Musician. Actress. Pioneer. Innovator. Icon. Grateful grapefruit. Welcome, sistren, to the Björk Discography Rate. Raised amongst a bohemian hippy commune in Reykjavíc, an eleven-year-old virtuoso was given an early taste of fame when an overzealous music teacher managed to land her a recording contract for an album of Icelandic covers of traditional pop songs. Having refused the offer of a follow-up album (thank god), Björk proceeded to dip her toes into essentially any musical waters she could find over the years, appearing in numerous semi-famous questionable Icelandic groups before finally finding international acclaim as the frontwoman of the alt-rock group The Sugarcubes in the mid-eighties. Entering the halcyon days of the nineties, our future Icelandic queen realised she wasn’t enjoying the style of music the group were making, dropped everything and moved to London to pursue a solo career in pop. And so, an icon was born. 8 solo studio albums, 2 film soundtracks, 39 music videos, over 100 awards and several controversial career moves later, the oviparous chanteuse continues to forge on ahead on the road of musical excellence, leaving nothing but raving critics, a fiercely loyal fanbase and a few battered paparazzi in her wake. When Inuit throat-singing and colossal gravity-operated musical pendulums come into play, it’s understandable to think that her discography might be too hard of a pill to swallow. However, it’s important to remember that above all, Björk is one of us. Every album, every tour, every aspect of her career has been borne out of a deep, unwavering love for pop music in all its forms, and that respect for the craft can almost always be heard in all her own projects. Call her alternative, call her avant-garde, call her an elfish pixie (please don’t), but rest assured – Björk is a goddamn POPSTAR, in every sense of the word. Iceland's biggest export [citation needed] has, and continues to, pave the way for countless swathes of those we now call our faves, and so it’s high time we paid homage to this unstoppable creative force. By pitting her albums against each other and collectively attempting to quantify the quality of her life’s work, I guess? LET'S DO IT. So, for the uninitiated, here’s how it’s gonna go down: Rate each of the songs listed in the following post between 0 - 10; half marks are allowed. You can bless one song with the elusive 11/10 score. Use it wisely. We won't be rating Overture or Frosti. I think we can all agree they wouldn't last long anyway. Commentary on individual tracks is more than welcome! Send me your scores & commentary via PM and voila! Jobs a good’un. Voting will close on Monday, April 18th at 9pm GMT. Good luck, and please don't fuck it up.
Debut (1993) 1. Human Behaviour 2. Crying 3. Venus As A Boy 4. There’s More To Life Than This 5. Like Someone In Love 6. Big Time Sensuality | Single Version 7. One Day 8. Aeroplane 9. Come To Me 10. Violently Happy 11. The Anchor Song* 12. Play Dead Post (1995) 1. Army Of Me 2. Hyperballad 3. The Modern Things 4. It’s Oh So Quiet 5. Enjoy 6. You’ve Been Flirting Again 7. Isobel 8. Possibly Maybe 9. I Miss You 10. Cover Me 11. Headphones Homogenic (1997) 1. Hunter 2. Jóga 3. Unravel 4. Bachelorette 5. All Neon Like 6. 5 Years 7. Immature 8. Alarm Call | Single Version 9. Pluto 10. All Is Full Of Love | Single Version Selmasongs (2000) 1. Overture 2. Cvalda 3. I’ve Seen It All 4. Scatterheart 5. In The Musicals 6. 107 Steps 7. New World Vespertine (2001) 1. Hidden Place 2. Cocoon 3. It’s Not Up To You 4. Undo 5. Pagan Poetry 6. Frosti 7. Aurora 8. An Echo, A Stain 9. Sun In My Mouth 10. Heirloom 11. Harm Of Will 12. Unison Medúlla (2004) 1. Pleasure Is All Mine 2. Show Me Forgiveness 3. Where Is The Line 4. Vökuró 5. Öll Birtan 6. Who Is It 7. Submarine 8. Desired Constellation 9. Oceania 10. Sonnets/Unrealities XI 11. Ancestors 12. Mouth’s Cradle 13. Miðvikudags 14. Triumph of a Heart Volta (2007) 1. Earth Intruders | Single Version 2. Wanderlust 3. The Dull Flame of Desire | Single Version 4. Innocence 5. I See Who You Are 6. Vertebrae By Vertebrae 7. Pneumonia 8. Hope 9. Declare Independence 10. My Juvenile Biophilia (2011) 1. Moon 2. Thunderbolt 3. Crystalline 4. Cosmogony 5. Dark Matter 6. Hollow 7. Virus 8. Sacrifice 9. Mutual Core 10. Solstice Vulnicura (2015) 1. Stonemilker 2. Lionsong 3. History of Touches 4. Black Lake 5. Family 6. Notget 7. Atom Dance 8. Mouth Mantra 9. Quicksand Extras It’s In Our Hands Náttúra The Comet Song Spotify links to the albums are in the titles! I've taken the liberty of linking to all the individual videos for your viewing pleasure, and also to any distinct radio edits. In these cases (i.e. All Is Full Of Love, Big Time Sensuality, etc.), just score whichever version you personally prefer. * For some reason The Anchor Song isn't available on Spotify, so I've linked it separately. Jesus christ that was hard work. I need a drink.
