Reykjavík Grapevine - 05.10.2012, Page 26

26 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 16 — 2012MUSIC
What’s So Super About Supergroups? From Cream to GRM and
beyond, Valur Gunnarsson explores the supergroup phenomenon and
lists Icelanders’ attempts at forming such outfits
The rise of the supergroups continued unabated
into the ‘70s, with the sound of clashing egos so
loud that even names for the bands could not be
agreed upon. Instead, everyone got a name check
in Crosby, Stills, Nash and (sometimes) Young,
or Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Much like the
dinosaurs, supergroups either imploded under
their own weight or were destroyed by the me-
teor of punk rock in the later ‘70s, but have pe-
riodically re-emerged in most forms of musical
styles. Country has given us The Highwaymen
(including among others Johnny Cash and Wil-
lie Nelson), grunge Mad Season (featuring mem-
bers of Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam), and rap
Bad Meets Evil (featuring Eminem and Royce da
5’9”), to name but a few.

Metal’s last stand
Of all musical styles, it is metal that is most
prone to inspire supergroups, often bearing
silly names such as Wondergirls or Brides of De-
struction. Supergrouping might take place out of
sheer necessity, as metal periodically falls out of
fashion, forcing the survivors to band together.
For example, some of the most diligent super-
group joiners are members of Guns ‘n’ Roses
who aren’t Axl Rose. Their projects include Neu-
rotic Outsiders (also featuring members of the
Sex Pistols and Duran Duran), Slash’s Snakepit
(featuring members of Alice in Chains and Jelly-
fish), Rock Star Supernova (featuring members
of Metallica, Motley Crue and—almost—our
own Magni Ásgeirsson), and of course Velvet Re-
volver, fronted by Scott Weiland of Stone Temple
Pilots.
Even children of famous musicians have been
known to go the supergroup route in an attempt
to grab attention, an example being Bloodlines,
made up of the sons of Miles Davis and Robby
Krieger of the Doors, or Wilson Philips, made up
of the daughters of the Beach Boys and The Ma-
mas and the Papas.
The really super supergroups
Perhaps the supergroup most deserving of the
name is The Travelling Wilburys, featuring Bob
Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and
former Beatle George Harrison (Eric Clapton
thankfully absent). Perhaps the only way to top
this would be to put Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash,
Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins together, which
of course happened in 1956, their Million Dol-
lar Quartet being the first, if accidental, super-
group. Then again, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin
and Sammy Davis Jr. performing together as the
Rat Pack predates them all.
By their nature, supergroups tend to be short
lived due to oversized egos and, more often than
not, a lack of musical direction other than the
bringing together of said egos. However, at least
one great band, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds,
started out life as an underground supergroup of
sorts, comprising members of Australia’s Birth-
day Party and German bands Die Haut and Ein-
stürzende Neubauten.
The actual impact of supergroups on popular
music may be considerably smaller than the sum
of its parts, but in Iceland, the story is different.
- VALUR GUNNARSSON
There was a time when supergroups walked the Earth. Their first recorded ap-
pearance dates back to the late ‘60s, and they tended to include Eric Clapton,
who formed Cream, Blind Faith and Derek and the Dominos in quick succes-
sion with other big name musicians. By definition, a supergroup is comprised of
previously famous people, so bands such as The Beatles and the Stones, whose
members later became household names in their own right, don’t qualify. How-
ever, a short-lived supergroup called The Dirty Mac did include John Lennon,
Keith Richards and, perhaps inevitably, Eric Clapton.
The ‘70s: Trúbrot
Perhaps due to the smallness of the
scene, Iceland has proved fertile ground
for supergroup creation. It sometimes
seems that everyone plays with every-
one at some point. The first was Trúbrot,
which was formed in 1969 by members
of two of the most popular Icelandic
bands at the time, Hljómar and Flowers.
Their album ‘Lifun’ was long regarded as
the best Icelandic rock album of all time,
but the group disbanded in 1973 after
failing to reach international acclaim.
Some members went on to another su-
pergroup, Ðe lónlí blú bojs, less musi-
cally ambitious but more commercially
successful locally. Organist Magnús
Kjartansson made another bid for world
stardom with his band Change in 1974,
dressing the boys up in Bay City Roll-
ers outfits, but the band was dismissed
as “the girls from Iceland” in the British
press due to their high-pitched harmo-
nies and the attempt fizzled out.
