign hits and instrumental versions of classical pieces.

The band's frontman Slobodan "Boba" Stefanović left Zlatni Dečaci in 1967, the group disbanding soon after.

[2] They decided to change their name after the suggestion by national chess champion and radio personality Nikola Karaklajić, who did much to promote rock music in Yugoslavia.

[3] On the dances held at Euridika, Stefanović performed both with Zlatni Dečaci and with Saša Radojčić's jazz trio.

[1] Initially Zlatni Dečaci performed in yellow shirts with a "ZD" emblem, and later got black and gold suites, while Banović played a set of gold-colored drums.

[1] They started to perform regularly in Gradski podrum club, and in 1964 they performed, alongside Safiri, Iskre, Lutalice and Ivanka Pavlović & Valjevski Dečaci on Parada ritma (Parade of Rhythm), the first rock festival held in Yugoslavia and arguably the first rock festival in a communist country.

[1] Karaklajić took those recordings to the Netherlands, where he participated in a chess tournament, managing to persuade local radio stations to broadcast them.

[1] For Fontana Records the band, under the name Golden Boys, released the single "Swan Lake" (a version of a theme from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's opera Swan Lake) and "Humoresque" (a version of a humoresque by Antonín Dvořák),[1] thus becoming the first Yugoslav rock band to release a record for the foreign market.

[7] On the other hand, a part of Yugoslav rock musicians in interviews accused Zlatni Dečaci of pandering to broad audience with their covers of classical pieces.

[8] This did not affect the band's popularity; they held sold-out concerts in Euridika club, appeared on Yugoslav television on numerous occasions and recorded over 20 tunes for Radio Belgrade.

[1] In order to acquire visas for Zlatni Dečaci more easily, he presented the band members as young chess players.

[1] During this year the band also appeared in the TV show Koncert za ludi mladi svet (Concert for Crazy Young People), performing an instrumental version of Gioachino Rossini's William Tell Overture.

[10] He wrote the book Prva ljubav Dušana Silnog (First Love of Dušan the Mighty), which he illustrated with his own paintings, which was released with the music Stefanović composed as the soundtrack to the story.