The Sugarcubes

The Sugarcubes stood out as Iceland’s most prominent band, which accounted for their distinctive melodic approach. Their opening release, Life’s Too Good, arrived in 1988 and earned strong critical notices while gaining traction on college radio, yet the group proved unable to restore that initial spark on later efforts.

Band lore holds that the Sugarcubes came together on June 8, 1986—the same day vocalist Björk, born Björk Gundmundsdottir, delivered her son. Before that date the participants had already circulated through several Icelandic acts. Björk’s résumé stretched furthest: at age eleven she cut a children’s album, and during her late teens she entered the post-punk outfit Tappi Tikarrass, which issued two albums before dissolving in 1983. Drummer Siggi Baldursson, born Sigtryggur Baldursson on October 2, 1962, had played in þeyr (also styled Theyr); the band’s most visible international episode occurred in 1982 when it collaborated with Youth and Jaz Coleman of Killing Joke. Concurrently in Iceland, Einar Benediktsson and Bragi Olafsson launched the punk group Purrkur Pillnikk and issued material on Benediktsson’s own imprint, Gramm.

By 1984 Björk, Benediktsson, and Baldursson united with keyboardist Einar Mellax to create K.U.K.L., whose Icelandic name translates as “witch.” The ensemble specialized in noisy, experimental post-punk and placed several singles with the British independent label Crass. In 1986 K.U.K.L. morphed into the Sugarcubes, bringing in Björk’s husband at the time, Thor Eldon, on guitar and restoring Bragi Olafsson on bass.

Late in 1987 the band secured deals with One Little Indian in the U.K. and Elektra Records in the U.S. Life’s Too Good appeared the following year to widespread praise on both sides of the Atlantic. Its lead track, “Birthday,” registered as an indie success in Britain and a college-radio staple in America. The heavy attention directed at Björk, however, created friction with Benediktsson. By the time the follow-up was recorded, Thor had separated from Björk and wed Magga Ornolfsdottir, who replaced the departing Einar Mellax on keyboards.

Here Today, Tomorrow Next Week! reached stores in 1989. The album granted Einar a larger vocal role, a choice that drew criticism and contributed to reviews noticeably less enthusiastic than those for the debut. After its release the Sugarcubes undertook an extended world tour. When the trek ended in late 1990 the members turned to separate projects. Their third album, Stick Around for Joy, surfaced in 1992; ahead of it, the European compilation It’s-It collected various remixes. Although Stick Around for Joy garnered stronger notices than the first record, it produced no hit single. Shortly afterward the Sugarcubes dissolved. In 1993 Björk began a solo trajectory rooted in dance music that earned both critical and commercial success.