Between Rock and a Hard Place

During Slobodan Milosevic's bloody reign in Yugoslavia, rock musicians were among his most vocal opponents. Artists such as Rambo Amadeus, Partibrejkers and Darkwood Dub agitated for peace and served as a bulwark against the kitschy "turbofolk" music that celebrated Serbia's nationalism and its gangsters. But two years after Serbian voters turned out in record numbers at the polls, and in Belgrade's streets, to remove Milosevic from power, Serbia's music scene has eschewed politics in favor of Western Europe's clubbing culture.

Serbia's recent presidential elections have brought politics back into that nation's music...