Talk:Björk/Archive 1

This is an archive of past discussions about Björk. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Archive 1

Archive 2

Archive 3

Albums and Selmasongs

Why isn't Selmasongs listed with all the other albums, especially when Drawing Restaint 9 is listed?

Revision

Hoo boy, what a mess. Am I alone in thinking that it might be good to simply start over on this article? So much of this has been hacked, cut and pasted, cobbled together and generally piled up from other sources, it seems like it'd be good for someone familiar with her career to simply sit down and start a new outline. (This person is not me, unless I do lots of reading). Then maybe we can incorporate existing content as we go along. Unless someone beats me to it, I think I'll be working on this at Bjork/Temp. -- Wapcaplet 02:38 28 May 2003 (UTC)

This article is in the process of major revision. A temporary page has been set up for revising the Björk article. It was at Bjork/Temp for a while, but now has been (properly) moved to Talk:Björk/Temp. Please make all edits to the temporary article, rather than the real article, until such time as it is ready to be moved back into the real article.

The goal at this point is not to include every single bit of information from the original article. Doing so could be extraordinarily difficult, which is probably the reason the article is in the state it's in now. My intentions at this moment are:

Get a decent structural outline finished
- Early career (first solo work, Tappi Tikarass and other bands)
- Beginning of professional career (Sugarcubes, etc.)
- Solo career (this should comprise the bulk of the article)
- Acting and movie stuff
Begin moving details from existing article into new outline
- Set up additional temporary pages, if necessary, to help hash out the various sections
- Use a "scratch" page to store all the juicy tidbits from the current article. Delete them from the scratch page as they are seamlessly incorporated (preferably in brilliant prose) into the newly revised article at Talk:Björk/Temp.
Tidy up, spit and polish, make it beautiful
Replace the current article with the new one

Since Björk is primarily known as a musician, her musical career should perhaps be of predominating priority in the article. A great many details from her personal life (relationships, marriage, having kids, etc.) are present in the current article, and I would really like to keep these, provided they can be worked into the context of her musical career somehow.

And of course, this is Wiki! I hope I'm not doing this alone, and I would graciously welcome all comments, criticisms, contributions, and collaborations. -- Wapcaplet 02:39 4 Jun 2003 (UTC)

This article was in the process of revision, but now it has been, well, revised. The old contents of the article have been moved to Talk:Björk/Temp. Please make all edits to Björk. Thanks! -- Wapcaplet 14:42, 12 Aug 2003 (UTC)

It's Oh So Quiet

From the article:

the big band cover "It's Oh So Quiet"

Credits: (Hans Lang/Bert Reisfeld). Google asays: "It's oh so quiet" was written by Hans Lang and Bert Reisfeld and performed by Betty Hutton during the 40s"

Bjork did not put that one on her boxed set because she said it was essentially not hers, though she likes it.. Koyaanis Qatsi

I had to go check up on this when I read the above in the article, it sounds so Bjork! -- Tarquin 11:41 Jan 24, 2003 (UTC)

Is it true that Bjork released her first album in 1977 after recording it in 1976? because I never heard of that album. I never took band until like around 1982 when I was 14 or 1983 when I was 15. -- Micahel

Well, it wasn't sold outside Iceland, and is quite hard to find, and she was very young, I guess you can download a sample song from here: http://www.daveamason.com/april/mp3/bjork%5Ffool%5Fon%5Fthe%5Fhill%2Emp3

http://www.aprilwinchell.com/multimedia/ (Hope this is allowed for information purposes...)

Papu-ish

Úrnat being a papu-ish word for holiday - what is papu-ish?

Trimming

I did some massive trimming of this vast article, but it still needs considerable work. In particular, the discography is confusing -- are all of those albums? And they need disambiguation. -- Zoe

I agree with user:Zoe that the article is ugly. I'd like to see a more even-handed presentation of the artist's professional career. Any criticism of her sexual or procreational proclivities might best go in a separate section. --Uncle Ed 14:17, 12 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Icelandic characters

Found a good reference for an overview of her career: http://entertainment.msn.com/Artist/?artist=107009

I've been using HTML character entity references for the Icelandic characters. I don't know what the standard is on Wiki for this, but in HTML it's generally considered better to use ö, í and the like. If other contributors prefer to just type the characters in directly (as the old article does), I will not be offended, but I may go in and convert them to HTML character entity references just for the sake of correctness and cross-platform compatibility. (presumably, if someone does not have those characters available in their font set, it ends up rendering as garbage; using the HTML entities at least causes them to degrade gracefully in the absence of the proper fonts). -- Wapcaplet 12:35 28 May 2003 (UTC)

I'm glad you are working on this. You might also want to look at this version of the original article, it's the last before the major addition and seems quite useful.

