Published on Dec 21, 2005
Artists who break from their bands and release solo
albums usually have a negative track record. Even if their first
solo album may be all right, they usually leave a path of
underwhelming releases. Look at David Lee Roth, Paul McCartney,
Richard Ashcroft and Pras from the Fugees. Still, there are some
voices who naturally grow out of the confines of the band they
joined when they first entered the music world, such as the case of
Bjork.
Before opting for a solo career, Bjork was a favorite
among music geeks for her work with cult faves The Sugarcubes.
However, tensions drove the band to dissolve in 1992 and Bjork
started working with Nellee Hooper, who went on to produce albums
from Massive Attack and Madonna. It should be said that even though
Bjork’s album is titled Debut, technically, this is not
Bjork’s ‘debut’ album. That album came in 1977 (when Bjork was 11)
and featured covers of children’s tunes, sung in her native
Icelandic language. But for the sake of Bjork’s post-Sugarcubes
career, let’s assume that Debut was called Debut for
a reason: it was to introduce (or reintroduce) Bjork to the
world.
Debut had to meet the challenge of defining
Bjork as someone other than “Sugarcubes singer.” More abstractly,
Debut also had a challenge in providing some much-needed
humanity in the perceived sterile environment of dance and
electronica, but she wasted no time in injecting humanity into the
dance/electronica songs on Debut.
Debut also established Bjork as a visual
artist. The video for “Human Behavior” featured a gigantic stuffed
bear chasing Bjork in a world that looked like it was lifted from a
six-year-old’s nightmare. The song wasn’t too remarkable; however,
the video helped lodge the song into people’s heads. With that song
attracting some attention, listeners were able to warm up to the
orchestral softness of “Like Someone In Love” and “One Day.” They
also were treated to the insanely addictive “Big Time Sensuality”
and “Violently Happy” (one of the best song titles of all
time).
The final accomplishment of Debut was its
indirect marring of Rolling Stone‘s credibility as a
reliable resource for album reviews. They made some goofs before —
giving both Nirvana’s Nevermind and Sonic Youth’s
Daydream Nation a ho-hum three-star review when they first
came out, only to eat their words years later. But they gave
Debut a ghastly one-and-a-half star review on their first
review of the album. Critics are free to change their mind (God
knows I’ve had my share of about-faces), but it remains one of
Rolling Stone‘s most embarrassing moments.
Debut ensured that Bjork would have a career
that would far outlast The Sugarcubes. In addition, the album was
the first of three flat-out classic releases from Bjork. Perhaps
the most important accomplishment of Debut was its brought a
world of imagination into the world of electronica. The human heart
and the hard drive no longer seemed incompatible.