Reykjavík Grapevine - 09.09.2011, Side 22
22
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 14 — 2011
S TA R T E R S | R E S TAU R A N T A N D B A R
B Y T H E H A R B O U R | M Ý R A R G Ö T U 14 | R E Y K JAV Í K
b a r i n n
Busy making MENUS - We will open soon by the Harbour
in Reykjavik.
STARTERS RESTAURANT &
BAR
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Mon – Wed: 11:30-14:00, 17:00-22:30
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Stuðmenn's Disciples—The
Joy-Pop Of The Eighties
Music | Dr. Gunni’s History Of Icelandic Rock: Part 29
In the eighties, Stuðmenn ("Fun-
men") were the most popular Ice-
landic band. These people had a
solid track record from the seven-
ties (in that decade they had made
two wonderful Stuðmenn LPs, six
amazing folk rock LPs as Spilverk
þjóðanna and two great folk-prog
LPs as Þursaflokkurinn (see part
thirteen of this series for further
reading). In 1983, the band Stuð-
menn returned with a comedy flick,
‘Með allt á hreinu’ (“On Top”) and
an accompanying soundtrack LP,
their first album since 1977. Both
the film and the album were very
popular. An amazing 120.000 peo-
ple saw the film in the cinemas. The
tongue in cheek humour and lively,
fun music had much influence on
Icelandic pop bands for years to
come.
DALLAS INSPIRED MUSIC
Dúkkulísurnar (“The Paper Dolls”) from
Egilsstaðir took their cue from Grýlur-
nar, an all-girl group that appeared in
‘Með allt á hreinu’ alongside Stuðmenn.
However, Dúkkulísurnar never sounded
like Grýlurnar and leaned more towards
The Pretenders in style. In 1982, the
first Músíktilraunir was organised, a
"battle of the bands"-competition that
still remains a springboard for young
bands. The first band to win, DRON,
faded away quickly, but for Dúkkulí-
surnar, who won in 1983, everything
"happened very fast afterwards," as
guitarist and main songwriter Gréta
would later remark. Dúkkulísurnar got
signed to Skífan, at the time one of two
big "major" labels in Iceland, and in
the summer of 1984 the first six-track
EP came out. It included ‘Pamela,’ a
hit song about a pregnant 15-year old
who sings: "This baby was an accident,
in my stomach like flares, I wish I were
Pamela in Dallas.”
Dúkkulísurnar's LP came in 1986 (‘Í
léttum leik’ (“A Light Game”)—the girls
always hated the title) and included
the band’s second hit, ‘Svarthvíta het-
jan mín’ ("My Black And White Hero").
Being in an all-girl group was nothing
to build one’s future on in 1986, so ev-
erybody "got serious" and enrolled into
higher education. Dúkkulísurnar were
laid to rest, but of course, like most oth-
er bands, the girls would play together
again decades later.
The TV-show Dallas was obviously
a strong influence on young people in
the East of Iceland in the ‘80s, as the
OTHER successful band from the re-
gion was Súellen (incidentally named
in honour of Dallas' Sue Ellen). This was
an all-boy band that played both played
‘80s joy-pop and hairdo-pop. Súel-
len were an ambitious ball-group that
owned both a PA-system and a Benz
van. Súellen released some rarely seen
cassettes, an EP and an LP in 1990.
WHO IS ‘THE SIxTH COUNT’?
Greifarnir (“The Counts”) were the
major representatives of joy-pop. Their
Cinderella moment happened in 1986
when they won Músíktilraunir. These
guys came from Húsavík in the North
and had partaken the previous year as
Special Treatment. In the year between
they had changed their name, recruited
a singer/front man they found in a Ver-
zlunarskólinn trade school musical (my
partner in Popppunktur crime, Felix
Bergsson) and had begun singing in
Icelandic.
Greifarnir's victory got much me-
dia attention and the group’s wild-
est dreams now came true. The band
played at a legendary two day festival
called Listapopp in the summer of 1986.
