Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.10.2009, Blaðsíða 46

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the reykjavík grapevine
Issue 16 — 2009
14
the history of icelandic rock music | Part 12
Stuð in the Seventies
By the mid-seventies, indolent hippies
were passé and nobody was really sing-
ing about love and peace anymore. Heavy
drinking and wild hedonism were the or-
der of the day, and this showed in pop lyr-
ics. The word “stuð”, which means some-
thing like ‘fun,’ ‘rush’ and can also mean
‘mood,’ and ‘electric shock’ kept coming
up. The nightlife war cry became ‘Eru ekki
allir í stuði?’—‘Are you all in the mood to
have fun?!’ Lyricists also drew much from
the fact that ‘ball’ rhymes with both ‘sk-
rall’ (‘ratchet’) and ‘rall’ (‘debauchery’).
The toughest of the stuð-groups was
Haukar, ‘The Hawks.’ “If we are having
fun, the people will have fun,” was their
motto. When the band went on the road
in Iceland, one Brennivín-bottle was ad-
ministered to each member in the tour
bus. The origins of the band can be traced
back to Húsavík in the early sixties, and
around eighty people would play with the
band until it frizzled out in the late sev-
enties. By 1970, Haukar had relocated to
Reykjavík, where the band got hip playing
old rock standards at the clubs. The band
stood out as all other bands were grow-
ing their hair long and acting all “deep.”
Haukar behaved in a saucy manner on
stage, saying stuff like: “Now fuck off to
your tables and drink your booze.”
“We are saucy to make people free,”
said Helgi Steingrímsson in an interview
in 1972. “90% of Icelanders are bour-
geois and they will not feel comfortable
at the dance until they have boozed up. If
we can make people forget about them-
selves for a while by being more rude
than themselves, they will feel good. We
are rough for the people.” Haukar did not
put much effort into being good musi-
cians. The best chance to see the band
play well was on Mondays according to
Helgi, “as we have hangovers then.”
Helgi quit in 1973 and lanky bassplay-
er Gulli Melsted took over as the Haukar
leader. In 1975, their first record came
out, a 7” with Elvis’ Return to Sender
amusingly translated (by maestro Þor-
steinn Eggertsson) and sung in Icelandic
as ‘Three tons of sand.’ The first LP came
in 1976 and has one song by Jóhann G.
Jóhannsson that has lived on as an Ice-
landic standard, ‘Fiskinn minn’, with the
chorus ‘My Fish, yummy yummy yumm.’
The year after, the second album came
out, but by then Haukar had strayed from
the stuð path towards deeper territories.
Naturally, the album sold poorly.
Another popular stuð-band was
Deildarbungubræður (‘Deildarbunga
brothers’), a stuð-band derived from the
progressive and serious combo Eik. In
the seventies Eik (‘Oak’) made two prog
albums, but as Deildarbungubræður the
members played cover-songs at dances
and did two albums with cover songs
and originals. The Icelandicized version
of Swedish pop star Harpo’s track ‘Maria’
was the band’s biggest hit.
In the stuð-department, Brimkló
(‘Surfclaw’) with singer Björgvin “Bo
Hall” Halldórsson in the front made big
waves in the mid-seventies. The band
had originally been formed in 1972 but lay
dormant until Björgvin revived the band in
1976 for its first LP. Originally influenced
by country rock acts like Poco, Eagles
and The Byrds, Brimkló would lighten-up
and play fun pop songs, often sporting
amusing lyrics by Þorsteinn Eggertsson.
Their first LP, Rock ‘n’ Roll, öll mín bestu
ár (‘Rock ‘n’ Roll, all my best years’), was
a huge hit, and the band went on the road
with comedy half-brothers Halli & Laddi
as sidekicks. Brimkló was to make a new
LP yearly for the rest of the decade, and
each one included a new mega hit for tiny
Iceland.
The roadie-profession got popular in
the seventies. Some of the roadies, like
Stebbi “The Red” and Albert Icefield,
even overshadowed the rock stars with
their wild lifestyles and womanizing an-
tics. They reached star status, culminat-
ing as Albert got interviewed by Samúel,
a seventies men’s magazine. There he
told in details which bands used drugs
or booze. Brimkló answered with the
songs ‘If the Roadies blab’ and ‘I read it in
Samúel.’
Björgvin’s was Iceland’s pop king in
the late seventies. Along with Brimkló,
he did solo albums and sang with Halli
& Laddi in a group called HLH flokkurinn
(‘The HLH group’). HLH did the early rock
routine, dressed accordingly in leather
jackets, singing Icelandicized early rock
songs along with some originals. Their
first LP, Í góðu lagi (‘In cool order’), came
out in 1979 and I got it as a confirmation
gift. I remember I didn’t like it so much, at
least not openly. A new wave was loom-
ing—big changes were about to be made
in the Icelandic music scene—and I was
ready.
Brimkló’s last LP—before later come-
backs—came in 1981, when the Icelandic
pop landscape had changed consider-
ably with the surface of rock star Bubbi
Morthens. One of the first songs he made
popular included the infamous line: “I’m a
certified invalid, listen to HLH and Brim-
kló.” - 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. haukar – Jolly good!
2. Brimkló looking all swanky
- Bo hall sitting down
3. hlh-flokkurinn - american
graffiti in seventies’ reykjavík