The problem with using code for characters is that it causes difficulties with searching - see Wikipedia:Special characters. It also, IMO, makes the article less friendly to edit - especially when there are so many unusual characters. I don't know what happens if someone tries to edit the page and they don't have the required font installed though, maybe that is a problem. Personally I change HTML to direct characters when I come across it -- sannse 12:51 28 May 2003 (UTC)

Good point about lack of friendliness to editing... it does make it a little harder to look at (but then, the same is true for any article using lots of Unicode and the like). For searching, the Wikipedia:Special characters points out that the lack of ability to search properly on ö and the like is actually a bug. It is probably not a very frequent problem that someone doesn't have the correct fonts installed (since it's standard Latin-1 stuff), but it really is not part of ASCII, which is why I prefer to use the W3C's recommendation to convert to entity references. -- Wapcaplet 13:43 28 May 2003 (UTC)

Hmm, you know, now that I think about it (and read more of the Wikipedia:Special characters page), the more I think you're probably right. It's gonna be impossible to look at this article if I keep putting in the HTML entity references. I guess all I was worried about was characters not showing up for some users, but as long as we follow the "safe" ones, it'll probably be fine. Gotta figure out what to do about that eth (ð) though, since it's one of the 'unsafe' ones. Should it be replaced by a 'th'? Or maybe a 'dh'? -- Wapcaplet 14:00 28 May 2003 (UTC)

Big mistake

First of all I?m writing to tell you that you?re making a big mistake if you?re thinking of changing the Icelandic characters by others.

I understand that it would be hard for somebody to find an article that contains accents and characters like ð, Þ, æ etc. Now, if we have a link which contains some of the above characters it would be desiderable to create an additional page with understandable characters, for instance: if you want to create a new page for Tappi Tíkarras? album Bítið Fast Í Vítið, you could do it both, with these characters and then another version like this: Bítidh Fast Í Vítidh. This is because the ð (Đ capitol) is usually replaced by dh. Some people think they can replace it using th, but in fact that?s a big mistake because th replaces the Þ. Besides some people (even books) get confussed with the Þ and tend to convert it into a P, but that?s outrageous in Icelandic language like changing the j ny using i (it changes the whole meaning).

On the other hand, we have words that are have more than one accent (very common in Icelandic). I think all characters should be kept the way they?re, and make some additional versions for the links containing those weird characters; after all, if you try to find information about Björk on the Internet you could find it both: ?Björk? and ?Bjork?.

About the term papu-ish used for the word ?Úrnat?. I looked it up everywhere I could but it was unsuccesful, I took it from Björk?s site (discography section). Finally, I would like to comment that the albums should be revised, because you can?t tell which one is an album and which one a single, but someone must have thought they were all the same. I consider that we should differenciate them by using lines starting with a star for the albums and two stars for the singles or try to create a new page named Björk discography. We could also add lyrics.

I?ll be working on this article and I will check the Icelandic characters since I have already found lots of spelling mistakes. Let me know if you?re interested in more information. I have lyrics traslations from Icelandic to English. Lmb 20:02 10 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Article title

Why was this article moved to Björk Guðmundsdóttir? I don't think that's quite in line with our naming conventions of keeping article titles simple and familiar to most English speakers. Very few English-speakers know, or would even recognize, Björk's last name. Simply Björk is the more popular name, as well as her performing name, and is hardly ambiguous. The new title is also definitely in conflict with the restrictions on using only ISO 8859-1 characters in article titles. -- Wapcaplet 05:01, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

It's irrelevant now but I'd like to point out anyway that "ð" *is* a part of ISO-8859-1 and there was never any reason to avoid it in titles. I'm fine with keeping the article under 'Björk', though. - 212.30.203.31 12:16, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

It's been moved back. RickK 05:06, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Eskimo

I removed

A lot of people seem to think she's eskimo, and that Iceland is inhabited by eskimos. Apparently, this perception is not only due to the fact that the name Iceland indeed does indicate ice which indeed does indicate eskimos, but Björk's remote resemblance to eskimo characteristics probably play a large role in that assumption as well. Iceland has however, never been inhabited by eskimos and Björk is not known to have any eskimo roots.

Please present some evidence that A lot of people seem to think she's eskimo. - SimonP 00:43, Mar 1, 2004 (UTC)

- Hi folks, I noticed the discussion here. I thought I'd say: i never thought Bjork was Inuit. i always thought she was at least partly of east asian descent, and i've been curious about her family history. i actually came to the wiki to see if i could get any information, but... i couldn't. apparently everyone is crazy?**

Well, some newsgroups have some unwarranted speculation on whether she's an Eskimo; one article claims she's part-Eskimo, and two others have some words from Björk herself indicating that she's annoyed by those who think she's an Eskimo. To me it doesn't seem worth mentioning. My guess is that it's only coming from people who don't make a distinction between those of actual Inuit heritage and those who merely resemble them in some way. -- Wapcaplet 01:04, 1 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Please, shes probably not Inuit at all. Whenever someones from Scandinavia and they're not blonde they get "accused" of being "unscandinavian" in America. If she was German or French nobody would ask or comment on her appearance.

Thanks for removing that. Eskimo literally means "eater of raw meat" and that is just why this race is now called 'Inuit' ( = people).

Her hair colour has nothing to do with why we she is classified as mongoloid in a racial sense. Look at her facial features and how distinct she is from the typical Icelander. She clearly has some sort of Inuit, Lapp or some other Asian/Mongoloid heritage.

