Čonkić’s account of formation

According to Čonkić, Pekinška Patka was formed on his initiative in May 1978. Čonkić had already become enamoured with punk rock, a new musical genre he had been enjoying via Radio Luxembourg , and approached his friend Sreten Kovačević at Novi Sad’s Bulevar cafe about trying out two of Čonkić’s punk-inspired musical ideas “just for fun”. The two ideas were a riff that he came up with while unsuccessfully trying to reproduce a song off of Radio Luxembourg (the riff would eventually become basis for “Bela šljiva”) and proposal to cover Procol Harum ‘s 1967 ballad ” Homburg ” in a faster-paced punk arrangement . Both university graduates in their mid-20s, Čonkić and Kovačević had had a long prior history: in addition to being part of the same social circle in Novi Sad and past involvement in multiple joint musical collaborations, the two had attended the same high school, Jovan Jovanović Zmaj gymnasium , and later studied at University of Novi Sad ‘s Faculty of Technical Sciences . Missing a drummer for their latest punk-inspired collaboration, Kovačević brought in Laslo “Cila” Pihler. The trio of Čonkić, Kovačević, and Pihler began practicing at one of the backrooms within Mašinac club, itself run by the Faculty of Technical Sciences. Kovačević then brought in bass guitarist Miloš “Žure” Žurić, and the now four-piece practiced throughout June 1978, scheduling the rehearsals around live broadcasts of the 1978 FIFA World Cup football matches from Argentina . Sporting long hairs , despite trying to play punk, each one of the four young men’s respective appearances and musical sensibilities were still a mixture of several Western 1960s and 70s cultural trends, mostly hippie counterculture and prog rock .