Reykjavík Grapevine - 17.07.2009, Qupperneq 32

20
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 10 — 2009
The history of icelandic Rock music: Part 6
Hljómar Invent
Icelandic Pop
During 1967 and ‘68, Hljómar were once
again the major band in Iceland. After the
band’s failure to break through (both in-
ternationally and locally) with their “dif-
ficult” experimental rhythm & blues (as
Thor’s Hammer, later recognised as one
of the best music made in Iceland dur-
ing the sixties), the band set out to play
more “comfortable” pop music. The plot
worked out fine. The band quickly gained
back their earlier popularity and Svavar
Gests decided to finance a Hljómar al-
bum for his SG imprint. This eponymous
Hljómar album was to become the first
Icelandic modern pop album.
The band had to be flown to London,
as Iceland’s recording studios at that time
were deemed “not good enough.” Hljó-
mar recorded twelve songs. Five songs
were new originals, three by Gunnar
Þórðarson, one by Þórir Baldursson, and
one by Dátar’s Rúnar Gunnarsson. The
rest of the album featured cover versions
of foreign hits with Icelandic lyrics, often
by Þorsteinn Eggertsson (who also drew
the album’s cover). During the trip to
London, the band stocked up on the new-
est threads from hip shops on Carnaby
Street. An Icelandic TV special was made
with the band lip-synching to the songs
dressed to the gills in hippie gear with
flowerpots dangling from their guitars.
Hljómar had obviously seen The Beatles’
performance of All you need is Love as
their appearance looked similar, with
young hip people sitting around, includ-
ing members of Flowers and other bands,
grooving convincingly to the music.
Hljómar played relentlessly at dance
balls all around Iceland. The band rarely
performed their own songs but mostly
cover versions of recent international hits.
These balls had little to do with love and
peace. Rúnar Júlíusson, the beloved sing-
er and bassist, had originally been prone
to shyness, playing with his back to the
audience. Now he had turned into a wild
animal on stage. He jumped, climbed,
dived, even stripped on stage. His stage
act was legendary and hasn’t been
matched since. The guests didn’t come
for any peace crap either. The drunk and
horny crowd often tore down the places to
the pounding backdrop of Hljómar’s mu-
sic. A legendary ball in Sandgerði in 1968
ended in a riot after the band stopped
playing at two o’clock instead of four as
promised. Chairs, windows, glasses and
bottles were smashed, leaving the place
in ruins.
Sheepskin vests for world domination
Dreams of world domination were re-
kindled when Hljómar tried to break into
the Scandinavian market in 1968. In a
joint effort with Guðlaugur Bergmann,
who had run Reykjavík’s hippest fashion
store, Karnabær, for two years, the band
went to Sweden as ambassadors of Icelan-
dic pop and fashion. “The band tends to
bring together the traditional Icelandic
way and the world of pop,” wrote Mor-
gunblaðið, adding: “Hljómar will all be
dressed in sheepskin-vests. Knitted sock-
shoes, caps, etc. will be brought along.
Hljómar have arranged ancient Icelandic
rhyme motifs and added into their music
and the langspil (ancient Icelandic instru-
ment) will be taken along.”
The trip didn’t do much, neither for
Icelandic fashion nor Hljómar. The band
was offered a support slot for The Spencer
Davis Group though, but the members
didn’t think that was good enough.
For their second album (also epony-
mous, but later referred to as Hljómar
II), the band added Shady Owens to the
line-up. Shady was a 19-year-old daugh-
ter of an American soldier and Icelandic
mother, and had stayed in Iceland for a
while, singing with Óðmenn. She had a
wonderful voice and sang the Icelandic
lyrics with a charming American accent.
The album was recorded in London in a
record-breaking 35 hours (their first LP
had taken 16 hours). Sixteen session mu-
sicians played on the album, including
keyboardist Nick Hopkins, who had just
played on “Revolution” for The Beatles.
The album had six original songs by
Gunnar Þórðarson on Side 1 and six cover
versions on Side 2. Soon after the album’s
release, Gunnar admitted regrets for in-
cluding the cover songs. The album cost
much more than SG had intended and
sold less than the first album. A lawsuit
ensued which ended in Hljómar having
to pay SG back for the extravaganza.
As the hair and beards grew longer
and the general rock direction got heavier
and more progressive, Hljómar’s pop di-
rection started to date fast. Hljómar’s pri-
mary competition had been psychedelic
pop band Flowers, and within that band,
too, some wanted to move on to play a dif-
ferent kind of music. The band members
– especially the two Gunnars (Þórðarson
from Hljómar and Jökull Hákonarson,
the drummer from Flowers) – discussed
a liaison, often in privacy at discothèque
Las Vegas on Grensásvegur. The conclu-
sion was Trúbrot, Iceland’s first “super-
group”. We’ll get to that next time.
- dR. GUNNi
By Dr. Gunni, based on his 2000 book Eru ekki
allir í stuði? (Rock in Iceland). A revisited up-
date of the book is forthcoming in 2010.
1. Late period hljómar
The line-up that made the second album in 1968: Gunnar Þórðarson, Engil-
bert Jensen, Erlingur Björnsson, Rúnar Júlíusson and Shady Owens.
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