Image copyright

I removed the image of Bjork. I found it's on her official site http://unit.bjork.com/specials/pics/frame.htm (2nd row from the bottom, third pic from the left, in the section colour photos)

And here http://www.bjork.com/about/ the site says:

Copyright © 1997-2003 by Björk Overseas Ltd. All rights reserved. Copyright ©1995-2003, The Ultimate Intimate Webteam, All Rights Reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials on these pages are copyrighted by the Björk Overseas Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of these pages, either text, audio, video or image may be used for any purpose other than personal use. Therefore, reproduction, modification, storage in a retrieval system or retransmission, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise, for reasons other than personal use, is strictly prohibited without prior written permission.

Messages posted to some areas of the bjork.community site are not private. If you post a message, anyone with access to the message area can read it, and your e-mail address can become available to anyone who browses or uses the message area. Please keep in mind that bjork.community cannot control who sends you e-mail as a result of postings to this service.

Pity, the pic is really great.

Snowdog 00:07, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I removed the second picture of Björk that replaced the one above. It came from the same source; no reason why this one should be allowed when the other was not. It may or may not be fair use, but the way the copyright is worded makes me want to err on the side of caution. -- Wapcaplet 20:29, 2 May 2004 (UTC)

About the image of Björk

I have to say that as we are working on Wikipedia we're all prone to face problems related to the copyright laws and fair use criteria, but I'm affraid it's wrong not to have an image of the singer.

The first image (I took it from the same place) was copyrighted, but Lunargirl (responsible for the official page) told me that there wouldn't be any trouble if we put it. In fact I asked her to check out the article and related works about Björk's albums and she said "no problem".

What use can we give to these images? I'm not trying to sell anything here, but to enhance the content.

Kind regards, Lmb 13:05, 8 May 2004 (UTC).

Not being well-versed in copyright law, I couldn't say whether the images we had here were acceptable fair use. I'd personally rather have no image at all than a copyrighted image with the potential to bring legal trouble to Wikipedia. If you actually received permission from the copyright owner or their representative, then perhaps we could reinstate the photo with a statement (on the image page) to that effect. -- Wapcaplet 16:01, 8 May 2004 (UTC)

Hi

So far as the use of images is concerned I faced little problems. I got so enthusiastic when I started writing that I left the description pages empty, so there might be cases in which images have been deleted due to the uncertainty of their origin. That’s why I’m now working on them and asking copyright-holders and everybody responsible to see them.

I believe images are an integral part for the design of articles and to provide visual information. I’m not versed in the copyright laws either, but I consider that in spite of having the fair use criteria we all might be lying and thus you could say “I have authorization to use this image”, while it’s all false. Therefore I keep a critical point of view regarding Wikipedia’s rules. It should have been stated from the get go that Wikipedia is not responsible for showing images. You must be aware that other sites (formal and informal ones) make use of pics that clearly infringe copyright laws.

And what about CDs covers? They’re copyrighted images as well.

I will keep doing the same in the Spanish version. I’m sorry Wapcaplet I can’t help you here too much, but I hope someday I’ll be able to pass all my works here and complete what’s missing. I’m finishing Björk’s biography with more information. The English one lacks making reference to the crazy fan who tried to kill her with an acid-bomb and the Icelandic Primer Minister gave her a little island due to her contributions for the country’s culture. I don’t know the name of the island and I couldn’t tell when that happened.

Even though too personal and spurious details should be avoided I think that in a complete biography you all should name that she has two children: Sindri in 1986 with Thor Eldon (guitarrist of The Suagarcubes) and Isidora in 2002 with Matthew Barney (a video-maker).

About the idea of saying that Björk is pronounced “Bjerk” I consider that at least we should add in the end of the article the following: ”Note: This article has Icelandic characters. For more information see: Icelandic language.” And there somebody who happens to be an Icelander might kindly contribute and teach us what she or he knows. I asked others because I think there’s more to say about that article and I wouldn’t be able to complete it but nobody answered. Kind regards, Lmb 22:19, 20 May 2004 (UTC)

Or would it be better to just have the IPA at the top with a link to IPA instead of trying to approxiate sounds that really don't occur in English? Dave 18:14, 26 November 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps. At any rate it would be nice to have an ogg file with pronunciation of her name. I'll try to get around to creating one. - Haukur Þorgeirsson 18:49, 26 November 2005 (UTC)

The section about the swan dress is just begging for a picture. Would this be a situation that would fall under fair use? We're already commenting on it, and it would be very helpful in demonstrating what the whole fuss was about. Pimlottc 10:08, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

BTW, I was thinking about using http://ak1.aka.eonline.com/7/1480/1218/0001/www.eonline.com/Features/Awards/Oscars2001/FashionPolice/Images/bjork.jpg in particular, if it is permissible via fair use.

Spanish version more complete?

Hey people, why does the spanish version of this page have so much more information about Bjork's works (such as DVD, VHS plus collaboration info) PLUS links to articles (that are actually written!) to virtually all of the work she's done. It seems the Spanish fans are way ahead here. What's up with that? Swidly 06:44, 17 Jun 2004 (UTC)

I would guess that the Spanish version was based on the older, much longer and more disorganized version of the article. I don't habla Español, so I can't really tell if that's the case. But hey, if there is good information there, please feel free to translate it! -- Wapcaplet 22:33, 17 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Bjork bipolar?

