Houra's late 1970s and early 1980s lyrics have been widely praised for their social commentary and for describing the reality of the Yugoslav youth of the era. However, his early 1990s patriotic songs, recorded by Prljavo Kazalište during the
Croatian War of Independence, have often been perceived as
nationalistic in other former Yugoslav republics, especially in
Serbia. Houra's song "Mojoj majci" ("To My Mother"), written by himself in 1988 and dedicated to his recently deceased mother, would become one of Prljavo Kazalište's most popular and most controversial songs. At that time, shortly before the upcoming
breakup of Yugoslavia, tensions broke out between the constituent republics of the Yugoslav
federation, so the issue of an eventual Croatian independence from Yugoslavia started to rise. Hence the verse "Zadnja ruža Hrvatska" ("Last Croatian
rose") made the song very popular in Croatia—especially in pro-independence part of Croatian public, which embraced it as a return to Croatian national sentiment—but also led to criticism in some parts of Yugoslavia due to (perceived)
nationalist undertones, which were considered
politically incorrect for the Yugoslav policy of
brotherhood and unity. Houra has denounced accusations of nationalism on numerous occasions, describing the band's 1990s patriotic songs as "
švejkian". In 2015,
Prljavo Kazalište was polled No.23 and
Crno bijeli svijet was polled No.24 on the list of 100 Greatest Yugoslav Albums published by the Croatian edition of
Rolling Stone. In 2000, four Prljavo Kazalište songs appeared on the
Rock Express Top 100 Yugoslav Rock Songs of All Times list: "Mi plešemo" ("We Dance") polled No.49, "Crno bijeli svijet" polled No.74, "Ma kog me boga za tebe pitaju" ("Why in the Heaven's Name Are They Asking Me about You") polled No.77 and "Marina" polled No.93. In 2011, "Mi plešemo" was polled No.42 and "Crno bijeli svijet" was polled No.60 on the
B92 Top 100 Yugoslav songs list. Houra's lyrics for the songs "U mojoj općini problema nema" ("There Are No Problems in My Municipality"), "Sretno dijete" ("Happy Child"), "Nove cipele" ("New Shoes"), "Moderna djevojka" ("Modern Girl") and "Neka te ništa ne brina" ("Nothing Should Worry You") were included in
Petar Janjatović's
Pesme bratstva, detinjstva & potomstva: Antologija ex YU rok poezije 1967 - 2007 (
Songs of Brotherhood, Childhood & Offspring: Anthology of Ex YU Rock Poetry 1967 – 2007). ==Discography==