Reykjavík Grapevine - 25.09.2009, Blaðsíða 28

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the reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 15 — 2009
16
the history of Icelandic rock music | Part 11
The Kings Of
The Seventies
By spring of 1973, both Gunnar Þórðar-
son and Rúnar Júlíusson had turned 28.
Behind were the most popular groups of
the beat and hippie age, Hljómar and Trú-
brot. Trúbrot had just declined when they
decided to resurrect Hljómar and found a
record label with the same name. Singer/
drummer Engilbert from the original line-
up joined the team, along with singer
superstar Björgvin Halldórsson. The new
Hljómar did an album in 1974, but the
music had nothing to do with the Hljómar
of old. Instead, the contents were more
related to Trúbrot, hard rock and balladry,
with a dash of reggae.
“Hljómar 1974,” as the album got to
be known, sold a lot less than these guys
were used to. There was a lot of money at
stake, as the guys had mortgaged their
homes for capital. The only way to fight
back was, naturally, to make the sort of
music that people would pay good money
for. The conclusion was a new band with
the same members, called Ðe Lónlí Blú
bojs (“The Lonely Blue Boys,” written Ice-
landic style). Their first LP was released in
1975 and became a great success. The LP
took its title track from The Beach Boys’
“Fun Fun Fun”— “Stuð stuð stuð”—and
featured original compositions by Gunnar
along with Icelandicised cover versions
of popular foreign hits. One of the tracks
became a ‘monster hit of the seventies,’
Heim í Búðardal—“Home to Búðardalur.”
The lyrics, by living legend Þorsteinn
Eggertsson, deal with a guy daydream-
ing what will await him when he returns
home to Búðardalur after slaving away
building the Sigalda power station. The
song put the small village of Búðarda-
lur on the map, and was so popular that
stickers that read “Where is this Búðar-
dalur, then?” became a popular item.
Rúnar ran the Hljómar record label in
Iceland while Gunnar moved to England.
He had toiled away in Iceland for more
than a decade and wanted to try some-
thing new, being a session-man in Eng-
land sounded good. Not much happened
with these plans, but Gunnar worked on
several records that Hljómar eventually
released. There was his own solo album,
a sophisticated record that sold poorly
as it had no hits, and a children’s album,
Eniga Meniga, with songs by young writ-
er Ólafur Haukur Símonarson sung by a
young girl, Olga Guðrún Árnadóttir. Eniga
Meniga eventually became a huge hit
and is considered one of Iceland’s most
beloved Icelandic albums, with its socially
conscious lyrics and lively music. Gun-
nar also finished two more Lónlí blú bojs
records, Hinn gullni meðalvegur (“The
Golden Average”) with more superhits
and a Christmas album.
Having sold so many records in 1975,
Gunnar felt he wasn’t getting the sort of
money he deserved. Rúnar had managed
the Hljómar records accounts and when
Gunnar sent in his lawyers Rúnar was
obviously not impressed. Nothing rotten
was to be found, but there was no return
to the Hljómar business after this. In-
stead, Gunnar founded his own Ýmir Re-
cords, and Rúnar started his Geimsteinn
imprint. This was the end of Gunnar’s and
Rúnar’s close working relationship, but
they would record together again when
Hljómar returned in the 21st century, with
two more studio albums and many, many
comeback gigs, the last being in Liver-
pool’s Cavern Club shortly before Rúnar’s
untimely death in December of 2008.
Separately, the old blood brothers of
Icelandic pop were to make many sig-
nificant albums. With his Geimsteinn
imprint, Rúnar hit it big with country-pop
band Brimkló’s debut album and his own
debut solo album in 1976. Both albums
sold more than 5.000 copies so Rúnar
brimmed with inextinguishable optimism
ever since and ran Geimsteinn with hits
and misses until he passed away. Gun-
nar’s Ýmir label had some success too.
A comedy album by Halli, Laddi and Gísli
Rúnar sold well, but a disco pop solo al-
bum by Engilbert Jensen sold less. Gun-
nar wasn’t really record mogul material
though, and he was to have more success
making albums for others.
In 1976, along with singer Björgvin
Halldórsson and producer/bassist Tómas
Tómasson, Gunnar made the album Einu
sinni var (“Once Upon a Time”), a collec-
tion of old Icelandic poems that school
kids had learnt in school for decades, set
to new music by Gunnar. Many, including
some teachers, felt the album should be
banned as it “distorted the tradition,” but
the general public wholly disagreed and
the album went on to become the best
selling Icelandic album of all time, selling
more than 20.000 copies before Christ-
mas of 1976. A second album failed to
repeat the sensation a year later.
Gunnar had many projects running.
He made a second solo album in 1978,
a double album no less, with “difficult”
music and some tracks he had written
for director Hrafn Gunnlaugsson’s short
films. With vocal group Lummurnar (The
Pancakes), many felt Gunnar had hit an
artistic low. Some even went as far as
calling him “the biggest enemy of Ice-
landic music.” Lummurnar sang old Ice-
landic pop songs set to disco beats pro-
grammed and produced by Gunnar. Two
albums were made in 1977 and 1978 and
sold like, uh, hot pancakes.
Þú og ég (You and I) was yet another
project of Gunnar, a swank disco duo
made out of singers Helga Möller and
Jóhann Helgason. Gunnar shows his
studio wizardry on the 1979 album Ljúfa
líf (Sweet life), a honey drenched disco
album that naturally went on to sell like
crazy. Þú og ég were to make two more
albums and had some success in Japan,
where—for some unfathomable reason—
the Gunnar-produced Icelandic disco hit
a home run. - Dr. GuNNI
By Dr. Gunni, based on his 2000 book Eru ekki
allir í stuði? (Rock in Iceland). A revised update
of the book is forthcoming in 2010.
1. Where’s this Búðardalur, then?
Ðe lónlí blú bojs in 1975: Gunnar,
Björgvin, engilbert and rúnar
2. Þú og ég debut looking all candle-
light disco-ish.
3. einu sinni var – the biggest sell-
ing album in Iceland ever!