I've never heard she was bipolar before. Is this a well-known fact? What's the source on that piece of info?

... if this is just fan speculation, and not a fact, then it should be deleted, imho. swidly 06:42, 9 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Videos and TV ratings

Does anyone else think it's stupid to have the whole part about MTV2, Janet Jackson, etc.? It's nice to reference the music videos and their uniqueness, but why drag all of that unrelated garbage in? And why only the Medulla videos when she has a dozen or more previous ones that are unmentioned? Maybe we could make a videography section, with links to directors.

I added that info--to answer your question: I am not familiar with Bjork's older career. But, I was a fan (and got MTV2) by time of Medulla. I really cannot recall any other channel playing Bjork's videos, besides for The Box, but they'd play anything.

Agreed. I've trimmed the paragraph in question. -- Wapcaplet 03:38, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I'm a bit confused about this sentence: "MTV2, played the album's first video, "Hidden Place", pretty heavily, despite its somewhat controversial lyrics and imagery." the entire video consists of a repeated image of her face and computer graphics flowing from her eyes, nostrils, and mouth. i hardly consider that erotic. i remember seeing the video on all music channels infrequently, but was never aware that watching incandescent fluid travelling across someone's face being "contraversial." and as far as the lyrics go, after reading the lyrics in the liner notes from VESPERTINE, i fail to see the lyrics that could be contrued as "contraversial." could someone either explain that statement, or correct it?

I think they are actually talking about "Pagan Poetry" which had some nudity, graphic piercing sequences, and, supposedly, sex scenes that are shrouded in the abstract computer imagery swidly 01:45, September 7, 2005 (UTC)

That's true about Pagan Poetry. The more abstract scenes are apparently rendered videos she shot with a handicam of her with her partner in bed. somewildthingsgo 23:58, 9 November 2005

Daughter?

Taken from the Matthew Barney page: "He and Björk have a daughter, Isadora, who was born in 2002." Is this a true statement? Should it appear in Björk? Dbenbenn 15:13, 29 Dec 2004 (UTC)

if we include that in the article, it would be odd to not also include Sindri somewhere swidly 05:44, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)

14 Intro paragraph

OK, the intro has been expanded to include a list of music genres/traditions that Bjork incorporates into her music. It leaves out two major ones that seem to influence her the most (besides pop): electronic and the avant garde. These two seem more relevant to me than torch songs, hip hop, etc. I would add them but then we'd basically have just a list of all the major music styles, and that is not useful information either. We could rewrite the intro or something, any suggestions?

Attack on Journalist

Where is the info on that? - The attack *is* a worthwhile topic, at least to mention in passing, since it's going to draw wiki searchers for info on the event.

there isnt much to say is there? she attacked a journalist(the end) --though maybe a site may be included in the end to show the video(but that would just put her in a bad light now wont it?? :P

Gay Icon Project

In my effort to merge the now-deleted list from the article Gay icon to the Gay icons category, I have added this page to the category. I engaged in this effort as a "human script", adding everyone from the list to the category, bypassing the fact-checking stage. That is what I am relying on you to do. Please check the article Gay icon and make a judgment as to whether this person or group fits the category. By distributing this task from the regular editors of one article to the regular editors of several articles, I believe that the task of fact-checking this information can be expedited. Thank you very much. Philwelch 20:10, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I've never heard of "Gay icon" stuff and certainly I don't think it is propper to say something like this here when nobody has statistics to mesure a porcentege among an artist's followers. I have been searching for Björk for more than 2 years and I have never found any such relationship. Thus, I think it is better to remove this category. First we all need references and clear studied carried out on this subject in so that we could shore up this argument. Luis María Benítez 22:00, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Gay icon: Participants in gay male culture often share fandom of beautiful strong women. Surely you have heard of Madonna, and surely you have heard many gay men like her.

In my opinion, the standard that a "study" would have to prove Bjork is respected in the gay community is an impossibly high standard, since studies avoid pop culture, women, and gays even on important issues.

Bjork is not a clear cut a case as Madonna, but:

http://www.youthresource.com/our_lives/media/gaymusic.htm : "Artists like the wonderfully insane Bjork support gay rights and are outspoken about the topic."
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2004_Oct_12/ai_n6363986 : "Return of the antidiva: gay fans welcome the latest from the brilliant Bjork"

You have a point... if you go by the 4um at bjork's website, it would appear she does have quite a large gay male following. She has a lot of gay fans but does this make her a 'gay icon'? I don't know, I guess that depends on what the definition of a gay icon is.

I don't want to speak for Mr. Benítez, but straight male fans may be uncomfortable labeling her as a gay icon. Also, it seems to put her in the same category as Cher... which I'm not crazy about, but I can't deny she does seem to have an above-average gay-male fan base. swidly 08:50, 10 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the links. It’s not really a matter of feeling uncomfortable or not. I never hesitated of the importance of this category under that point of view. The gay icon category caught my attention because I never thought it existed and certainly I don’t see its usefulness. So, I thought: there are other musical genres like hip-hop where you could as well say those artists are “Racial icons”, due to the fact that they are mostly followed and boosted by Afro-Americans. Then I asked myself: who are homosexuals, Afro-Americans, lesbians, intelligent or narrow-minded people? There are no differences: They are all just like me, like you, and I don’t think that particular minority groups should be treated as something apart from the rest of the “ordinary fellows”. Couldn’t it be possible that others use this category as a tool of discrimination?
I’ve never paid attention to whether artists claimed to be either against or in favor of a particular group, but in case they do, I don’t see how that makes the person an “XXX icon”. About Cher, it happens the same: I don’t know…. Perhaps those celebrities who are frequently referred as “divas” might be seen as icons by some groups.