Listapopp had four British groups vis-
iting the reef: Madness, Simply Red,
Lloyd Cole and the Commotions and
Fine Young Cannibals. Three other Ice-
landic acts played as well (Rikshaw,
Grafík and the Bubbi-lite troubador
Bjarki Tryggvason) but Greifarnir were
the only act that got an encore. Grei-
farnir cared a lot about their appear-
ance and had a stuffed wardrobe, in-
cluding long white coats. They hired
a makeup and hairdo-lady called Íris,
who toured with the band—"She's really
the sixth member of the band," singer
Felix remarked in an interview at the
time.
Steinar Berg, the owner of the other
big Icelandic "major" at the time, signed
Greifarnir to his Steinar label. First up
was a 12" EP called ‘Blue Blood.’ It
came out before the Bank Holidays and
included a tailor made smash hit for the
weekend called ‘Útihátíð’ (“Outdoor
Festival”). The song described Icelan-
dic outdoor festivals in filthy details:
"Badly drunk, in the woods. Where's the
tent? I hope you're having fun!"
"Our publisher wanted lightness,
summer mood and perky stuff and we
complied. We want to make a name
for ourselves before we go for deeper
ideas," Felix said when the EP came out.
“ENTERTAINMENT”?
In August 1986, Greifarnir played for
20.000 people when Reykjavík cel-
ebrated its 200-year birthday with a
big outdoor concert. Everything was
broadcasted live on TV. Greifarnir nour-
ished off this flying start for several
years. More lightness was to be found
on the next 12" EP, ‘Sviðsmynd,’ and the
first LP ‘Dúbl í horn’ that came out be-
fore Christmas of 1987.
Post modernism with its limp "ev-
erything is equal" mindset was still far
off, so Greifarnir were dismissed by
some (including myself, of course) as
lousy "entertainment"-band and not
"real artists.” This, naturally, rubbed
Greifarnir the wrong way: "We take
ourselves seriously and do our best.
Still we're not reckoned with. Instead
people in the know are sucking up to
groups that are much less successful
than us," they peevishly said in 1987.
When Felix quit the band in 1989 to
study drama, the rest kept on for awhile
but then split. The band came back in
1996 and have kept at it ever since, usu-
ally without Felix, who only appears on
special occasions. They are a popular
ball group and fly a gigantic pair of un-
derpants outside the clubs they play,
just like they did when they were start-
ing out in Húsavík.
Other notable joy-pop bands were
Stuðkompaníið (“The Fun Company”)
that won Músíktilraunir in 1987 and
included two sons of accordion-leg-
end Örvar Kristjánsson; Skriðjöklar
(“Glaciers”) from Akureyri that had
many popular tunes and released re-
cords with absurd titles like "Is Indriði
abroad a lot?" and "This is an insult to
the payers of radio fees." The decidedly
un-PC Kátir piltar (“Gay Boys”) from
Hafnarfjörður, whose most popular
song was about "Fat women" and Sni-
glabandið (“The Snail Band”) that have
been called "the poor man’s Stuðmenn"
by none other than the ever-snappy Bo
Halldórsson. The peak of joy-pop was
probably in 1988, when Músíktilaunir's
top three bands all played joy-pop.
These were Jójó (ehrm... “Yo-Yo”) from
Skagaströnd, who won, Herramenn
(“Gentlemen”) and Fjörkallar (“Fun
Dudes”). (Un)fortunately, none of them
released any records.
Dr. Gunni
Photos:
1. Dúkkulísurnar as they appeared on
the first EP in 1984.
2. Súellen's EP, probably as "eighties"
as album covers get.
3. Greifarnir all dolled up on the cover
of ‘Sviðsmynd’ (1987).
By Dr. Gunni (Based on his book Eru ekki allir í stuði from 2001). We hear the
good doctor is working on an updated version of the book for 2012!