Goran Pavelić Pipo was born in Zagreb in 1954. He graduated with a degree in English and phonetics at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science in Zagreb, where he also earned a master’s degree in general linguistics. As of 1991, he was a member of the Croatian Army, and in 2012 he retired with the rank of colonel. Although retired, he continued to engage in photography. He received his first lesson in photography from his parents, who worked as professional photographers. He became more seriously involved in photography in 1974. He soon became a member of the editorial board of the youth magazine Polet, and as a photojournalist he began to keep track of events on the Yugoslav new wave scene.

The quality of his photos was recognized by other Yugoslav newspapers, which began to publish his photographs. For the younger generation, the first encounter with the new wave, besides music, was through the photography of Goran Pavelic Pipo. Photos like Azra's performance at Kulušić or Jura Stublić in front of the Zvečka café  have become iconic because they best capture the spirit of the time. An essential determinant of the spirit at that time was the physical appearance of the youth, who were radically opposed to appearances promoted by the Communist Party. The picture of neatly dressed and combed youth was replaced by the image of sloppy and provocatively dressed youth who expressed their disgust with the regime through fashion. Goran Pavelić Pipo did not have conflicts with the regime, but certainly was an important protagonist on the alternative urban scene in Zagreb in the early 1980s.