This is like when I discovered that some people said that Björk had a bipolar disorder. Okay I know what that is, but: Who makes the diagnosis? Could it be possible that some people think so due to the fact that she attacked a Tai journalist by 1996? Again, I’m not sure about the procedure to label a person as such.

If you think the gay icon category should be reestablished again, it’s okay with me: I believe all information and accurate data is always welcomed. Regards, Luis María Benítez 22:09, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Complete discography (at last!)

I put a complete discography organized according to the groups Björk was part of. I also included collaboration and featuring releases because that’s how it should be presented. I wrote the Spanish version and this discography was taken from that article. Notice that this discography has some differences if compared to other discographies, even the official discography provided at her site.

Some people get confuse when adding collaborations and locate the releases according to their date of release. Thus, there are several releases which are said to be collaborations of The Sugarcubes and that’s simple not true, since Björk was the only one to be present there (there are several examples).
Notice that in the case of collaborations I put a small description so that you know what’s all about without having to see the article. Singles were also included and organized, and their presence is important thanks to the collaborations of other renown artists.

It was a mistake to put Gling-Gló as one of her solo career, because that album had the credits of Björk Guðmundsdóttir & Tríó Guðmundar Ingólfssonar (a group that was dissolved after the pianist’s death).
The Elgar Sisters was also very important and their discography was later in other releases.

I will write about all of these releases. One by one. Luis María Benítez 23:25, 16 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Why was this line removed -- "Madonna had sought an entire album's worth of material from Björk" - ? It seems appropriate in the context... Anyone? Anyone? swidly 07:04, July 14, 2005 (UTC)

IMPORTANT Question About Translation

Can one translate the English article about Björk in full to his native language version of Wikipedia, or is the material strictly copyrighted?

As long as your translated version is also available under the GFDL — which it will be on any other Wikipedia project — then you can translate away. (Wikipedia:Copyrights discusses this in further detail, if you're interested.) - jredmond 23:21, 2 August 2005 (UTC)

Like all text on Wikipedia the Björk article is licensed under the GFDL which basically means you can do whatever you like with it as long as you also license the result under the GFDL. Translating articles between different language Wikipedias is certainly no problem at all :) It's done all the time. Please go ahead. If you do so you may want to mention English Wikipedia as the source or reference for your article - but that's just a question of good conduct and not a legal requirement. - Haukurth 23:24, 2 August 2005 (UTC)

Bad Press?

Why doesn't this article cover some of the bad press that Bjork has received (the biggest of these being the mail-bomb stalker who committed suicide, also the attack on the reporter). If this is an encyclopedic article on Bjork it should include all major events in her career. I'm a fan of Bjork's but I came here looking for information about the stalker. Jeff schiller 18:29, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

I second that, go ahead and add it. 138.23.89.187 01:43, 28 April 2006 (UTC).

i dont :P

Pronunciation

Nowhere in the original article does it mention that Bjork rhymes with "work" rather than "pork", the latter being the way most seem to pronounce her name -- incorrectly. That should be right at the top, following the Icelandic characters for her name.

Re-read the article, it is mentioned, though not at the top. Jeff schiller 20:54, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

Only true celebrity from Iceland?

I'm tempted to remove this comment from the first para ("She is also considered to be the only true celebrity from Iceland.") - sounds like someone's opinion to me, and I'm not convinced that it's correct. Magnus Magnusson is certainly famous here in the UK... Anyone have an opinion? CLW 22:55, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

No-one has expressed an opinion on this, so I'll remove it. CLW 07:40, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

Nonsense. Emiliana Torrini got an Italian name, but she is Icelandic and famous, too. ;) - andy 80.129.101.170 17:26, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

so Sigur Rós aren't famous?

Sindri's Papa

I added a link to Sindri's dad, which seemed to be missing (since her daughter's father is mentioned). However, it's my understanding that he was in KUKL -- but the wikipedia has completely opposite information. So I have not tampered with that. --Gryn 06:39, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

His fathers name is Þór Eldon not Megas. Þór Eldon played guitar in the Sugarcubes. --Sindri 09:55, 17 August 2005 (UTC)

Yikes, my apologies. ~~I'll~~ You'll fix the page. --Gryn 03:41, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

The new "album"

This is a SOUNDTRACK and no regular album. I'd suggest to separate Drawing Restraint 9 from the Albums list. For me, the latest "regular" album from her is still Medúlla from 2004. Over & out. -andy 80.129.101.170 17:26, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

