Yugo rock: Divlje jagode ('80s hard 'n' heavy/ "NWOBHM")

This is the one of the biggest heavy metal acts of former Yugoslavia, and one of my favorite Yugoslav bands.
The band was formed in 1977, and put out several singles before putting out their debut in 1979. Their sound was influenced by acts such as Deep Purple or Black Sabbath, as evident on the album's title track:


Still, the biggest hits on the album were the somewhat cheesy power ballads Krivo je more and Jedina moja:



The following album, Stakleni hotel, came out in 1981. You can hear the NWOBHM influences here, including THE most copied metal riff (aka the 2 Minutes to Midnight/Welcome to Hell riff)


After this album, the lead singer Ante "Toni" Janković left the band, and the band's bass player, Alen Islamović, stepped in as the band's vocalist, and the band would release their best albums with him on vocals. The first album that featured Islamović on vocals, Motori, became the best selling heavy metal album in former Yugoslavia, selling around 500 000 copies, and the album's title track became the band's signature song.






After Motori, the band released two more studio albums with Islamović, Čarobnjaci and Vatra. For the latter, Islamović stepped out from his bass duties, with Zlatan Čehić "Čeha" replacing him on bass duties:











Both albums were fairly successful, and the band signed a contract with the British company Logo Records, adopting a glammy image and changing their name to Wild Strawberries, and played several gigs in England. In 1986 the band started working on an English language album. Eight old songs were rerecorded with English lyrics, and two new songs were recorded as well. Don Airey was featured as a guest musician too. However, Islamović didn't believe in the band's success in the UK, and left the band to join Bijelo Dugme in 1986, which delayed the album's release. The album was finally released in 1987, but proved to be a pretty mediocre effort:



The band eventually hired the former Bijelo dugme singer, Mladen Vojičić Tifa, and released one album, Konji, with this line up in 1988.



During the tour in support of the album, further line up changes happened, and Tifa also left the band. He was eventually replaced by Zlatan Stipišić Gibonni of Osmi putnik, and recorded several demos with him on vocals, but they soon disbanded.The bandleader and lead guitarist Sead "Zele" Lipovača recorded a solo album Magic Love in 1993, and eventually reuniting the band a year later. The band released two albums in the mid-'90s, but I haven't really listened to that era.
Their next album, Od neba do neba, was released in 2003, and featured Pero Galić of the Croatian hard rock band Opća opasnost on vocals.
I remember the music video for the song Marija airing often on TV at the time:


The band released a box set featuring all of their albums in 2006. They put out a new song recently, but it isn't very good IMO:


Some more info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divlje_jagode