Spoiler: Results! #96 - Ancestors (3.59) #95 - Dark Matter (3.64) = #93 - Miðvikudags (4.35) = #93 - The Comet Song (4.35) #92 - Öll Birtan (4.57) #91 - Hollow (4.59) #90 - Náttúra (5.30) #89 - Solstice (5.45) #88 - Submarine (5.56) #87 - Hope (5.59) #86 - My Juvenile (5.69) #85 - Show Me Forgiveness (5.84) #84 - I See Who You Are (5.87) #83 - Pneumonia (6.09) #82 - 107 Steps (6.15) #81 - Mouth Mantra (6.16) #80 - Sacrifice (6.34) #79 - Moon (6.44) #78 - The Anchor Song (6.48) #77 - Sonnets/Unrealities XI (6.49) #76 - Cover Me (6.52) #75 - Thunderbolt (6.56) #74 - Aeroplane (6.63) #73 - Like Someone In Love (6.65) #72 - Vertebrae By Vertebrae (6.74) = #70 - Vökuró (6.87) = #70 - Family (6.87) #69 - Atom Dance (6.92) = #67 - The Dull Flame of Desire (6.93) = #67 - Virus (6.93) #66 - Headphones (6.94) #65 - Cosmogony (6.97) #64 - Notget (6.98) #63 - Sun In My Mouth (7.05) #62 - You've Been Flirting Again (7.14) #61 - It's Oh So Quiet (7.20) #60 - Quicksand (7.31) #59 - In The Musicals (7.36) #58 - Mouth's Cradle (7.37) #57 - An Echo, A Stain (7.43) #56 - Immature (7.45) #55 - Pleasure Is All Mine (7.53) #54 - Cvalda (7.60) #53 - History of Touches (7.65) = #51 - Scatterheart (7.66) = #51 - Harm of Will (7.66) #50 - Innocence (7.71) = #48 - The Modern Things (7.76) = #48 - One Day (7.76) #47 - Aurora (7.80) #46 - There's More To Life Than This (7.81) #45 - Wanderlust (7.83) #44 - All Neon Like (7.84) #43 - Declare Independence (7.85) = #41 - Heirloom (7.93) = #41 - Lionsong (7.93) #40 - Mutual Core (7.95) = #38 - Where Is The Line (7.97) = #38 - Pluto (7.97) #37 - Alarm Call (8.02) #36 - Crystalline (8.05) #35 - Crying (8.06) #34 - Come To Me (8.10) #33 - Undo (8.20) = #31 - It's In Our Hands (8.23) = #31 - 5 Years (8.23) Continued in the next post...
Spoiler: More Results! #30 - I've Seen It All (8.27) #29 - Violently Happy (8.37) #28 - Oceania (8.45) #27 - Cocoon (8.47) #26 - Who Is It (8.50) #25 - New World (8.52) #24 - Desired Constellation (8.56) #23 - Black Lake (8.57) #22 - Triumph of a Heart (8.59) #21 - Big Time Sensuality (8.69) #20 - I Miss You (8.72) = #18 - Enjoy (8.74) = #18 - Earth Intruders (8.74) #17 - Isobel (8.79) #16 - Unison (8.86) #15 - Unravel (8.88) #14 - Possibly Maybe (8.91) #13 - It's Not Up To You (8.95) #12 - Venus as a Boy (8.98) #11 - Stonemilker (9.07) #10 - Play Dead (9.08) #9 - Human Behaviour (9.24) #8 - Hidden Place (9.27) #7 - Hunter (9.44) #6 - All Is Full Of Love (9.47) #5 - Army of Me (9.48) #4 - Bachelorette (9.50) #3 - Pagan Poetry (9.60) #2 - Hyperballad (9.92) #1 - Jóga (10.00)
I think it's best if everyone just rates whichever version of the songs they prefer, makes it way easier for everyone involved! (Especially me.)
GUÐ MINN GÓÐUR! Didn't know this was happening! I am excited. Or better: I was excited until I realized I have to actually rate and classify the songs I adore the most among all the songs I know. Now I'm panicking. Still, I can't wait to embark the Björk ship with all of you and read what my fellow stans, moderate fans, sympathizers and people who got here by mistake have to say. I am excited again.
Screaming and ready. Thank you for someone finally doing this. I toyed with a singles rate but full is better. It's missing a lot of bits and bobs but sometimes those weigh down full rates. EDIT: But Holographic Entrypoint was going to be my 11...
I love it to bits, but I still scream over the fact that 'The Dull Flame of Desire' was a single. Also, I'm preparing myself for Volta's complete underrating.
I expect Biophilia to be completely ravaged, spat on and demolished too, but I'll fight the fight for enemy-of-melody Björk. Pre-emptive justice for Miðvikudags!
With the exclusion of DR9 (which still has a few good tracks), I really don't know what I want / expect to leave first. Maybe the Medúlla interludes and back half of Volta, bar Declare Independence.