It doesn't matter. The fact that Drawing Restraint 9 is a soundtrack is noted in the article, as is the case for the earlier Selmasongs. She performs songs from Selmasongs in concerts (there is even a recording of such a song, "I've Seen It All", on her Live Box CD box set. Perhaps she will perform compositions from the new album? Also, on her website, they treat the new album like any of her other work in the discussion; it's not singled out. So I suggest we keep it the way it is. Not to omit the fact that in the infobox that accompanies the articles on individual albums the sountrack albums are given full prominence in the chronology -- just like the box sets, by the way. We should add the box sets to the Discography, incidentally, the way its done on the Polish Wikipedia. Mareklug ^talk 20:58, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

I agree with andy and I've changed it. The fact that Selmasongs are on Live Box but doesn't have a CD of its own shows it is not a regular album. Reviews of Medulla call it her fifth album (they dont remember Bjork's '77 debut - ideally I too think the '77 album should be under a different category, but there isn't one so we should leave it as it). Its In Our Hands is on Live Box, but Greatest Hits isn't classed as an album.

"'Byerk' rhymes with 'jerk'" - is that really HER quote?

Or did an editor here just give a fairly .. uh .. dingy example from his own vocabulary? No kidding this is IMPORTANT - otherwise I will change it into something less unsavory like "rhymes with the US pronunciation of 'clerk'". -andy 80.129.101.170 17:41, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

If you really take offence at the work "jerk", then can I suggest you use "smirk" or "shirk" or something instead of the US pronunciation of "clerk" since, as you point out, we Brits pronounce "clerk" as "clark" and this example could be quite unhelpful to anyone who isn't aware that the US pronunciation differs... I however think "jerk" is ideal, as everyone knows how it's pronounced and that's the main point in this context. CLW 17:47, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

It was in a Babe Hound magazine interview - you can read it here; maybe this link should be in the article. Korny O'Near 17:53, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for this info! See ... that's what this discussion is for. Good I had not touched the article yet. -andy 80.129.101.170 19:48, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

Non-POV Problem?

The last sentence in the 8th paragraph under "Popularity" doesn't seem to have a purpose. It is also unprovable due to its ambiguity. No American airplay via major networks? Via any cable-on-demand provider? Via satellite? And why mention only America? Did it receive play in other major markets such as Australia, Japan or South America? How about India which has gained a significant pop audience? It reads like a shot at the US and doesn't seem to have a place in the article. 68.83.217.79 05:00, 11 September 2005 (UTC)

Some additions

I added a few things that had been requested about the two negative incidents in 1996. All the info should be very easy to verify, both videos are available online and this was all covered very extensively by the media at the time - especially in my native Iceland. I also added a bit of info about her son's new band (he's a bass player now) and the fact that her father was famous in Iceland before anyone knew who she was.

Old picture

The old picture was way better. See if you can try and get it back.

I uploaded the original image. I still have it, so if anybody wants to put it back, let me know. Luis María Benítez 15:08, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Where did you get it from (ie, what is the source)? You know, I did say "If you want to keep it, please consider uploading the image locally" and yet nobody did. If it's not freely licensed then it has to be uploaded here (ie, locally, Special:Upload) under fair use provisions. I suggest anyone uploading it should read WP:FU to understand this requirement. --pfctdayelise (translate?) 02:36, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

OK, I have uploaded it again. Here you can see it: image:Björk_(Richard_Phibbs).jpg. It is under the fair use. Here is the other image: image:Bjork Hurricane.jpg I have also moved the screenshot of Dancer in the Dark and put it on the corresponding article. Luis María Benítez 15:26, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

Voice

Does anyone know what Bjork's voice is classified as? Also, I think that there should be a section on her voice since it is so recognizable. Courier new 00:47, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure she's a Dramatic Soprano and her range is roughly Ab3-C6 (a little more than two octaves). Unfortunately, I don't have cited sources; I just got this from the forums at Bjork's website but the information seems pretty accurate to me.

Image:Björk performing at the Olympics in Athens.jpg

Hi, this image is a suspected copyright violation and may soon be deleted from the Commons:. If you want to keep it, please consider uploading the image locally. Thank you. pfctdayelise 07:01, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

Leave the picture alone -- honestly. Courier new 02:58, 18 February 2006 (UTC)

That was the best image in the Björk article. Hopefully the license is sorted out so it can be kept. Cvene64 08:03, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

We've got to get a better picture than that.

Yes, it's colorful and pretty. But we can't actually see what Bjork looks like, which is the only reason to have a picture of her anyway. I wouldn't know where to begin searching. So consider this an open request: please, someone, find us a nice, copyright-free image where we can actually see Bjork! Kasreyn 04:21, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Island story

Example here [1] ... it's one of the best-known bits of gossip about her (at least pre-swan), but it seems to be untrue. I don't know if it's been in the article before and been removed, so I'll just put it here for someone to digest. --Dhartung | Talk 18:41, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes it is true. I say this on the Spanish verion of this article. The Prime Miniters granted the island Elliðaey because of Björk's contriobutions to Icelandic culture and popularity. Apparently, there were some critics because she doesn't have a fiscal address (I could find out). Luis María Benítez 15:28, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