The ‘80s: Sugarcubes
Perhaps the idea of a punk supergroup
is a contradiction in terms, but this is in
fact how the Sugarcubes, Iceland’s first
band to achieve notable international
success, started. As the Icelandic punk
scene was dying out in 1983/84, mem-
bers of the three most notable bands,
Tappi Tíkarrass, Þeyr and Purrkur Pill-
nikk (all of which can be seen in the
great documentary ‘Rokk í Reykjavík’)
came together to form Kukl. They made
two albums and toured with British
punk band Crass, before transforming
into the Sugarcubes in 1987. The rest, as
you know, is history. Apart from Björk,
members of Kukl/Sugarcubes continue
to be influential in Iceland. Drummer
Sigtryggur Baldursson hosts the music
show Hljómskálinn on RÚV TV while
occasionally appearing on stage as his
crooner persona Bogomil Font, bassist
Bragi Ólafsson is a novelist and vocal-
ist Einar Örn (now of Ghostigital) helped
get Jón Gnarr elected to city hall, where
he remains to this day.
The ‘90s: GCD
The mother of them all. Unlike previously
mentioned supergroups, which brought
together artists early in their careers in
order to form actual bands, GCD was a
supergroup in the truest sense, bring-
ing together two of the largest figures
in Icelandic rock. In 1991, Bubbi was at
the peak of his success, having been
the biggest selling Icelandic artist of the
‘80s, but just about to begin his decline.
Rúnar Júlíusson, previously of Trúbrot,
Ðe lónlí blú bojs and Hljómar (known as
“Iceland’s Beatles”), was not as frequent
a guest on the airwaves at this point, but
GCD provided him with a platform for a
considerable comeback. The band was
rounded out by drummer Gulli Briem,
who had earlier had some international
success with his band Mezzoforte, and
guitarist Bergþór Morthens, Bubbi’s
brother and former member of Bubbi’s
band, EGÓ. Their first album was a major
hit, while two later albums gave dimin-
ishing returns, with the final one seeing
release in 1995. Bubbi continues to per-
form, while Rúnar sadly died in 2008 at
the age of 63.
The ‘00s: Merzedes Club
Merzedes Club was, it must be said, a
strange beast. Acclaimed composer
Barði Jóhannsson of the electronica
band Bang Gang got together a group of
celebrity bloggers, TV personalities and
body builders known as Gillz, Gaz-Man
and Party-Hanz to sing his entry for the
Eurovision Song Contest. The line-up
was completed with 19-year-old song-
stress Rebekka and rapper Ceres 4. The
song, which was called "Ho Ho Ho, We
Say Hey Hey Hey," placed second in the
preliminaries and did not make it to the
actual contest, but became a number
one hit here and reportedly did well. An
album, perhaps just as inevitably called
‘I Wanna Touch You,’ followed. Other
than this, the band is best known for
having been contracted to make a video
and a song called "Meira frelsi" (“More
Freedom”) for phone company Síminn,
generating controversy as indirect ad-
vertising is forbidden by Icelandic law.
The band was only active in 2007–08,
but somehow seems symbolic of the
time when the Icelandic boom was near-
ing its peak and eventual collapse.
The ‘10s: GRM
Gylfi Ægisson, though often perform-
ing alone with a pre-recorded tape
as his backing band, is no stranger to
supergroups. In the early ‘80s, Áhöf-
nin á Halastjörnunni (“The Crew of the
Comet”), formed with Rúnar Júlíusson
in order to play Gylfi’s sailor-themed
songs, was one of the most popular
bands in Iceland. The all-star band in-
cluded among others former footballer
and talk-show host Hemmi Gunn and a
teen called Páll Óskar, who seems to be
everywhere these days.
This time, Gylfi has gotten no lesser
a personality than Megas, better known
for the brilliance of his lyrics than the
clarity of his voice, to help out on the
aptly titled album ‘Þrjár stjörnur’ (“Three
Stars”). Gylfi returns the favour, singing
along on Megas classics like "Fatlafól"
and "Ef þú smælar." The third of the
trio is ‘80s rocker Rúnar Þór, omnipres-
ent shades and leather jacket included.
More harmonious singing groups can
no doubt be found, but these three older
gentlemen still ooze charm.