It is not quite clear when the term "kafana" became instantly synonymous with decay, sloth, pain, backwardness, sorrow, etc. all across SFR Yugoslavia, but it is safe to say it happened in the 1970s or 1980s. Pop culture played a significant part in this transformation. Massively popular folk singers began to emerge, spurred on by the expansion of radio and television, often using kafana themes in their songs. Since the connection between commercial folk and rural regressiveness was already well established, kafana, too, got a dodgy rap by extension.