2008 Woodie Awards
Bjork; more than the crazy in the swan dress
Lark Rissetto
Issue date: 10/20/04 Section: Arts
The Icelandic diva Bjork is more than just the chick who wore the swan dress to the Academy Awards. She is more than the Joan Rivers jokes and she is certainly more than the pop stars that are out in MTV world.
Within the underground and the mainstream Bjork has gained a loyal following of fans that see her for who she really is, a brilliant artist. From her humble beginnings in Reykjavík, Iceland, to the top of the music world Bjork has proven that innovation and transformation are what make great records.
Bjork attended classical music school at the age of five where she learned how to build instruments, play every instrument, conduct, compose and sing in traditional Icelandic form. The strict instruction gave her the tools that allowed her to put out a solo album at the age of 11. It sold nearly 4,000 copies in Iceland and made Bjork a child star. She was not proud of this accomplishment because she felt odd having her name on a record that was only cover songs.
Knowing she wanted more than a cover career, Bjork left music school at 15 and joined the punk movement that was erupting in Iceland. She started out in the band Kukl and later joined the Sugarcubes with fellow friends. When the single "Birthday" hit college radio and the mainstream circuit people desperately wanted to know who was behind the voice. Her unearthly vocals that seemed totally out of control with the music are what made "Birthday" a hit. However, after a few years singing with the Sugarcubes and having her son Sindri with band mate Thor, Bjork wanted to move on. She craved another sound and thus tapped into the London music scene in 1993.
Her first album entitled Debut contained all that was popular in music during the early '90s, especially in the European scene. Club culture was taking off and Bjork created a record that combined folk, soul, hip hop, electronica and brass band music that suited this atmosphere. Even now when people are dancing at clubs they are probably dancing to some tracks off Debut like "Big Time Sensuality" and "Human Behavior." Her second record released in 1995 entitled Post was a reach for the industrial and comprised songs that spoke to females with a broken heart.