Croatian superstars The New Fossils
Proof positive: Diesel goes back to 1983
The formula for success on the charts is to get a younger mullet lady and four ageing Don Johnson wannabes to flank her on stage. It kept Novi Fosili alive for a few years anyway. “The New Fossils” sounds like a fabrication concocted in the rhetorical labs of Young Earth Creationists. The earth may as well be flat because when the Fossils start playing I get an urge to run to the edge of the world and jump off into the cosmic abyss. Check out the names of the songs: Don’t Catch a Cold, I’d Rather You be My Brother, My Friend Kisses Anna, and so forth.
This record is remarkable for two things. First, one of the guys is wearing Diesel pants. Who would have guessed that Diesel even existed back in 1983 and that a pop rock guitarist from the former Yugoslavia would be as cool to wear a pair of pants fashioned by this distinguished organization.
The other curiosity is that the cover was designed by a very accomplished designer Mirko Ilic who now works in New York City. As most of the covers on these pages this one reflects the tastes and technical limitations of the period. The most amazing thing is that those record covers that amuse us the most are probably the ones that are truest to the spirit of their time. History is never funny until seen from our present vantage point. If offered a time machine ride I’d probably drench-piss my pants. Even if they were Diesel brand.