Laibach was founded 1980 in Trbovlje, Slovenia by Tomaz Hostnik and Miran Mohar, both members of the Yugoslavian army. The group was the musical section of the political art movement NSK, which stands for Neue Slowenische Kunst (New Slovenian Art). The other sections being Irwin (painters) and Scipion Nasice (theatre).

Since Laibach have been around for such a long time, the line-up have changed throungh the years. Nowadays, the group consists of Milan Fras, Dejan Knez, Ervin Markosek and Ivan Novak. Ivan has been the spokesman since Tomaz Hostnik committed suicide in 1982. Tomaz became 21 years old.

Their first multimedia project "Rdeci Revirji" (Red Districts) was banned by the authorities before they even got a chance to perform it. In 1982, however, Laibach made their first concert appearence and more shows followed shortly around Yugoslavia.

In 1983, Laibach made their first appearence in Yugoslavian TV. The interview upset a lot of people and Laibach were once again banned. This time they were forbidden to do any public appearences and to use the name Laibach. Later that year, Laibach went on their first Eurpean tour. They were accompanied by British band "Last Few Days".

Laibach returned to Slovenia in 1984 and were able to fool the authorities by doing an anonymous concert at Malic Belic Hall in Ljubljana. The following year they released their first album, but due to the ban the name Laibach didn't appear on the cover.

To get away from the control of the Yugoslavian authoriries, Laibach now started to work with the German independant record-label Walter Ulbricht Schallfolien. On this label they made their first international release, "Recapitulacija 1980-1984".

The album "Nova Akropola" came out in 1985 on British-label Cherry Red and Laibach later signed to London-label Mute and released "Opus Dei" in 1987. Also in 1987, they made their first official concert in Slovenia since the ban four years earlier. The next year they released "Let It Be", which covered Beatles' whole white album with exception for the song "Let It Be".

A Europen/American tour was made in 1989 and in late 1990 they appeared in their hometown Trbovlje for the first time since 1980.

In 1994 they released "Nato" and set off on their "Occupied Europe Nato Tour 94-95". The tour ended with two concerts in Sarajevo, a town that was then under siege by the Serbian army.

"Jesus Christ Superstars" was released in 1996.

In 1997 Laibach toured extensively in Europe and the US. Included were concerts in Ukraine, Russia and Yugoslavia. The tour ended with a concert in Belgrade, where Laibach hadn't played since the beginning of the war.

The following year, Laibach appeared in front of the presidents of several states with a huge show, together with the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra and a mixed choir. Laibach played some early heavy industrial songs with a massive philharmonic sound. Again, the show produced a lot of controversial reactions and Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra dropped all further collaboration.

Also in 1998, Laibach performed at the Queen Elisabeth Hall in London, where the Central European Festival was held. In September they attended the Bridge festival in Sarajevo.