Review
Genre and Mood
Richard Müller and Banket’s Po schodoch (“Up the Stairs”) is 1980s synth-pop that crossed into pure pop and stayed there. Nostalgic for anyone who grew up in Czechoslovakia, iconic in the Slovak songbook, it is the band’s greatest hit, and Wikipedia’s article on Banket calls it more conventional than the electronic pop that came before it.
Song Summary
The song was written for Banket by Vašo Patejdl, the composer and co-founder of Elán, to words by the lyricist Daniel Mikletič, and it appeared on the band’s debut album Bioelektrovízia, released by Opus in 1986. It is the record’s best-known track, by Slovak Wikipedia’s account the most significant hit of an album full of them. Its memorable detail is its staying power: Müller still has to sing it, as he put it in 2025, at every concert.
Musical Breakdown
What the Sources Say
No source we found walks through Po schodoch section by section, so this review describes less. The album credits say Patejdl himself plays keyboards and sings backing vocals on the track, alongside a band built around keyboard players.
Keyboards and Song
Slovak Wikipedia describes Bioelektrovízia as dominated by electronic music because of that strong keyboard line-up. Po schodoch is where, in the English article’s words, the band became more conventional.
Concepts in Focus
The synthesizer was Banket’s identity. According to Seznam Zprávy, Müller’s original idea was to play normal songs arranged for three synthesizers and a live drummer, three static keyboard players behind a moving singer. The critic calls it a Depeche Mode model, and Müller has said Depeche Mode influenced him most, after he saw them in Budapest in 1985. Wikipedia calls Banket pioneers of electronic pop in Slovakia and Czechoslovakia.
An alternate version is a second recording or arrangement of the same song by the same artist. Po schodoch has lived in many forms: a 1988 export album of Müller’s was titled Up the Stairs (Po schodoch), the 1997 reissue of Bioelektrovízia added a version by the Andrej Šeban Band, and Müller told Deník that he plays it in a different instrumental form all the time.
Artistic Context
Banket were active from 1984 to 1991 in Bratislava, with Müller, born in Hlohovec in 1961, as singer. Seznam Zprávy describes the scene: Opus had the most modern recording studio in the federation, and the television chart Triangel and the Bratislava Lyre festival decided who became popular. Müller later built a long solo career.
Impact and Reception
When Mikletič died in 2024, Novinky.cz headlined his obituary with this song. Banket later released a tongue-in-cheek sequel, Bytové jadro problému, and in 2025 Müller revived the Banket name and sound on Slovenská strela, forty years after Bioelektrovízia. Climb the stairs with him.
