Bjork’s debut album Debut was released on this day 30 years ago.
The groundbreaking record which spawned a string of hits and established Bjork as one of the most innovative and intriguing performers of the 1990’s would go onto sell millions of copies.
Four singles were released from the album Human Behaviour, Venus as a Boy, Violently Happy, and Big Time Sensuality. It would score a fifth single when Play Dead, a song created for the film The Young Americans, was added on to later editions of the record.
Bjork had actually released a previous record in her home country of Iceland. Like Tina Arena and Alanis Morrissette she’d had a recording career as a child. Her self-titled album Bjork came out in 1977 and saw an 11-year-old Bjork singing original songs alongside Stevie Wonder and Beatles covers in Icelandic.
Three years earlier she’d also teamed up with an Icelandic jazz trio to record the Gling-Glo album. But most people new Bjork as the lead singer of indie band The Sugarcubes who’d released three albums between 1988 and 1992 and scored hits on the alternative charts with Birthday, Coldsweat and Deus.
In the lead up to launching her solo career Bjork had provided guest vocals on two tracks for British band 808 State, and she’d developed a growing interest in electronic and house music that was distinctly different from her previous work.
For the album Bjork teamed up with producer Nellee Hooper who had previously worked with Massive Attack, Soul II Soul and Sinead O’Connor. The album covers several genres including trip-hop, jazz, house, and electronic pop.
Bjork’s label One Little Indian anticipated that the album might sell 40,000 copies, but within three months of its release over 600,000 coipes had sold. It went on to sell over 4.7 million copies.
The album is also remembered for it’s distinctive music videos. Bork worked with Michel Gondry for Human Beahviour, Sophie Muller for Venus as a Boy, Jean-Baptiste Mondino for Violently Happy and Stephane Sednaoui for Big Time Sensuality.
OIP Staff
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