Discography

I am tempted to remove this section as there is already a comprehensive Bjork discography page. It seems rather pointless to have the same information listed in both places. Any thoughts? -- eo 15:31, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I, for one, think it's useful to have an abbreviated discography on the main page, with more details available for those who need them. Maybe it could be trimmed a bit, though. swidly 22:38, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

I agree with Swidley - also, the Australian chart positions need to be placed on the discography page along with the US charts. Sweetie Petie 08:20, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

I pretty much agree with swidley also - this article used to just have the bigger singles in a plain-text bullet list and now its a full-blown table that is almost identical to what is on the discography page, so that's what prompted me to say something. An abbreviated, less-elaborate list seems most appropriate for Bjork's main page, in my opinion. -- eo 12:41, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

I've moved the solo albums about a bit. The soundtracks aren't usually regarded as a 'studio album' while Gling Glo isn't solo. I think it is better now. If anyone wants to see which major releases she has had, they should see her 5 proper releases and her '77 debut. Damiancorrigan 10:34, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

I am taking the singles table and a lot of the album stuff off the main Bjork page. If there is a revolt free free to revert but there really is no need for the redundancy. -- eo 13:35, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

What's Bjork's Ethnicity?

Can anyone solve this riddle? There's no way she's pure Nordic. 24.199.113.234 10:28, 20 January 2006 (UTC)

This has been brought up in Björk forums previously (such as the 4um). I don't think it's important, personally, but for curiosity's sake, someone mentioned that there is some sort of gene that manifests itself occasionally among Europeans that may be related to Asian ancestry. I'm just paraphrasing, mind you; I have no idea how much truth there is to it. Sorry I can't be more helpful. swidly 02:34, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

She hasn't talked about it publicly but when it gets brought up she gets quite defensive and upset which makes me think she does have some non-European heritage she doesnt wish to talk about. The Tat-C gene Swidly is talking about supposedly can occasionally form in European individuals but this is unfounded and most of the examples of people who show such Asian/Mongoloid traits are people with a degree of that ancestry (Lapps, Balts, Finns, Slavs). Considering ethnic Icelanders obviously arent of any asian/mongoloid stock, she clearly can not trace all her ancestry to Iceland. 69.157.121.76 18:11, 19 February 2006 (UTC)

She's often said in interviews that she was nicknamed "China girl" as a child because of her dark hair. Pimlottc 12:50, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Yes way she is pure Nordic. Or as pure as any other Icelander. Lots of us look pretty much like her. --Sindri 13:25, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

I've been to Iceland and I did not see any native Icelanders that looked like Bjork. She clearly doesnt have the Nordic-Upper Paleolithic mix of most Icelander and must have some Uralic (Lappish, Finnish ,etc.) or other Central Asian ancestry.

For those interested here and here are two other fairly well known Icelandic women that have a similar complexion to Björk. There is nothing other than something you percieve as a likeness to suggest Björk has anything but Icelandic ancestry a few hundred years back. Icelanders are simply not all blond and blue eyed. --Sindri 16:17, 21 March 2006 (UTC)

One of these Icelandic women is not of pure Icelandic ancestry, Unnur Birna anyway (she has some Sami and other ancestry). Her last name doesn't even sound Icelandic btw. The huge majority of Icelanders are blonde and blue-eyed, ~ 80%. As for the woman from the first example, she looks typically Icelandic and "nordic", but dyes her hair to be darker than it is. 69.157.109.144 (talk) 00:07, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

By Björk's own account, her ancestors are Icelandic and I see no reason to doubt her. But I've been thinking... during Iceland's early days, there were both Norse AND Irish settlers, correct? I know there are Irish people and other non-English natives from Great Britain (some Welsh, for example) who have an appearance similar in many ways to Björk. To which ancestry they ultimately trace is anyone's guess; but it's an idea. swidly 06:59, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Icelandic family trees, I thought, are exceptionally well-documented back to the 10th century. I think if she had any prominent non-Icelandic ancestors she'd know about it (and I don't see any reason for her not to be open about it). Note also that even Wikipedia says that only 50% of Icelanders are blond. That seems low to me, too ... --Dhartung | Talk 18:52, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Shall we stop being PC now and address this issue properly? It isn't Bjork's hair or her complexion that casts doubts on her ethnicity, its her eyes - they appear Oriental - or more likely - Inuit. I read that she was teased at school, but China girl is not about her hair, come on, its for having, (and I stress the inverted commas here) "slitty eyes". And those links you show Sindri, I don't think they resemble Bjork. Do a search for Inuit on Google Images and you'll see people with more of a likeness. There could be a number of reasons why she doesn't know her ancestory or doesn't want to discuss it. Damiancorrigan 10:45, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Dhartungs point actually is quite good. If she had any non Icelandic ancestors she would know and probably be open about it. Noone is being PC here, I'm just pointing out there is nothing to suggest she is not absolutely pure Icelandic other than your opinion on her slitty eyes and that's not enough to make it into the article. --Sindri 12:11, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

To feed your confusion here are pictures of Björk's father and mother. --Sindri 12:29, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

First of all Sindri, I in no way believe talk of her ethnicity should go into the article, it is simply an interesting point exclusively for this talk page. My point is that questions about her ethnicity are nothing to do with her complexion or hair. It isn't my opinion, it is often remarked on, and I imagine whoever called her 'China girl' was not doing it based on her hair, regardless of what someone might have read her say (since when were the bullied fully versed in the reasons behind the names they get called?) Not everyone knows their ancestory, and there are dozens of reasons (mainly libelous) about why she might not want to talk about it. Damiancorrigan 13:47, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Why do you think that ethnicity should be avoided on this article? Hyacinth 22:41, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Because she has never discussed it herself, and it is not an 'issue'. If the emperor of Japan comes out and says "I am Björk's dad" and Gudmundur says "no you're not, I am", then we have relevance, but at present it is just internet gossip.Damiancorrigan 22:47, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

He didn't say it should be avoided just that there was no need to discuss it in the article. In fact it's not avoided at all, the first sentence in the article states her ethnicity. --Sindri 15:58, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

...Björk is 100% Icelandic. Here is a picture of her mother. According to a documentary in 1997 she said that her grandparents were brought up in mud houses (that's how some Icelanders used to live about 100 years ago). About nicknames it is true that she was called the "Chinise girl", but that was when she was a child. Luis María Benítez 15:10, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

I don't see how the type of building her grandparents lived in proves anything. If Björk herself hasn't spoken about her distant ancestors, and if she perhaps doesn't know who they were, then we can't know either. "but that was when she was a child" - So? We can each come to our own conclusion about whether she has Inuit features or not. Some say she does, some say she doesn't. Damiancorrigan 01:02, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

I didn’t explain well and only mentioned about her grandparents’ life style, but they were Icelandic too. That’s what I meant. Then I also named about her nickname because this has been mentioned before. I agree with you Damiancorrigan, when you say this is not important for the article, but at the same time I find confusing that you consider all comments above doesn’t prove anything. If what we are looking here is compelling evidence we can’t determine the origins or ethnicity of someone only based on their look because that would leave much to be desired. You know, not all family members look alike. Let’s say she doesn’t know where her ancestors come from… Do you know yours? Because in my case I have no idea! If we cast doubt on Björk’s ethnicity we might as well find similar characteristics in other family members, but Björk has 3 sisters and 3 brothers and none of them bear a resemblance to Inuit or Eskimo at all.

Finally, what if we delve into the past, before her grandparents, before her grand-grand parents?…. We would then find more ancestors: Vikings…. Adam and Eva… So, what’s the point? Rgs. Luis María Benítez 20:40, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

I don't mean to dig up an old story, but look Bjork herself said "Most people in Iceland are blonde and blue-eyed. I was nicknamed 'China girl' in school 'cos they thought I looked Asian"[2] There u go - it had bugger all to do with her having 'dark hair'. Damiancorrigan 00:05, 14 May 2006 (UTC)

Just to show the point, an appropriate photo of a young Björk. 惑乱分からん 22:07, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

Also, even though Björk might have somewhat of an epicanthal fold, I don't think it would necessarily prove an "asian" ancestry, in itself. The photo of Gudmundur is rather poor, and he closes his eyes, but according to the picture, I wouldn't claim that he lacks a fold, and Björk has one. His complexion is quite reddish, though, but it's hard to judge from a single photo. (...hmmm, I'm throwing wood on the fire, instead of just leaving the old discussion in peace...) 惑乱分からん 22:26, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

I have met her, her father and her son on several occasions. While they do not look "Nordic" in the traditional sense, neither do I. Yet I know, conclusively, that both our family trees are completely Icelandic as far back as it is registered, which is several centuries. The reason not all of us are blue eyed and blonde is probably intermixing that took place a very very long time ago - there were tons of Irish slaves here in the early days for one thing. Aside from that, Spanish, French and even Algerian ships landed/stranded on Icelandic shores on several occasions in the past. A black man is known to have lived here for some time about 500 years or so ago (I could be off on the date), and he had at least a dozen children. Did some latent and ancient genes resurface in Björk, me, Sindri, Guðmundur and the several thousand Icelanders who happen not to be blonde or even remotely nordic looking? Who knows? Who cares?

There are maybe a few hundred Icelanders who are not any shade of blonde or light brown, and no ethnic Icelander is only "remotely nordic looking". Very very few non-Icelandic individuals have entered the gene pool and because there has been so few, their genes have been largely absorbed into the Icelandic population so what distinctive features they had would not resurface. 69.157.109.144 (talk) 00:14, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

I would like to remark that Björks dark hair is not the reason for people to assume asian ancestry in her. Neither are all Icelanders blonde (and everyone knows that) nor is dark hair exclusively associated with asians. Her hair is the not the point, it doesn't even resemble the thick straight black hair for which asians are known. It's her prominent epicanthal fold that makes people wonder and such a feature doesn't come from nowhere. --84.163.248.120 12:10, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

I'd really be very interested if someone could post a link to an article about the Spanish, Algerian, African people who arrived in Iceland over the last 500 years. This kind of thing is fascinating to me. For the record I've met Irish people in London who have eyes just like Bjork's. 16:59, 28 April 2008 (UTC) Mostyn

Semi-protected edit request on 31 August 2015

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Please adding {{pp-semi-blp|small=yes}}! 42.113.165.247 (talk) 15:31, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

Done thanks for pointing out the omitted symbol

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